President Barack Obama has been secretly searching for a challenger to take down Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton — and is set to back Vice President Joe Biden, bestselling political insider Ed Klein tells
Newsmax TV.
But that backing comes with a price: The White House would select his running mate, a candidate the president and his wife want to be a high-powered African American who can carry on the Obama legacy, Klein believes.
That choice, he says, is likely to be former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.
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"[He's] very close to Obama both personally and ideologically. They see another African-American coming along after Joe carrying on the Obama legacy," Klein said Tuesday on "Newsmax Prime" with host J.D. Hayworth.
"He is certainly their number one choice and he is number one because as you recall Obama actually gave a speech once in which he plagiarized some of Deval's own words.
"There's a very close infinity between Obama and Deval and they're very hot on him."
Klein said sinking Clinton has been in the White House mindset for a while.
"Not for days, not for weeks but for months the Obama team inside the White House has been courting an alternative to Hillary Clinton," Klein said.
"They courted [Massachsuetts Sen.] Elizabeth Warren … They thought seriously about [former Maryland Gov.] Martin O'Malley and they liked him because they thought he was, as [Obama adviser] Valerie Jarett put it, "O'Malliable," that they can control him. Neither of those things worked."
That leaves Biden, who they now hope to convince to enter the 2016 race, said Klein, author of
"Blood Feud: The Clintons vs. The Obamas," published by Pinnacle.
"Politics being politics they've been very close to Joe. Valerie Jarrett has been helping him get over his grieving process with his son, Beau, who recently died of brain cancer. She's actually helped him with that," Klein said.
"They've been encouraging him to get in and they're saying to him, 'Hey Joe, we're really ready to endorse you but you know we want something back.' What they want back is a final say over his vice presidential nominee."
Obama and first lady Michelle want that influence, Klein said, because they have been thinking about their reign as "not eight years but decades long."
"They want to have a serious and profound impact on the Democratic Party going forward for years and years to come. They want to make sure that Biden picks the guy or woman who will carry on the legacy once Biden leaves the scene," he told Hayworth.
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