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.
“New car smell”?! No such thing anymore. All are rats and stink to high heaven.
And a 70 year old VW bus covered with bumper stickers like Hillary has more or less lost its “new car smell”.
Yeah.....ha ha.....good Gruberism there Barack.
He said that the American people are stupid. I wonder why he hired Gruber?
Not if Cheech an Chong were Driving.
Sorry Obama but that doesn't apply to you. You barely made it out of the garage and before you even left the driveway, you had us in a ditch.
Define “new car”. To a 16-year-old from my era a “new car” was a car he just purchased from someone. Those cars were often “junkers” that smelled of cigarette smoke, burgers and French fried, etc., and those were the more pleasant smells. So if “new car” means “I just purchased this junker”, yes, any DemonCrap can have that sort of “new car” smell.
The 2016 Demorat, the car you’ve been expecting.
It’s got that fish under the back seat smell...
Your children will love it, they’ll be paying
for it the rest of their lives.
Unless Cuomo has something, I don’t see much for the Democrats, unless they can get say, Rod Blago whatshisname.
The front runners are a disgusting batch filled with anything but pleasant smells. An old hagggard liar like Hillary or Fauxcahantas does not conjure smells of carcinogenic smells of a new car but a honey bucket, mothballs, bourbon, and old make-up.
“Do you ever get that not fresh feeling from the democrat ticket?”
Maybe a back seat smell.....
Obama really eff’ed over the Dems with that comment
ANY democrat at the wheel is gonna make a car smell like the one in Goodfellas...
Like it’s got a dead gangster in the trunk.
I think Hill is going to have that rotten egg smell. :-)
Blago will have to do now that Trafficant and that DC guy have merged with the Universe.
He's serving a 14 year prison term in Colorado.
So, yes he would be a viable 'rat candidate.
“I think Hill is going to have that rotten egg smell. :”
Well her skin looks like Corinthian Leather!
The stench that emanated from that gathering tells me that Liawatha will have a smell about her if she's nominated but it won't be one of the "new car" variety.
That’s a fair point.
I’ll tell this little story here, I didn’t learn to drive until I was in my late 30s (grew up in NYC) so my first car was indeed a new car. I gave a lift to a neighbor once and he actually got in and said in awe: it’s got that new car smell!
I think that was the first time I ever heard that expression.
And I don’t know if people are really going to be looking for “new”, maybe we had our fill of “new & shiny” with Obama.
Maybe we are going to be look for COMPETENT.
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