Jill Biden’s Hillary Clinton gaffe

It will be interesting to see whether Hillary Clinton talks to Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, during today's inauguration festivities. On Monday, while appearing on the Oprah Winfrey show, Mrs Biden blurted out that Hillary was in fact Barack Obama's second choice as Secretary of State.

In a live broadcast from Washington, ‘Jilly’ as her husband calls her, described in an almost boastfully how he had been given a choice last summer of being either Obama's running mate and eventual VP, or Secretary of State, the job Clinton was eventually given. Her husband quickly shushed his wife with his finger to his lips. However, seeing the cat was out of the bag, amid gales of laughter from the audience, he confirmed his wife's statement, saying simply: "That's right... Go ahead".

Mrs B then explained that she had convinced him to take the VP option so that he could spend more time at home. "If you're Secretary of State, you'll be away, we'll never see you, you know," she said.

Obama’s transition team would not comment immediately on whether Biden was really offered both jobs. But Biden himself, no doubt fearing Hillary's icy stares and worse, later tried to deny the story. His spokeswoman, Elizabeth Alexander, said: "President-elect Obama offered Vice President-elect Biden one job only - to be his running mate." It claimed Biden's wife had not meant what she said.
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