Hillary nostalgia peaking in new Bloomberg poll (Buyer's Remorse?)

Hotair ^ | 09/16/2011 | Ed Morrissey

[SeekAndFind]

At least, Barack Obama has to hope it’s peaking, rather than continuing to build. Bloomberg headlines the poll results with an explicit slam at Obama: “Clinton Popularity Prompts Buyer’s Remorse.” So far, the numbers aren’t overwhelming, but they are growing:

The most popular national political figure in America today is one who was rejected by her own party three years ago: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Nearly two-thirds of Americans hold a favorable view of her and one-third are suffering a form of buyer’s remorse, saying the U.S. would be better off now if she had become president in 2008 instead of Barack Obama.

The finding in the latest Bloomberg National Poll shows a higher level of wishful thinking about a Hillary Clinton presidency than when a similar question was asked in July 2010. Then, a quarter of Americans held such a view.

How nostalgic have we gotten for the Clintons? (And doesn’t seeing that in writing seem a little … disturbing?) Not as much as one might think, given the headline. In this poll, 34% think that life would have been better under a Hillary Clinton presidency, including almost half (44%) of self-described Tea Partiers. Only 13% think it would have been worse, which could be a little hard to imagine at the moment anyway. A large plurality of 47% thinks it would make no difference.

Frankly, I’m not sure whether I think it would be better or the same. Given the fact that Hillary tried pushing a health-care system overhaul even worse in some aspects than ObamaCare when given a chance, I don’t think that we’d have avoided the outcome in that policy field we have now. In fact, given that Hillary would have been more adept at working with Congress than Captain Kick-Ass, we may very well have wound up with the “public option” to boot while Democrats had 60 seats in the Senate. Otherwise, the economic and regulatory policies would have been roughly the same; the only difference would have been that Democrats would be accusing their opponents of sexism rather than racism for opposing them.

However, this kind of nostalgia could prove a potent political force, especially if Democrats decide that Obama simply cannot win a second term and will do a lot of damage to down-ticket races in 2012. There is no way Hillary will run a primary campaign against Obama, and we’re rapidly running out of time for any Democrat to run a realistic campaign to knock him off of the 2012 general-election ballot. But if Obama surprises people and pulls out on his own — as John Fund speculated yesterday and I speculated last month — a Hillary run ceases being bad news for Obama and starts becoming a Republican nightmare:

She can step into the void with promises to return America to the economic policies of her husband. The Left may not have much love for Hillary any longer, but she was winning the very working-class Democrats in the 2008 primaries that Obama is losing to the Republicans now. States like Pennsylvania and Michigan would snap back into place for Democrats, and perhaps Wisconsin as well. Having Obama off the top of the ticket would take some of the downward pressure off of some other Senate races, and Hillary would likely be a plus in most.

If Hillary took Obama’s place in 2012, Republicans would face a much tougher electoral map. They would still have the advantage of running against Obama’s record, but the GOP may not capture that disaffected Democratic working-class vote if Hillary also ran against Obamanomics and promised a return to Clintonian prosperity. The eventual Republican nominee would have at least a tougher task in winning those votes and the White House. And even if Hillary lost in a general election — Democrats lost the White House in 1952 and 1968, coincidentally both times with Richard Nixon on the Republican tickets — the Democrats might save a few Senate seats with an improved turnout in key states.

Still, this is a very low probability outcome … for now. It’s hard to imagine anyone offering the “if you love me” line at public rallies deciding on his own to veer into a quiet retirement, and if Democrats are seen as pushing Obama out of a second run, it could very well split the party for years to come. But when Hillary nostalgia starts becoming a bigger cultural phenomenon and Obama’s polls keep sliding into Bush territory, those low probabilities might have to get adjusted upward.

[Farmer Dean]

She’s going to throw him under the bus.
“A few years ago,he would have been bringing us coffee...”

[Cowboy Bob]

What are Hillary's accomplishments? If Hillary was elected in 2008, the Democrats would be wishing they had elected Obama. The Liberals won, and they are still not happy!!

[Dilbert San Diego]

Hillary had some of the highest negatives ever recorded in polling when she ran in the primaries in ‘08. If she were to run for president again, all of those negatives will come back. All the Clinton scandals will come back into view. We will all be reminded of why we don’t like the Clintons. All of that is minimized now, as Hillary is in a less partisan politcal job as Sec. of State.

Additonally, if Hillary were the 2012 nominee, how much could she really run away from the Obama record, when she had been part of that administration???

It’s misleading to say that even Tea Partiers would have preferred Hillary being president to Obama being president, because Tea Partiers would not have voted for Hillary in the first place.

[traderrob6]

Morrissey misses the mark yet again.

[Chuzzlewit]

that may be so, about her high negatives, but from an emotional standpoint, (and these Dems are all operating on pure emotion) they will see her as way out, a way of saving their agenda, and taking a cold shower from all of Obama’s mess. I don’t think she is interested in the least, but if she were, I think she could beat Obama, this time around.

[JLAGRAYFOX]

IMHO, the Democrat Party has no choice. POTUS Obama and VP, Joe Biden, must go either by forced resignation or outright impeachment!!! Obama has lost the American public and voters!!! He will not get them back either!!! He has also taken, American Jews, American Blacks & American Hispanics for granted!!! The Jews and Hispanics already have Obama wired, the Jews, because Obama is anti-Israel,anti-Jewish, the Hispanics because Obama just ignored them, their hard work ethic and their love of freedom and economic opportunity coupled to free enterprise, and the American Black community which foolishly and without any reason whatsoever, continues to gush love all over African Muslim Obama. However, very soon, this same Black American community, so badly beaten down economically by Obama and his Democrat Party ilk, will come to realize, that continuing support of Obama will cause them untold hardship for many, many, years to come!!! The sooner American Blacks, broom/ditch/dump Obama, the CBC and the NAACP, the better they both will become and be!!! The anti-Obama ranks now contain, conservatives, independents. Democrats, Republicans, Jews, Hispanics and all in the small business community!!! Obama & Biden must go before they are both convicted of criminal activity which is brewing right now!!!

[Dilbert San Diego]

Well, Hillary has said she will resign as Sec. of State at the end of Obama’s term, whether he gets re-elected or not.

She has said she will not run for elective office again.

Bill Clinton said that Hillary wants to be a grandmother more than she ever wanted to be president. Though the tabloid gossip about Chelsea’s marriage makes one doubt that children are a high priority for them at this time.

I wonder too — after the Democrats threw Hillary under the bus in 2008, how eager is Hillary to have these same Democrats want her to save the party now?

If Hillary has any remaining presidential ambition, she may well want to see Obama and Democrats take their lumps in the 2012 election cycle, and then come back to save things in 2016.

[End Times Sentinel]

Hillary's done an AWESOME job as SoS!

Poland and The Czech Republic love us for turning our back on them with the missile defense shield.

We signed that treaty with Russia where we draw down our weapons and they don't do anything.

Iran is going nuclear.

Turkey is becoming more radicalized by the hour.

The wikileaks debacle.

We've humiliated Israel.

A series of embarrassing diplomatic gaffes with England

We side with Zalaya in Honduras

And the arab world is melting down to be taken over by the muslim brotherhood.

All in all, an outstanding job because we killed OBL "on her watch" because the SoS is in charge of what goes on in other countries... or something.

[Fantasywriter]

They are stuck with Obama regardless. The only scenario that would save them is if he opted out in such a way as to make it clear he wasn’t pressured. [Even then many blacks would assume the worst and stay home.] Anything else, and part of the Dem’s essential base would be in wholesale revolt. Anybody who doubts me needs to talk to an average black Dem voter. If you think they blame Obama you’d be wrong. They blame the GOP—but they’d be all too happy to blame Dem leadership if Obama was pushed out in a primary.

[Vaduz]

Hillary = Obama with lip stick

[Maverick68]

I’ve maintained for some time that obama could resign for “health” reasons.
He is a heavy smoker and that would be his “out”.
As far as Hillary, she will face a tough road in explaining why she didn’t resign after seeing the way obama was wrecking the country.
That coupled with the camera’s hatred for her (the camera doesn’t like overweight, mean old women unless they are chasing Dorothy and Toto) means she is easily defeated.

[Buckeye McFrog]

these emails back and forth about Solyndra keep getting leaked for a reason...

[hwkbeer]

“these emails back and forth about Solyndra keep getting leaked for a reason...”

That's interesting,isn't it?

Like watching pieces on a board move.The New York Times doing positive pieces on Gov. Palin?

I mentioned to a friend not long ago that it is entirely possible we will see the proverbial cat fight in 2012

One can only hope The Mama Griz prevails.

[napscoordinator]

I am glad that the Democrats are so dumb. I think with Hillary things would have been a little better and she would easily be reelected. Thank God the Democrats are so stupid.