Thursday, April 9, 2015

Hillary Clinton would only do Republicans a favor by running



Hillary Clinton is probably running for president. A lot of people say she is definitely running, that there is no question, but since I can’t read palms or cast horoscopes like some in the media apparently can, I will just have to leave it at probably. But since I am also a Republican, I will also leave it at hopefully.

That’s right; Hillary Clinton running would be one of the greatest things that could happen to Republicans in the 2016 elections. That might sound strange, since some seem to think that if she went against a Republican, it would be a like the boxing title holder getting into the ring with some amateur. She has been around a long time, and can do this, the talking point seems to go.
No, she can’t. If she pushes hard for the Democratic Nomination, she will probably get it. There is no young Barak Obama of a freshman senator to ride past her on a wave of hope, change, and “Yes we cans.” But although there may be no Democrat to sideswipe her this time and run her off the road there are plenty of Republicans who are up to it.  
The Republican field is packed full of what the Democrats don’t have: new Barak Obamas. Not that they agree ideologically with him, the reverse couldn’t be truer. But the Republican Party has what the Democrats had then, freshmen senators, young men who are ready to bring change and power and charisma to the field. Rubio and Paul are ready to do to Hillary what Obama did to Hillary, pull out those bases of lesser privileged people and run with them to the finish line. They are a diverse group, (look at Ted Cruz, a Canadian born Cuban American,) and will be able to pull in votes from minorities and lower class working people, all the groups Hillary needs if she is going to win. Groups she lost to Obama in 08’.
  
The Hopefuls
The very reasons she lost the Democratic Party Nomination then will be the same reasons, in the end, that will bring her down in the general election this time around. She is old news. She has too much baggage. Hillary is only being talked about because there is nobody else. If there were anyone else; and I do mean anyone else, you can be sure she would be heading for the shadows. And when someone is only a last resort, like Romney was in 2012, “the only one with a fighting chance,” they usually don’t have much more than a fight, without a chance.
The Republican Party has been getting ready for eight years to win this election, and have been getting Ready to beat Hillary for more than a decade. The case they have had time to build is enormous, and stretches all the way back to her days in college. She has the same problem as Napoleon was said to have: he fought too many battles, and people figured out what he would do.      
Ever since Hillary entered politics at Bill’s side in the 70s when he was governor of Arkansas, her every move has been categorized and watched, and all of this can only hurt her, at this point, she has nothing new to say. The Democrats keep saying they are ready for Hillary, the ones who should be ready for her are the Republicans, ready to hand her Waterloo.
In 2008 Hillary Clinton tried to defeat Obama and failed, because she was a voice from the past, and he was a voice from the future. It’s been eight years, and she is more of a voice from the past than she was then, and there are plenty of Republicans who are new to the field that are ready to reprise Obama’s job and keep Hillary from the White House.
And that is why the best thing that can happen to the Republican Party in 2016 would be Hillary Clinton winning the Democratic Nomination. Because Hillary Clinton will never be president. As Jack London famously wrote “Youth will be served.”
Andrew C. Abbott
 

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