Why Hillary must run in 2016
The presidency was once described by some historians as a prize, won in one election by this team, in another by that team. The metaphor suggests that elections are discrete and separate from one another and that the stakes aren’t much greater than those encountered on a game show. But that’s not the case anymore. Prize is the wrong metaphor for how we ought to see the presidency today. Now, we ought to see it as an instrument through which progress can either be advanced or retarded, and rather than thinking of each election victory as a prize, we ought to think of each as a step on a continuum.
This will be especially true in 2016, when a Republican victory would put at mortal risk the gains of the Obama years. So the next election will be no time to leave all this to chance—or to Andrew Cuomo or Martin O’Malley or even to Joe Biden. Hillary has to do it. She could handily beat the whole parade of Republicans. They’re children next to her. None of them is even in her weight class except for Jeb Bush, but he seems to me pretty easily disposed of with one question: “Okay, America, you’re being the given the choice to extend either Bill Clinton’s presidency or George W. Bush’s. Which way do you want to go?”
The circumstances have to be right, of course. I could be wrong about the next four years. But if I’m not, it will be the case not only that Hillary could run—it will be the case that she must run.
Blowback
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how has she been a successful Sec of State?
rob verdi on December 8, 2012 at 3:59 PM
She’d have to run on Obama’s record. That might give her pause. Unless she’s relying on the MSM to tell the voters that Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia.
Wethal on December 8, 2012 at 3:59 PM
The delusion is strong in this one.
davidk on December 8, 2012 at 4:00 PM
Why not? hill has done a horrible job dealing with her sos post and that would make her a ‘shoe in’ for the next run? And to boot, it is ‘her turn’ as it seems?
BTW, hill will be going before a public hearing on benghazi before the end of the year I heard today. I hope it is under oath.
L
letget on December 8, 2012 at 4:01 PM
The man may have a point.
(Sorry, couldn’t resist)
Kataklysmic on December 8, 2012 at 4:05 PM
He’s right in one regard. we should be tearing Hillary down at every opportunity. And there are plenty of them with the Clinton State Dept botch-fest that’s been unfolding for 4 years.
forest on December 8, 2012 at 4:05 PM
She will find that by leaving State, she has inadvertently nominated herself to take the blame in absentia for all foreign policy failures of the next four years—all to deflect from the incompetency of the next SoS.
Plus, she has a small problem with minority voters.
Sekhmet on December 8, 2012 at 4:06 PM
Heh. Comrade Tomasky really believes Hillary is a working class heroine.
Seth Halpern on December 8, 2012 at 4:12 PM
Gains? I do not think that word means what he thinks it means.
rbj on December 8, 2012 at 4:14 PM
What are her “qualifications”, Tomasskey?
Z———-
Del Dolemonte on December 8, 2012 at 4:18 PM
She was probably the only female in the White House Bill Clinton didn’t sleep with when he was President. *rimshot*
Sekhmet on December 8, 2012 at 4:20 PM
And whatever Obama promised the Clintons in exchange for Bill’s campaigning will have an expiration date; like all of Obama’s promises. There will be nothing the Clintons can do to call him on this, as the Dems will close ranks around Obama for their own benefit.
Hope there’s room under the Obama bus for women of Hlllary’s weight class.
Wethal on December 8, 2012 at 4:22 PM
It’s amusing that libs are wringing their hands about losing future presidential elections in light of the message the electorate just sent. It’s like worrying that there won’t be enough flannel shirts at a WNBA game.
Kataklysmic on December 8, 2012 at 4:28 PM
Except didn’t they say the same thing about 2008 when she ran in the primaries against Barack Obama? He was a child next to her, too.
Plus, if the economy tanks over the next four years, won’t it be hard for another Democrat to come in because they would have to defend Obama’s policies. And, I would think harder for Hillary since her husband is the one who asked everyone to give Obama a second chance.
sydneyjane on December 8, 2012 at 4:31 PM
you guys don’t get it, IF Hillary decides to run, she will wipe the floor with her opponent. Our primary and all our infighting will be irrelevant
her thin but atrocious record as First Wife, Senator and SoS will be irrelevant also
facts and accomplishments mean nothing, it’s all a reality show/popularity contest now
With a slobbering media and the near manic effect Hillary has on liberals and women, she’d win in a landslide
our only chance is to start attacking her and Bill now– attack her on Benghazi, attack her on her disastrous foreign policy, attack all the fallacies of Bill’s record
Attack her now, and sustain it for 4 years
If we bloody her and Bill up for 4 years, they literally have no one else even credible to run
Otherwise we’ll wake up in the summer of 2016 and realize she’s ahead by 20% in all the polls and it’s too late
thurman on December 8, 2012 at 4:35 PM
IIRC Monica Lewinsky is writing a tell-all.
Wethal on December 8, 2012 at 4:41 PM
Yes, just as they are already attacking Rubio and our frontrunners. We need to return the fire.
Here’s a wild bet: The Obama will push Susan Rice, not Shillary at the open.
petefrt on December 8, 2012 at 5:01 PM
Except that RINOs love to be “bipartisan.” Bush43 reached across the aisle to Teddy for No Child Left Behind (and caved on school vouchers). McCain would never allow a teardown of his drinking buddy Hillary.
McCain and Romney both didn’t go after Obama because a) they were afraid of being called raaacists; and 2) their views weren’t that different from Obama’s on a lot of issues. Go after Hillary, and it will be “Sexissssst!”
And in general, the Stupid Party only tears down each other in the prmary.
Wethal on December 8, 2012 at 5:09 PM
She’ll need 2 flags on rear end of her pantsuit by then.
vityas on December 8, 2012 at 6:11 PM
The Hillary Derangement Syndrome is still hilarious. The panic attacks are always thisclose to breaking out.
And, there is nothing anyone can say about her that hasn’t already been said for years.
I don’t see how she is such a lock. She doesn’t come across as personally likeable at all. She never has, and that is major in a POTUS race. Who gets a crap about qualifications? It’s all about celebrity for the Dems.
The lesbian Senator from Wisconsin will be the 2016 nom for the Dems. I’ll bet money with anyone. Female and gay? Home run!
Moesart on December 8, 2012 at 6:27 PM
I hope she runs into a creche, in Depends, soon, and Tomasky can change them, as needed.
Schadenfreude on December 8, 2012 at 6:28 PM
May Tomasky’s brain, the little he possesses, splatter onto something very hard. The retard doesn’t deserve to work and live freely.
Schadenfreude on December 8, 2012 at 6:34 PM
The commies have gained mightily so far, and we still have four more years of ObamaMarxism to go. Yeah, the progressive-marxists have made huge gains, in fact they may have won the final victory with Zero’s re-election.
Who is John Galt on December 8, 2012 at 6:38 PM
This writing seems vaguely familiar. Has bluegill gone over to the dark side?
Night Owl on December 8, 2012 at 6:44 PM
If anything in the media beats “first black prezzo”, it’s “first chick prezza”. Yeah, spanish suffixes included. But she needs to lose some serious weight and get some work done, fast.
Who is John Galt on December 8, 2012 at 6:44 PM
Same as Obama’s. At 3:00a.m. they are both Dummies: Benghazi, Egypt, Syria, Iran, and etc.
Schadenfreude on December 8, 2012 at 6:45 PM
Peculiar but apropos phrasing, Tomasky.
BTW (a pet peeve of mine) “None” is not a singular pronoun. “None” is an indefinite pronoun. If the item in the prepositional phrase following its use is plural (or can be counted), then the verb is plural.
If the item in the prepositional phrase following its use is singular (or a quantity), then the verb is singular.
Thus, none of them are even in her weight class.
onlineanalyst on December 8, 2012 at 6:53 PM
Without Hillary, then the Ds have no chance. Even with Hillary, I’m not sure it is a lock. Latino-y probably equals female, and let’s just reconcile ourselves to Rubio.
Illinidiva on December 8, 2012 at 7:04 PM
I hope the Democrats run Hillary in 2016. She is not a great campaigner (why she lost to Obama in 2008), she is not a great speaker (like Bill is), and frankly she is well…boring. I mean she did not get the nick name the “ice queen” for nothing. She has two weapons, her husband, and she is not Joe Biden stupid, but that is it.
She has another problem…she is getting old. If the GOP runs someone younger this next election, a Rubio, a Jindal, or just someone who was born post 1960, that could be a problem for the democrats.
Hillary is sort of a Democrat version of Mitt Romney…as a politician of course.
William Eaton on December 8, 2012 at 7:08 PM