We can hope anyway
It isn’t hope, for me. It’s a certainty.
If we accept the story that a difference-making bloc of the GOP base stayed home 0bama-Romney 2012, this occurred against a background of “fairly hopeful” re: Romney and “fairly disillusioned” re: 0bama. Hillary may or may not run, I don’t know, but if she does, the Dems will create as they do so well an air of excitement about her. It will be her time. *Nobody* will think “it’s Jeb’s time”, and the same conservatives, perhaps even more, will stay away from the polls. Not only will they be completely unattracted to Jeb, they will reject the idea that we get the third Bush. And the third Bush will turn off plenty of independents.
Once again, I believe the GOP will select a completely unappealing candidate. And I think he’ll get creamed. That he would be creamed by such a miserable candidate as Hillary would be the embarrassment of a generation, but IMO that’s exactly what would happen. With the proviso that I suck at predictions.