Your 2016 Presidential Candidate Speculation Thread

I'm bored by this thread.

http://youcouldfeelthesky.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/farside-wendell-im-not-content.jpg

it will be interesting to see what kind of policy angles she'll emphasize en route to election, she's got no particular causes or goals that are near and dear to her (afaict). given her history there's little to indicate that she'd go for soak-the-rich populism or addressing climate change, and healthcare's now pretty much off the table, so what does that leave for a legislative agenda? more MOR proto-rightwing shit, I imagine.

http://jennifermeaton.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/yay__its_my_turn.png

finally, an Iron Lady of our own

Sully vs his readers.

generally loathe Sully, but he's right on this point

We've had dozens of mediocrities or just passably competent presidents and only a very few great ones. Presidents rarely leave office as popular as when they entered it. I don't see any reason why HRC would not fit comfortably into this long tradition. I'm willing to bet she'd outshine Gerald Ford, Warren Harding and Franklin Pierce.

i doubt it

we had a couple worse presidents than Warren Harding, like the one who succeeded him.

remember the common 2008 theory that the dangerous flipside to the overwhelming youth support of Obama was that when, inevitably, he ended up disappointing people it might alienate young people from politics?

did anyone ever follow up on that with research on voter enthusiasm (with a focus on young voters with high enthusiasm for obama back then vs. their political involvement now, for example)?

all i have is anecdotal evidence because in the runup to the 2008 election i was in a public policy program with lots of politics nerds, and then immediately moved to DC. i don't really have a good feel for how the average young voter in 2008 feels now.

harding granted amnesty to radicals who had been persecuted during the red scare, signed the first child care legislation ever passed by congress, and tried to pass an anti-lynching bill. he's way overdue for reassessment.

except Aimless, none of those guys moved us closer to extinction through inaction. She would.

(so will anyone else who can be elected)

The historical bias against Grant is due to almost a hundred years' worth of historians dismissing Reconstruction (i.e. he was the only president of the era who really believed it and sent troops to the South when necessary)

Gerald Ford, Warren Harding and Franklin Pierce

these dudes were not facing species-extinction-event level scenarios

depends on how you classify The War Between the States.

Gerald Ford had the codes to WWIII to use at his disposal.

The part where Christie is declared Toast

generally loathe Sully, but he's right on this point

― How dare you tarnish the reputation of Turturro's yodel (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, February 5, 2014

he's sorta right, but it's a bit unfair. also, she'll make a fantastic candidate, especially if she's savvy enough to pivot left on select issues. of course, she'll become just one more casualty of the coming christie dynasty.

I am not excited about this election.

― How dare you tarnish the reputation of Turturro's yodel (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, February 5, 2014

I'm bored by this thread.

― Bryan Fairy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, February 5, 2014

what? CHRIS CHRISTIE will soon by president of the united states of america. this isn't exciting?

i don't get it. i don't get it. would you please explain.

pivot left on select issues

this isn't going to happen. nothing in her career suggests it will.

hm. i dunno. she's pretty savvy, and she moves where the votes are.

anyway, CHRIS CHRISTIE will be president, so observe hrc's moves only in an academic sense.

also, she'll make a fantastic candidate

Would love to know why you feel this way.

(other than "she can raise money")

her electoral strategy is going to hinge on peeling away aging white male voters from the GOP, that's where the votes are. which way do you think they tend to lean.

xp

her candidacy is still seen as historic, she'll peel women and aging white male votes from the gop, she's 20x more savvy than everyone, save obama, who's run in the last two election cycles, she's got a great, cutting way in debates, she's deep into details on policy. by no means perfect, but a very good candidate.

i'm not a fan of her centerist leanings, but i prefer her over, say, a president christie.

chris christie is not going to be president for cryin' out loud

sez you

I'd be happy to place a wager against it

i have $100,000,000.00 in invisible monopoly-money, ready to take your wager.

seriously, why do you all think the tide has turned against christie?

Because the GOP donor class isn't giving him dough.

When the money stops, you know a candidate is done.

i've kinda checked out of politics lately, but i thought christie was making peace with the tea-party, and had the establishment solidly on his side. something change?

i realize anything's possible, there's prob a parallel universe where president palin just declared martial law, but christie's still dealing with a pretty major scandal that's not going away any time soon and hillary has a huge fanbase left over from her previous run.

Christie's staff killed an old woman.

Not actually joking.

i actually thought the whole bridge-gate thing had blown-over (unless something shocking is unearthed)

When the money stops, you know a candidate is done.

^^^^

GOP's got nobody, this is Hillary's to lose unfortunately.

He shit in his backyard too many times, and those recipients started wagging their tongues.

Nobody has ever spoken fondly of him, except they were glad he was willing to be an asshole in confronting the teacher's unions.

People think fondly of Hillary but as The Inevitable, it's only a matter of time before someone else in the party gets some play.

And there's a long time for someone to appear.

Would be nice to think of examples where old ladies won big elections. She'll be nearly 70 at the election.

And you know wing nuts will be leaking or demanding her health records.

wingnuts are always leaking.

she'll peel women and aging white male votes from the gop, she's 20x more savvy than everyone, save obama, who's run in the last two election cycles, she's got a great, cutting way in debates, she's deep into details on policy.

you're wrong on almost all these points, imo. women are already a pretty solidly Democratic demo, and idk what her appeal to old white male GOPers is, they probably can still dredge up their hatred of her from previous Clinton administration if they're old enough. Dunno about "savvy", her campaign against Obama demonstrated she couldn't pivot too nimbly against new and challenging threats. don't recall her being particularly "cutting" in any of the debates (feel free to remind me of any quality zings), but being too "cutting" will = "Shrillary!" howls from the peanut gallery. And policy details put the electorate to sleep.

I think her biggest problem is she has no platform to run on besides a) being Hillary Clinton and b) getting shitloads of Dem cash.

Would be nice to think of examples where old ladies won big elections. She'll be nearly 70 at the election.

tbf it happens all the time. in other countries.

He shit in his backyard too many times, and those recipients started wagging their tongues.

Nobody has ever spoken fondly of him, except they were glad he was willing to be an asshole in confronting the teacher's unions.

People think fondly of Hillary but as The Inevitable, it's only a matter of time before someone else in the party gets some play.

And there's a long time for someone to appear.

― anything but a martyr (dandydonweiner), Thursday, February 13, 2014

well, like i said, i've been out-of-the-loop (by design) for awhile. still, a few points.

• the cristie criticisms i've heard before, but they've been around for a long time, and yet he was seen as a 2016 gop favorite

• hrc isn't "inevitable," and she'll downplay that notion this time around. but she is formidable, and the only person that seems likely to rise (from the left, where you'd expect the challenge to arise) is warren, who's amazing, but already said she won't run v. hrc.

I don't think anyone's gonna really challenge Hillary from the left, where is the money going to come from

Warren will get money from me.

I think her biggest problem is she has no platform to run on besides a) being Hillary Clinton and b) getting shitloads of Dem cash.

― How dare you tarnish the reputation of Turturro's yodel (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, February 13, 2014

policy-wise, she'll run mostly as obama's successor, but try to distance herself rhetorically. she'll continue pushing on the ACA (in fact, she could move to the left of obama on HCR, in at least subtle ways), she'll be a hawk, she'll push for comprehensive immigration reform, she'll probably endorse a strengthening of the safety net.

i guess the gop opponent will have a platform, but it will be the same retread, dumb ideas they've had for years now (yes, yes, i've heard they're working on an "anti-poverty" policy-package).

It's incredibly sad that we could end up with Bush, Clinton, Bush, (Obama), Clinton (or maybe Jeb?). Just the overwhelmingly lame aesthetics of that could damage HRC...

As far as her relationship with the press and Obama's voters in general, she's learned a great deal from her mistakes and from actually not winning for once in her life. Plus, everyone liked her enough as SoS.