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Don't Get Carried Away About Hillary Clinton
Townhall ^ | 12/08/2012 | Kathryn Lopez

Posted on 12/08/2012 10:36:49 AM PST by SeekAndFind

Here we go again, it's "American Idol: Presidential Edition." And we can't even resist waiting until 2012 is over.

Since the Republican Party clearly needs to amp up its Hispanic outreach, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is a leading contestant for their team. And Hillary, oh Hillary, she is inevitable all over again.

Pundits on left-leaning MSNBC who once cast her aside in 2008 are now expecting her to be their next candidate. After viciously attacking the GOP during this year's presidential election, The National Organization for Women is now insisting that President Obama's cabinet be filled with at least 50 percent women secretaries -- surely a harbinger of a Hillary Clinton endorsement when the time comes. But in the rush to put the first woman at the Oval Office desk, we ought not get ahead of ourselves.

But what about New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley -- are they going to step aside for the Clinton machine? Don't count on it. There are a whole lot of ambitious, rising stars in the Democratic Party, and their plans are not the plans of TV pundits.

By all accounts, Hillary Clinton is a hard worker, but her tenure as secretary of state has by no means been stellar. Have you taken a look at what's left of the so-called "Arab Spring"?

"She's been at the heart of foreign policy for the past four years," John J. Pitney Jr., a professor of American politics at Claremont McKenna College, observes. "If 2016 is a time of international peace and prosperity, then she'll be able to claim some credit. But current events in the Middle East suggest a darker future. If things don't look so good on the world stage, she'll have to take a lot of the blame," Pitney predicts.

With all her purported influence in the first term of the Obama administration, "she did zero to rein in Obama's worst tendencies" on foreign policy, James Carafano of the Heritage Foundation notes.

"If we set aside the bonus her legacy gets from her last name, then Clinton should go down as the least effective secretary of state since Warren Christopher," Michael Rubin, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a former Pentagon official, says. "Her tenure has been marked by bashing allies and coddling adversaries to the detriment of U.S. national security ... She has no real achievements to her tenure, but has overseen a hemorrhaging of U.S. influence that cannot be attributed to her predecessors but rather to the ill-advised strategies she sought to implement. If Hillary does to the country what she did to the world, then we are in very deep trouble indeed," he observes.

Still, expect more of the Hillary talk. Governors who might be running in a few years aren't household names, unlike the secretary of state. "The late Lee Atwater used to talk about 'the invisible circle,' the very small number of political figures that the public knows and can accept as potential presidents," Pitney recalls. "That is, if voters woke up and found that one of these people was in the White House, they could go back to sleep knowing that he or she could do the job. In their day, Nelson Rockefeller and Hubert Humphrey were in the invisible circle. Among Democrats not named Obama, who's there today? Hillary Clinton, full stop."

Pitney points out that the "invisible circle" has its flaws. With fame and name recognition comes a complicated, and very public, history, full of messy baggage that could turn away many voters and make easy work for political rivals. Also, there's the matter of Clinton's age -- she'll be nearing 70 by 2016, which might not play well to an increasingly youthful voter base.

I've long had a lot of respect for Hillary Clinton, who the Daughters of the American Revolution saw as a good citizen, back when she was in high school; she appreciated the power and importance of public service early on. But we can respect that philosophy without getting silly. There's a photo of Hillary outside a Kennedy Center gala in Washington, D.C., with Meryl Streep taking an iPhone photo of them both. The image just about captures the seriousness of some of the political commentary about 2016 right now, from Clinton through Rubio and Ryan. Don't run with it.

(Kathryn Lopez is the editor-at-large of National Review Online www.nationalreview.com.)


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: clinton; hillary; hillaryclinton
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1 posted on 12/08/2012 10:36:50 AM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind
It doesn't matter who the rat's candidate is, the republican elites will give us another McCain/Romney as a candidate and republicans will lose again.
2 posted on 12/08/2012 10:45:13 AM PST by Graybeard58 ("Civil rights” leader and MSNB-Hee Haw host Al Sharpton - Larry Elder)
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To: Graybeard58

It won’t matter much who the president is once the states take back their rights.

#10


3 posted on 12/08/2012 10:48:34 AM PST by jakota (jakota)
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To: SeekAndFind

If Hitlery ever wants to run for public office again, she needs to spend serious coin on a decent wardrobe, and a few months at a spa.

Her outfits are horrendous trying to cloak that porkulent body, even worse that Maddie Halfbright hand-me-downs!


4 posted on 12/08/2012 10:49:30 AM PST by Noob1999 (Loose Lips, Sink Ships)
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To: Noob1999

RE: Her outfits are horrendous trying to cloak that porkulent body, even worse that Maddie Halfbright hand-me-downs!

How about Michelle Obama’s outfits? Do you love them? Does she look good on them?


5 posted on 12/08/2012 10:52:11 AM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: jakota

It won’t matter much who the president is once the states take back their rights.

It won’t matter much who the president is after Obama gets done with us!!!!!!!!!


6 posted on 12/08/2012 11:01:19 AM PST by tallyhoe
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To: SeekAndFind

Her PR is working hard. You have to work hard to change a sows ear.


7 posted on 12/08/2012 11:09:49 AM PST by freekitty (Give me back my conservative vote; then find me a real conservative to vote for)
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To: SeekAndFind

Marco Rubio is a guaranteed loser, so is jeb Bush and both for the same reason.

Neither one of them is an alpha.

Marco is a metromale, a pretty boy, and Jeb Bush is a stupid looking dork. Neither one of them has ever demonstrated any sort of leadership qualities and for anyone to expect anyone else to follow them as leaders is silly.

If one can say anything about GWB, our last president, he was at least a manly man. He was an alpha. Perhaps not the most conservative man ever, but certainly a man you could share a foxhole with if need be.

If republicans wish to lead, then they are going to have to put forth a leader.

John Huntsmans are not leaders. Tim Pawlentys are not leaders. Cry baby John Boehners are not leaders. Turlte face Mitch McConnels are not leaders. A leader displays strength and his enemies fear him. Hillary Clinton, outside of GWB, has more balls than anyone that I have mentioned in this post, and she will defeat anyone I mentioned in this post outside of GWB.


8 posted on 12/08/2012 11:14:06 AM PST by chris37 (Heartless.)
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To: freekitty

Her PR is working hard. You have to work hard to change a sows ear.
= = = == = === = = = = = = = =
Remember when algore hired some bimbo (Naomi Wolf) to be his ‘image coach’?
“they claimed she was a bargain at 16 grand a week or so?? and she claimed she was underpaid.


9 posted on 12/08/2012 11:24:02 AM PST by xrmusn (6/98 "It is virtually impossible to clean the pond as long as the pigs are still crapping in it")
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To: chris37

Since a lot of GOP names have been eliminated, who does that leave the conservative voter with?


10 posted on 12/08/2012 11:57:35 AM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Well, I think it’s even worse than that. The only person that I can even think of with the necessary leadership characteristics was stabbed in the back and redistricted out of office by this party, and that was Allen West.

They knew he was a threat to the status quo.

If he runs for president in 2016 I will support him all the way. Beyond that, I am not going to waste my time, energy or money supporting the usual GOP cannon fodder.

I personally do not think that any conservative victory lies with the GOP any longer. If they have proven one thing, it is that they are not the ones.


11 posted on 12/08/2012 12:09:19 PM PST by chris37 (Heartless.)
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To: chris37

Rubio is a Hispanic and Jeb Bush is married to one, That alone should disqualify them as they both want Amnesty.


12 posted on 12/08/2012 12:33:23 PM PST by Venturer
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To: SeekAndFind

Can I speak bluntly? I’ve been beat up and thrown out with the union trash lately; so I’m going to speak bluntly. Those damn Clintons have done more to hurt this country than a little. Hillary (and Bill) are hand in glove with Obama. Can you say ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT? That about says it right there. Others have helped world government along, I think sort of gullibly. They’ve been naive tools. The Clintons and the Obamas, with help from their scores of hangers on just hanging on for the ride, I think know exactly what they’re doing; and they’re doing it for power and money.


13 posted on 12/08/2012 12:39:41 PM PST by Twinkie (The WICKED walk on every side when EVIL men are exalted. Psalm 12:8)
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To: SeekAndFind

And don’t try to carry Hillary either.

Ruptured discs and popped hernias guaranteed.


14 posted on 12/08/2012 12:44:14 PM PST by relictele
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To: Graybeard58

Hey Greybeard58,
don’t forget Bob Dull!!1


15 posted on 12/08/2012 12:59:29 PM PST by Joe Boucher ((FUBO))
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To: SeekAndFind

Hillary-Huma 2016: Cougar Spring

16 posted on 12/08/2012 1:08:48 PM PST by PhilDragoo (Hussein: Islamo-Commie from Fakistan)
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To: SeekAndFind
Also, there's the matter of Clinton's age -- she'll be nearing 70 by 2016

That's 490 in human years.

17 posted on 12/08/2012 1:22:12 PM PST by GreenHornet
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To: xrmusn

I remember. Just remember Hitler and his press.


18 posted on 12/08/2012 1:26:00 PM PST by freekitty (Give me back my conservative vote; then find me a real conservative to vote for)
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To: freekitty

I remember. Just remember Hitler and his press.
= = = = = == = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Also, the press didn’t ‘have a cow’ either.

Now when Sarah Palin had her hair and nails done and bought a new outfit for the debate, you would have thought she was Willie Sutton’s accomplice, holding the gun and driving the getaway car.


19 posted on 12/08/2012 1:36:04 PM PST by xrmusn (6/98 "It is virtually impossible to clean the pond as long as the pigs are still crapping in it")
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To: Venturer

Yes, they do want that, and I do believe it does disqualify them both among a number of other disqualifiers for each.

I am not exactly certain why the GOP is so Hell bent on amnesty, because they are not going to get any of those new voters’ support. They are incapable of selling whatever their ideas are, and to be quite frank, I am not even certain that they as a group even have any ideas.

I think Ronald Reagan had ideas, and that’s about it.


20 posted on 12/08/2012 2:13:29 PM PST by chris37 (Heartless.)
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