One year ago in these pages, we warned that if President Obama continued down his overly partisan road, the nation would be "guaranteed two years of political gridlock at a time when we can ill afford it." The result has been exactly as we predicted: stalemate in Washington, fights over the debt ceiling, an inability to tackle the debt and deficit, and paralysis exacerbating market turmoil and economic decline.
If President Obama were to withdraw, he would put great pressure on the Republicans to come to the table and negotiate—especially if the president singularly focused in the way we have suggested on the economy, job creation, and debt and deficit reduction. By taking himself out of the campaign, he would change the dynamic from who is more to blame—George W. Bush or Barack Obama?—to a more constructive dialogue about our nation's future.
Even though Mrs. Clinton has expressed no interest in running, and we have no information to suggest that she is running any sort of stealth campaign, it is clear that she commands majority support throughout the country. A CNN/ORC poll released in late September had Mrs. Clinton's approval rating at an all-time high of 69%—even better than when she was the nation's first lady. Meanwhile, a Time Magazine poll shows that Mrs. Clinton is favored over former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney by 17 points (55%-38%), and Texas Gov. Rick Perry by 26 points (58%-32%).
By the way, Merry Christmas.
What do I think? I think it would be great if he quit even if it made it harder for the Republican to win the Presidency. Hillary couldn't be worse, I don't think.
Just the fact that they think the Republicans need to "come to the table and negotiate" means I don't take them seriously. The Republicans HAVE come to the table, when they weren't completely left out altogether.
ReplyDeleteThe elephant in the room IRT Obama v. Hillary is the black vote. Dems can't afford to lose too much of that demographic.
I think Hillary is every bit as much the leftist as Obama is. However, I think she is concerned with her own self-image enough that she would sacrifice leftist principle as required to avoid economic and foreign policy disasters (as Bill Clinton did by running to the middle). Which would at least be less harmful to the country over the next four years than a second Obama term.
ReplyDeleteOf course, a Hillary presidency would come at a price of her potential re-election in 2016.
P.S. Republican "leadership" in Congress (esp. Senate) is beyond lame. They would leap at any chance to "negotiate" in order to go-along-to-get-along and preserve their own seats. See Texas' own Kay Bailey Hutchison and her staggering earmark record.
I agree that Hillary would probably be better than Obama. She's not as much a doctrinaire leftist even though she leans heavily that way.
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