Megan McArdle is bemused: “I remain mystified by the certainties about [Hillary Clinton’s] prospects.” And Megan had a good list of why those prospects aren’t as good as they appear, starting with Sec. Clinton’s age and ending with the way that both the Democratic party and Barack Obama are going to be drags on her campaigning*. However, I don’t think that it’s really that confusing about why the Left’s pundits remain bullish on Clinton:
…it’s more like they’re bull-headed. This is what almost seven years of Barack Obama have bought them; and it’s a little late now for the Democratic party’s leadership to show some moral courage and break contact. Besides, all the politicians that might have challenged the existing status quo got ordered out to their political deaths by the safely entrenched New Left leadership. And that leadership is grimly determined to stay in power until they die of old age.
…Meh. There’s a definite Somebody Else’s Problem vibe going on here, as the philosopher might have said. Nothing I plan to lose sleep over, to be sure.
Moe Lane
*And Hillary Clinton is not a particularly good campaigner. I would also like to remind people that currently the Republican field is full of people – Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Scott Walker, just to start – who are good at campaigning. As they all demonstrated by winning elections that they were not actually supposed to win.
Also, as demonstrated by the Onion article I was just reading, the humorist class seems to be really sinking their teeth into her.
The “new left”, by whom I mean the petulant whiners who seem to be calling the shots, have never learned how to play the long game.
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If they had, Vice President Obama would be a shoo-in to replace President Hillary today ..
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Mew
I’m hoping the Democrats don’t figure out how doomed they are until the evening of November 8, 2016.
I want them to figure it out mid-October.
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I want to watch the sense of impending doom.
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More importantly, I want as many Dem client-blocs as depressed and disinterested as possible on election day …
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Unless, of course, Jeb wins the nomination. Then, we agree .. let it look close right up until the end.
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Mew
They sacrificed everything to Barack Obama’s agenda, devastating their ranks of potentials. And now that he is leaving the stage all they have left in the wings is the charwoman.
And an opposition party that won’t overturn a single bit of that agenda.
Boy, those democrats are due going to pay for their overreach, aren’t they?
Quibble. An opposition party who aren’t yet sure if they’re more afraid of their own base or shaking up the status q
… getting used to a new keyboard. That *should have ended* thusly:
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“…their own base or shaking up the status quo, so we know what we need to do to fix them.”
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Mew
she *might* have some minimal coattails in the general. who else can say that? O’Malley? Webb? Warren? Biden??? she’s their best shot, might as well try and pick up whats left after.
Do you ever get the feeling that between the demands of the egos of the Clintons and the Obamas there has been nothing left over for any new potential in the Democrats?
If Hillary loses they are going to have a time getting new talent up to speed, and if she wins then it will get even worse for them?
(I’m not upset.)
I see a lot of people are counting the 2016 presidential election as ‘in the bag’ for the republicans. I find this….less than wise.
It’s just as wise as the Democrats assuming that the 2016 electorate will look precisely like the 2012 electorate.
I agree that the democrats have an…uphill path to victory. But the republicans always have the opportunity to step off of a cliff, and the path to defenestration is completely unobstructed. It’s one thing to like one’s prospect s and be excited and confident. Assuming one can’t lose is like putting on a blindfold and running along beside the aforementioned cliff…