Pressure grows on Hillary to challenge sinking Obama

Will Hillary Clinton challenge Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination?

She says no, that she never wants to run for office again. But the pressure is growing on her to change her mind as Obama continues to slide in the polls — and as the left bloc of the party and Latino and black voters become more vocal in their disapproval of the president. And when White House spokesman Jay Carney was asked about the possibility at a press briefing on Monday, he was less than convincing with his answer. “You’d have to ask her,” Carney stammered after Lester Kinsolving of World Net Daily posed the question. “We’re fairly confident that we need to focus on the task at hand.” More than 1 in 4 Democrats — 27 percent — say they want someone other than Obama to run next year according to a CNN/ORC International poll. And while Obama’s job satisfaction figures have been running at 39 percent, the latest figure for the secretary of state, albeit from March, put her with a job approval rating of 66 percent.

Talk of a Clinton run started when independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said last month that Obama needed a challenge because he has drifted too far to the right. “There are millions of Americans who are deeply disappointed in the president, who believe that with regard to Social Security and other things, he said one thing as a candidate and is doing something very much else as a president — who cannot believe how weak he has been for whatever reason in negotiating with Republicans,” Sanders said. “It would do this country a good deal of service if people started thinking about candidates out there to begin contrasting a progressive agenda as opposed to what Obama believes he’s doing.

Though Sanders did not mention Clinton by name, she is seen as the most viable Democratic challenger to Obama. She ran hard against him for the nomination in 2008 and generally has been viewed as the most able member of the administration.

Conservative commentator S.E. Cupp took it one step further in her column last week in the New York Daily News. “She'd be tough and liberal,” wrote Cupp. “But far more importantly, she'd be effective. She'd be focused. Whether or not she got signature legislation through the Congress, she'd get the country back on the right track.” And on Tuesday, veteran correspondent Andrew Malcolm raised the issue in his blog for the Los Angeles Times. “A challenge to Obama seems pretty far-fetched today, with his job approval hovering around 39%. Hard to imagine the loyal secretary of State, who'll turn 64 in October, abruptly resigning to mount a challenge to her current boss and onetime bitter rival,” wrote Malcolm. “And she swears — well, actually, she just proclaims — that she'll never seek elective office again. “But, say, winter nears and the Republicans are dominating the political news with Mitt Romney and Rick Perry duking it out. “And August's 39% job-approval rating for the president has melted into 33% or 32%. And the economy shows no real signs of improving despite another couple of empty Obama jobs speeches calling for more spending on infrastructure because the first $787 billion didn't work.”

The feeling among Democrats that they backed the wrong horse in 2008 has been growing in recent weeks. They have become alarmed that Obama has appeared weak in dealing with Republicans especially over raising the debt ceiling and on spending cuts. One joke going the rounds after last week’s east coast earthquake, was that Republicans demanded it be 5.9 on the Richter Scale while Obama wanted it to be 3.5, so the two sides compromised and ended up with a 5.9. His poll figures among Latinos have fallen from 85 percent approval in 2009 to 49 percent now. His figures among African Americans remain in the 80s, but only this month Rep. Maxine Waters urged supporters to “unleash” her and other Congressional Black Caucus members so they could criticize him more harshly. President Bill Clinton’s former press secretary Dee Dee Myers told the Washington Post, “The president has shown himself unwilling to dig in on a position. He’s for jobs, I’ve heard him say that. He’s for being the adult in the room. But beyond that, I’m not actually sure what his bottom line is.” And North Carolina Democratic strategist Gary Pearce said, “Democrats are worried. He looks weak, he doesn’t say anything that grabs you and people are looking for some kind of magic. “You see a yearning for a Bill Clinton-type approach and Hillary would reflect that. Obama is just a different political animal.” Pollster Pat Caddell, who was working for President Jimmy Carter when Ted Kennedy tried to unseat Carter in 1980, said a challenge will become much more likely if the GOP wins the New York congressional seat formerly held by Anthony Weiner in a Sept. 13 special election. “That seat is the darkest blue Democrat you can be,” he said, adding that a lot of Jewish voters there are unhappy with the Obama administration’s policies on Israel. “If the Democrats lost that seat on the 13th, that’s the kind of earthquake that would start shaking up people,” Caddell told Fox News’ Neil Cavuto on Tuesday. Cavuto pointed out that nearly all post-war presidents who have seen their poll numbers slip have faced challenges that have fatally weakened them: Lyndon Johnson was challenged by Eugene McCarthy and soon after said he would not run again; Gerald Ford faced off with Ronald Reagan and then lost the election to Carter, and then Kennedy challenged Carter, who subsequently lost to Reagan. Caddell said he did not expect a challenge to come from Hillary Clinton because of her position within the administration. He also said many Democrats are leery about taking on the first African American president in a primary. A challenge is more likely to come from the left of the party, he said, mentioning the name of former Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold as a potential candidate. “If the president keeps going down, the job situation gets worse, if we have more problems this fall, at some point you are going to have people who say it’s worth showing the flag, it is worth making the case.

“The argument becomes, ‘It is time to get the president’s attention. We can’t be taken for granted and by being wishy-washy you’re going to lose anyway.’” If Clinton does decide to run, the battle within the Democratic Party would almost certainly be even more bitterly fought than it was four years ago. During that campaign, Clinton called Obama “irresponsible and naïve,” and issued a damning campaign advertisement questioning whether he would be the right person to answer a 3 a.m. phone call alerting him to an international crisis.

Where’s that black vote going to go? Is it going to Perry?

You are talking about the most corrupt and easily bought off group in the country. They are cheaper to hold than the unions are, I can tell you that.

No one’s dumping Obama. Obama dumped himself. There isn’t much dispute about this within their dysfunctional coven of infant-sacrificers.

The only question is whether Obama’s willing to repay the service to the party that put him in the job.

Either he goes quietly, or the party pays eternally when he decides he’s riding the gig all the way to the bottom, and doesn’t care who’s on the sub with him as it reaches hull crush depth.

His internals will be in the high 20’s by December, even if he’s possessed by Ronald Reagan and completely reverse the course of the country. He’s out of time and he knows it.

Really, this is the only question. Does he go quietly?

Hillary’s going to run. Her party will call her to do it against her protestations. Snakehead’s already doing a subtle ‘John the Baptist’ impression for her on the morning talk show circuit.

They are going to give him until Christmas, when DC clears out, and then he either makes the LBJ speech or he doesn’t. If he doesn’t, he’ll have a primary challenger.

I see what you are saying, but it doesn’t address the point: establishment white liberals have patronized black democrats for so long that they can’t credibly run the first black president out of office.

It’s also just as likely that after four years of a milestone like Obama, a majority of voters will want to go back to a traditional white guy as president.

The first ‘First Black President’ experiment has failed. Boring, white guy president is very likely to be just what the doctor ordered in 2012.

After that, who knows?

Oh, I’m sure they are going to argue with all of that, and the embarrassment of Obama being the ‘Great Black Hope’.

In the end, nobody is going to risk their seat to defend the guy, campaign for him, endorse him, etc.

The very dangerous part of all this is that the current situation is pretty fixable, and folks are sick to death about worrying over someone elses sensibilities, be they black, green, Muslim, or whatever. Democrats know this.

We could put thousands to work by calling off the EPA and letting the oil and mining companies go to work. Most R’s could get reelected by dismantling Obamacare all by itself.

It’ll be each vulnerable congresscritter vs. carrying Obama’s reputation. By the time we’re done, Hillary will not only be the first female President, she’ll also be the first honorary black female President.

You may be right, and their party is as stupid as ours. My observation, however, is that we are stupid both in office, and in trying to obtain the office. They are outstanding at obtaining and retaining power. They are cunning at getting their agenda through, and only stupid when it comes to pandering, and who gets first dibs.

Clinton and the homos, for example.

I don’t see this scenario happening, but what I do see is the D party working a plan with Hillary where she will take the VP seat (Biden will have something ailing him or has another commitment or something like that), and if they win the 2012 election with an Obama - HClinton ticket, the D party will then do something to have Obama removed, moving Hillary up. That is more in tune with the Hillary that wants to keep her entire Democrat party in tow, keep ALL of them on her better side and without losing some who might otherwise see her as ousting their representative... It gives Hillary a good public appearance and still gives her what she would like as an end result anyway with just a few additional months.

That is what I more see, but then again, I don’t have perfect eyesight either. :)

The Rats have painted themselves into a corner. For nearly three years, they've screamed that all opposition to Zero is raaaacist! So which Alpha Rat is going to step up and don the raaaacist hat by opposing him? Anyone... anyone? Bueller?

They can pressure him to step down. But what if he won't go?

Instead of the cross, the Albatross
About my neck was hung.

It would give all the wymen a place to go and if obama discovers he has a “series illness” {to be miraculously cured after the election and he gets appointed to Sphincter-General of the UN} and he pimped for the bitch, all the brothas and sistas would get in line with her.

This is something a lot of us watching over here actually expect to happen. She was tough and dangerous enough as a possible opponent when she was just a senator - now she has had political experience in probably the most important post in government? She’ll be lethally hard to beat without all of the right pulling together.

She’ll be lethally hard to beat without all of the right pulling together.

Well, then, she's already won because conservatives will be too busy bloodying each others fave candidates and then sit home on voting day because their "Perfect One" didn't get the nomination. They'll say, "I'd rather let Obama/Hillary win than vote for another (in their opinion) RINO." They all need their heads examined.

Please tell me that ain’t so. I always assumed a lot of those statements were hyperbole simply to make a point. At these early stages, it makes sense to support your preferred candidate with everything you got.

I missed the 08 election on here (had no internet for nearly a year, it was a tough time in our terrible economy and the luxuries had to go for a bit) but really, if people are foolish enough to REALLY take their ball and go home, they get the govenment they deserve. Shame for the rest of us though ....

Independence of mind, opinion and self is great, and something conservatives do well naturally. The left understands the power of united action. Watch how a large mammal fares against a school of pirahna for an appropriate illustration.

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