Posted on 11/23/2014 12:09:07 PM PST by PROCON
President Obama set off ripples in the political world Sunday morning when he said voters in the 2016 presidential race will want "that new car smell." Speaking with ABC's George Stephanopoulos, Obama said in picking a new leader, Americans will "want to drive something off the lot that doesn't have as much mileage as me."
Obama spoke in the context of saying complimentary things about Hillary Clinton. She was "an outstanding secretary of state," Obama said, and is "a friend" who would be "a formidable candidate" and "a great president." Still, Obama stopped short of actually expressing support for a Clinton run. "I am very interested in making sure that I've got a Democratic successor," Obama said, adding that Clinton or whoever else wins the Democratic nomination will inevitably adopt some policies that are different from Obama's. "One of the benefits of running for president is you can stake out your own positions ... and have a clean slate, a fresh start," Obama explained. "I think the American people, they're going to want, you know, that new car smell."
But can Clinton really have that "new car smell" in 2016? Certainly the former Obama administration secretary of state can find some positions that differ a bit from her former boss', but can her candidacy have anything approximating a "new" feel to it? And beyond that, can any Democrat running in 2016 — running essentially for Obama's third term — have a "new car smell" candidacy?
It's not just a matter of age, although the two candidates closest to Obama, Clinton and Vice President Joe Biden, will be 69 and 74, respectively, on Inauguration Day 2017. The two will also have been on the national political stage for an enormous length of time — Biden at 44 years since he was first elected to the Senate in 1972 and Clinton at 24 years since she became first lady in 1992.
New, they're not. And while other potential Democratic candidates, whatever their age or experience — from Martin O'Malley to Elizabeth Warren to Bernard Sanders to Jim Webb — could present varying degrees of newness to voters, each will shoulder the burden of convincing the electorate that Democrats should be allowed a third consecutive term in the White House. That is, by definition, not something that gives voters a "new car smell."
Biden and Clinton would have the greatest burdens — at the high end of the presidential age scale and familiar figures to Americans for decades. But no Democrat will be able to argue that a third term for the party will amount to something fundamentally new. That's just a burden two-term presidents place on their party's next candidate.
As opposed to the “back seat of the car smell” that you got when Bubba was running.
Gavin Newsom is ready and waiting in the wings. :)
Yeah, that’s him. But given all the tax cheats in D.C., a corruption and fraud politician would make a perfect candidate.
I don't think old Gavin is gay enough; I'm thinking the 'rats will look to run a hat trick candidate.
Perhaps a gay, Asian transexual?
“new car smell’?
HIllary smells like a used jock that’s not been washed for years.
“new car smell” is neurotoxic. Sometimes it makes people vomit. It’s offgassing of toxic fumes from all the plastics.
It fits, anyway.
“Do you ever get that not fresh feeling from the democrat ticket?”
I think you’re right. I think the Dem party needs a douche, if not an enema at this point. And we know they would enjoy it.
Smell? Like a dead rat in your attic smell?
Most democrats do smell, or at least their policies do; the trouble is, with the Obama economy no one can afford a new car, or, a democrat who smells like one.
The only car smell any democrat would have would be....
penetrating flatulence into the seat cushion. Needing— Febreze at a minimum....
And Hillary— well, look up the story of her and Billy boy living across the hall from the writer, in DC at the time. They groupsexed apparently, and the writer was awakened by loud thumping at his apt. door, opened it and butt naked Hillary (now, that is a horrible image) was bent over— hurling in the hallway. Bill was loudly, uh, occupied with another (presumable) female. This is the “new car smell” Hillary presents-— vomitus, and her naked ass buttocks. Buttocks and bollocks— the first lesbian president? I think not. It is time for sober thinking on the dems part- which they will not do, no matter how clever.
Personally, I would have sourced such information. But I guess I’ll have to search it.
Rotten tuna?
Beware the Castros.
Go figure, we’ll have back-to-back Presidents named ‘Hussein’ and ‘Castro.’
Not only has Hillary been in the public eye since early 1992 (the “60 Minutes” interview to dismiss Gennifer Flowers), but the Democratic Party has moved further to the left under Obama. The activists have a big say in the primaries. Bill Clinton is a leftist but can pass himself off as a centrist (DLC and all that). Hillary may be outvoted in the primaries by the followers of whichever candidate becomes the far left’s favored candidate.
Not really. They have a bad (and OLD) front line and no bench.
The Democrat I’d take most seriously, if he runs, is Andrew Cuomo.
The only “smell” that I have noticed for LIBs/DIMs is the smell of fresh cow plop.
When Newsome and Kimberly Guilfoyle were married they were being touted as the second coming of Camelot and the Clintons all rolled into one. Thank God she woke up.
The front seat of the 2016 Democrat car will smell like a day old open can of tuna fish.
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