Emanuel To Obama: Take Your Time On VP Pick

Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) said that Barack Obama should take a step back before picking his running mate.

Emanuel endorsed Obama on Wednesday. At the campaign’s request, Emanuel vouched for him during a meeting with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) executive board.

Asked on National Public Radio whether Obama should choose Hillary Clinton as his running mate, Emanuel, a former White House aide to Bill Clinton, said that both Democratic presidential candidates deserve time before making any decisions.

“One of the most important decisions you’re going to make prior to getting the White House is your vice president,” he said. “And I think you’ve got — you know, Barack is going to set up a process, be very thoughtful about it and analytical about it, and look at what he needs.”He continued: “I think Hillary, having been in the White House, having been at the side of her president — of her husband, rather, in the decisions he had to make, both in the White House and prior, obviously, respects the magnitude or the weight of this decision. And I don’t think she would expect him or anybody who’s the nominee ever to be rushed in any way on a momentous decision like this, given that you actually have time.”