So, long-time friend of Obama's campaign tsar David Axelrod, Chicago-native and seriously super-connected former Clinton campaign official Patti Solis-Doyle is hired this week by the Obama campaign.

Obama and all of his key surrogates have been going out of their way for the last few weeks to praise Senator Clinton for her historic candidacy and scold people at rallies for booing her.

So, why, are anonymous Clinton donors and insiders running to the press over the last couple of days with vulgar, hateful screeds like this:

"You don't hire Patti Solis Doyle for her operational expertise," said the bundler. "You don't do that. This is someone who failed dramatically at her job. You only bring her on to fuck someone else."

And this:

Hiring Solis is the "biggest fuck you I have ever seen in politics."

Now, contrast this with the official statement from Clinton spokesperson Mo Elleithee:

"Patti will be an asset and good addition to the Obama campaign. After nearly two decades in political life, she brings with her the ability to tap an extensive network that will be a huge asset to Senator Obama. As Senator Clinton has said, we're all going to do our part to help elect Senator Obama as the next President of the United States."

There have been all sorts of rational, not-so-rational and downright loony theories on what this all means.  See here for a few.  

I am really having a hard time understanding this and can't imagine that the Obama campaign had any malevolent intentions.  He knows how important party unity is in this election, which is why he has been going out of his way to praise Clinton every chance he gets.

Why the anger?  Why the conspiracy theories?  Is it really just as simply as being wounded and dealing with grief?

I guess the rule is, Obama can hire former Clinton aides, but only those who remain well-liked by Clinton supporters?

If you can help me get it, I would appreciate it (please be constructive about it though) :).

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This article by Ben Smith on Politico has been getting a lot of buzz today.  There are a number of articles about it on Google News, right now, some of them rather entertaining.

Ben Smith is reporting that there are talks under way about Hillary strategist Patty Solis-Doyle, who was fired in March, coming to work for Obama.  I'll try not to characterize it too much, because that might be dangerous.  Ben Smith leaves some questions unanswered.  This is such a bombshell, though, that I can't believe we won't hear more about it soon.  If there are more Hillary staffers preparing to jump ship and climb on the USS Obama, that's a good sign this thing isn't going to turn into a scorched earth take-it-to-the-floor strategy after June 3.

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This evening I attended a talk with Hillary Clinton's campaign manager Patti Solis-Doyle at George Washington University. Patti spoke for about 40 minutes about her biography, her work for the campaign and where she sees the campaign headed.

She first started her speech, discussing the lessons she has learned over the years. She weaved portions of her biography with the lessons learned.

First, she said that you must keep an open mind; opportunities arise when you keep your options open. She then described how she first began working with Hillary Clinton. In the early 90s, she lived in Chicago and was a scheduler for Mayor Daley's office. Someone that she knew in Daley's office began working with the 1992 Clinton campaign and suggested that Patti come to Arkansas and work with Bill Clinton.
 

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