Speculation in the media about the “feud” between the Obama and Clinton political camps cannot be quelled, no matter how much assistance the former president offers to the current one, or how many miles the secretary of state logs in service to this administration. Discredited hacks like Ed Klein continue to be published, so long as they are willing to invent Clintonian conspiracies to regain power at any price.
And as Democrats in Charlotte await Bill Clinton’s nominating speech for Barack Obama on Wednesday night, such silly gossip has even reached the pages of the New Yorker magazine, under the byline of the usually accurate Ryan Lizza.
Lizza doesn’t attempt to suggest any doubt about whom the Clintons – Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea – will choose when they vote on November 6. But in the final paragraph of a story on the much improved Bill-Barack relationship, Lizza cites two sources claiming that Doug Band, the longtime counselor to Bill Clinton, has said he will vote for Mitt Romney, supposedly as a means to advance Hillary Clinton’s presidential ambitions in 2016.
Band, who rarely talks to journalists, may have inadvertently encouraged this notion by declining to comment on his private political decisions when Lizza asked him about this tale. Privately he has described it as “such BS” to friends and today, as he boarded a plane to Charlotte with President Clinton, he told National Memo on the record.
“There shouldn’t be any doubt that I will vote for Barack Obama,” said Band, pointing out that his support dates back to the spring of 2008, within weeks after the primaries ended, when he started to mobilize Clinton supporters and donors behind the Democratic nominee. traveled the country for months with President Clinton to Obama events and in recent months has sat in critical strategy meetings with Clinton and top Obama campaign officials. In fact, he has worked on strategy and policy issues with the White House since President Obama was elected.
Democratic National Committee executive director and former Obama White House political aide Patrick Gaspard, who has worked closely with Band, was equally emphatic in debunking Lizza’s story.
“There has never been any mystery about Doug Band’s support for President Obama over the past three-and-a-half years,” Gaspard said. “He has helped us in every aspect of our work, from politics and policy to fundraising. Doug is our friend and there is no question about his unwavering support for Barack Obama.”
