Joe Biden Looks Over His Shoulder at Hillary Clinton

Here's how it is going to go down. Hillary Clinton will step down as Secretary of State around the end of June. In August she will be picked to replace Joe Biden in the VP slot on the Democratic ticket.

How do I know this? Barack Obama is clearly going to face a tough reelection fight. Does he do better with Joe or Hillary on the ticket? Hillary obviously gives him a boost, and he will need that boost. Clearly the War on Women theme works best if the Democrats have a woman on the ticket to fight that fight. Joe has got to go.

Just go the campaign store on barackobama.com. Yes, you can buy a $40 Obama-Biden iPhone case in Navy blue or red, white, and blue, a $30 limited-edition Obama-Biden T-shirt. a $22.50 Cup of Joe coffee mug, a $15 Obama-Biden water bottle, or a $10 Cheers Champ beer cozy. Cheers Champ, that's a nice way to say goodbye.

There are bulk Obama-Biden campaign buttons and bulk Obama-Biden bumper stickers at $1.50 or less for 25 or more and Obama-Biden 100 sticker packs for $15. Buy in bulk, they need to clear the inventory. Curiously, none of these display the year 2012.

Then there are number of items labeled "Classic" such as the "Classic" Obama-Biden yard sign for $15, the "Classic" Obama-Biden placard at 2 for $12, the "Classic" Obama-Biden photo button at 2 for $5, and the "Classic" Obama-Biden bumper sticker also at 2 for $5. Classic is what you call something that is past its time.

Out 291 items on 19 pages I couldn't find anything with both Joe Biden's name and the year 2012 on it. Clearly they are keeping their VP options open over at barackobama.com.

It doesn't get more obvious than items like the 2012 Obama-Biden calendar which has been discounted from $15 to $10 so that you're not paying for the months after Biden will be off the ticket. The perfect tell is the Obama-Biden Grey T with Barack Obama's name in a bold blue and Joe Biden's name in a dull grey that will fade out after several washings. It's been discounted from $30 to $15 so you are only paying for Barack Obama's name.

This shirt is also available for the full $30 in an organic white cotton that will biodegrade into an Obama-Clinton T before the end of August.

That brings us to the play Joe Biden made on Sunday to keep his job. He came out unequivocally in favor of gay marriage, even though that is not official Obama administration policy. That's raised a lot of eyebrows with some Democrats even describing it as a gaffe. But Joe is just trying to appeal to the one big Democratic constituency that may not be completely down with Hillary Clinton. Hillary's husband Bill, of course, signed the Defense of Marriage Act back in 1996 that prevents recognition of gay marriage by the federal government.