Reports that White House adviser John Podesta will soon sign on to Hillary Clinton's team is seen by critics as further evidence that electing the former secretary of state would be equivalent to electing President Barack Obama to a third term.
"By hiring his key political and policy staff and making no public moves to place clear distance between herself and the President on issues likely to be front and center in the coming Congress, Clinton is signaling that she's not just from the same party as the President, but that she's an Obama Democrat, who will back his policies, pursue his agenda, and represent a Third Term of the Obama Administration," Tim Miller, the executive director of America Rising, a conservative research political action committee, says in a recent memo,
CNN reports.
"[Podesta] will bring that same policy agenda, willingness to subvert Congress and rhetoric to Team Clinton," adds Miller.
Miller is not alone in making that argument. Reacting to the news, Republican National Committee (RNC) spokesman Sean Spicer said bringing Podesta onto Clinton's team "pretty much confirms that she will be running as an Obama third term,"
The Wall Street Journal reported.
Last summer, the RNC released a video, entitled "Unity," showing a montage of news and interview clips seeking to portray Obama and Clinton as a "team" and electing Hillary would be no different than an Obama third term.
Story continues below video.
Clinton also has added Obama pollsters John Anzalone and Joel Benenson, as well as campaign media advisers David Binder and Jim Margolis, a top campaign media adviser, to the staff of a potential presidential campaign team, according to CNN.
The growing list of Obama veterans on Clinton's team is apparent to political analysts too.
"When you add the fact that John Podesta is leaving the Obama White House to serve as a liaison between the Clinton campaign and White House (as well as to handle the Clinton Old Guard), it's pretty easy to conclude that Clinton won't be running away from Obama. In fact, it's looking like she will be more connected to him than ever. And the people she's hiring are the best-equipped campaign folks to re-assemble the Obama-voter coalition," NBC News political analyst and "Meet the Press" moderator
Chuck Todd wrote recently.
While critics view this trend as a negative, some see the hiring of former Obama campaign veterans as a natural result of Clinton's attempt to fix some of the problems her campaign encountered in 2008, particularly in terms of coherently communicating to voters the rationale for electing her president.
Appearing on MSNBC's "Hardball with Chris Matthews," former Obama campaign adviser David Axelrod said the hiring of Podesta and other veteran staff was smart because "campaigns have to be about something" and "these guys know how to construct that strategy."
Watch the video here.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.