MSNBC’s “Today” attracted a little Twitter ire from White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer, after “Today” hosts asked both Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton whether Barack Obama might not strike Biden from the 2012 ticket and add Clinton instead:

White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer posted this on his Twitter account Tuesday morning:

“I have noticed a weird @todayshow obsession with faux story of Sec. Clinton replacing @VP…Have asked both about it last 2 days on the show.”

Mr. Biden said he will be on the ticket again.

“Absolutely, positively yes,” the vice president said. “There’s never been a question about that.”

Clinton says a swap is probably not even “in the realm of possibility.” Biden is doing “an amazingly good job,” she said. That makes me think her judgment is no more sound than his and it’d be an even trade.

Pfeiffer followed up his first tweet with a clarification to make sure the folks at the “Today” show know he’s not too irked: “Not upset, just tweaking them.” But the story surely irritates Pfeiffer for what the speculation reveals about President Obama’s reelection chances. If he presided right now over a prosperous economy, would anybody give credence to whispered suggestions that he needs or plans to rearrange his team to appear stronger and more palatable to the electorate? But it’s also easy to see why these rumors are just rumors. As bumbling as Biden is, he still doesn’t draw the same depth of emotion — both positive and negative — as Hillary has in the past. Leaving Biden on the ticket ensures 2012 is all about Obama, which no doubt the president will like — unless (or until) he loses.