Is Hillary Clinton trying to sabotage Barack Obama so she can come back in 2012?
I believe so.
Respected Congressman James Clyburn (D-SC) thinks so:
The Post-Dispatch’s Bill McCulloch believes it too:
It became clear a couple of months ago that Barack Obama was going to get the nomination. Given the way the delegates are allotted on a proportional basis rather than on a winner-take-all basis, Obama’s lead became insurmountable during his winning streak. And there was never a realistic hope that the superdelegates would overrule the will of the voters. If they did, there would be chaos. The party would risk alienating its single most faithful bloc — African-Americans.
So let’s play chess. Let’s look ahead. Let’s assume that Obama wins the nomination. If you are the Clintons, what then?
You’ve got to hope that he loses the general election. If he wins in 2008, he’ll run for re-election in 2012. That means the next chance for Hillary would be 2016. She’ll be 69 by the time that election comes around. (She’ll be 61 in October of this year.) Chances are, her time will have passed.
So what do you think?
n
May 1st, 2008 at 8:08 pm
Obama is Presidential. The Clintons are nothing more than political hacks owned by big business and hell bent on doing whatever it takes to make Hillary the nominee.
May 2nd, 2008 at 8:12 pm
I think Hillary Clinton is trying her utmost to be nominated this time.
If Democrats had the same nominating process as Republicans, she would already have enough delegates to put her over. She did not count on the energy and fund raising ability of the Obama fans, or the appeal of Obama in winning so many red states, which does not mean anything in the fall. The history of Democratic primaries has Ted Kennedy taking his losing campaign all the way to the convention, where he famously refused to shake the hand of Jimmy Carter. Jesse Jackson took his campaign to the convention, also and no one suggest that either Ted or Jesse drop out.
If you want to downgrade Bill Clinton to a political hack, the only winning Democratic president since Carter, be my guest. Obama is right up there in the hack category with his Rezko and Killerspin deals, among others. If Obama cannot stand up to the scrutiny of a primary race, how will he fare when the wingnuts actually go after him.
Hillary will be 64 in 2012, which does not preclude her running again, but it’s a very strenuous undertaking, with even Obama giving a bit under the stress of race. If she does run in 2012, I’m sure she will be a formidable opponent then, as now.
May 4th, 2008 at 7:08 am
With all due respect BettyB, only a partisan cares if Bill Clinton was the only democratic president since Carter. In case you haven’t noticed, both major political parties are losing members and it goes beyond the cross voting which is being supported by the partisans in this election.
For 8 years now our country has been divided primarily because of partisan politics. You partisans have used wedge issues which have no relation to the real problems faced by Americans for your political gain. In this state, issues such as same gender marriage and stem cell have been effective get out the vote efforts at the expense of Missouri taxpayers. Independents have recognized that reform is the only way to break the paralyzing partisanship and put our country back on the right track. Barack Obama’s vision is beyond the paralyzing partisan politics.
We deserve better than partisan politics.