The Observation Deck

President Barack Obama is facing mounting doubts within his own party about his re-election prospects, with fellow Democrats beginning to ask if Hillary Clinton would have made a better president.

She has foreign policy experience

She served on the Committee on Armed Services while in the Senate and has been Secretary of State for the first four years of the Obama administration. That’s more foreign policy experience than any newly elected president since President George H.W. Bush. If people honestly think Jon Huntsman can run solely on his China credentials, Clinton has to have a shot with her foreign policy experience.

She’s the right woman at (almost) the right time

A large part of America remains starved for a female president since Clinton’s near miss in 2008. People forget the real source of the Palin fascination was massive disappointment among some women that Clinton couldn’t finish off Obama the first time around. What we need is the original candidate who convinced us a woman could be president. Clinging to facsimiles like Bachmann and Palin isn’t good for the country.

She was in the room

We all know the picture, and we all know who stands out in that picture. Still, not only was she there, but she’s stone cold enough to let you know that her hand isn’t covering her face out of emotion, but to stifle a cough. We would know she was running if she claimed she was hiding a yawn. Whatever the case, you can’t imagine Ron Paul or Herman Cain obtaining that kind of credibility between now and 2012.

She has health-care chops

Hillary started the health-care fight back in the early 1990s. It nearly cost her husband his job. More than a fair amount of the backlash from Hillary’s first run at health care seemed to boil down to why she was delving into serious policy issues as first lady rather than proper women’s issue like physical fitness, Just Say No campaigns, and reading programs. Here’s betting she could avoid those pitfalls this time around by reminding us that the health-care debate is about how to improve the law, not whether to repeal it. It’s safe to say not even Mitt Romney will break from the GOP enough to have an adult conversation on health care.

She’s a Clinton

Legacies are a time-honored political tradition from the Adams clan to the Bush clan. Once upon a time this legacy would actually have been a liability, but the country has surely realized that the prosperity and stability of the Bill Clinton years is the exception over the last few decades and not the rule. We’ve grown up a lot since the 1990s and Hillary could reap the benefits of that maturity after having more than paid her dues. If we need to resurrect a candidate from the ‘90s, Clinton easily beats Gingrich.

Will it happen? Will she run?

Not a chance. It’s a ludicrous idea that only makes sense when you consider the alternatives. America simply deserves an election that’s more a re-run of Clinton vs. Obama than whatever semi-original programming the Republicans can muster off Fox. If we have to choose between just two candidates in 2012, it might as well be the two best candidates with the two best set of ideas.

What the country does not need is Obama running to the right because of a bankrupt GOP field when he could have a real discussion about policies and issues with a worthy opponent. It just so happens that the most worthy foe is in his own administration.

Bryan Schwegler wrote:Hillary absolutely would have been a better president. I called Obama's complete failure as a leader even before he won the nomination.

But honestly, I still would have taken Obama any day over McCain/Pailn.

Ellen Cormier wrote:People don't become president to be your best friend. Obama and Hilary are both very different people but both share great similarities in terms of priorities so I don't think we would have a big difference in outcome. Hilary might have played more partisan hardball but would that lead to better results in a polarized country?

People need to seriously quit whining about Obama and ask themselves what they're doing personally to make this a better country and a better world. He said "yes WE can". The dude asked for a team effort and his aim was to include republicans in that as well no matter what their position because they hover around 50% of the population. There is no reason to be such a divided country. We all want opportunities and a secure future and a peaceful world. I do hope Hilary considers 2016. There don't seem to be any real leaders on the horizon from either party and that's kind of sad.

But I will say this about her, she is one resolute, no non-sense politician. At least on that count, I thought she was stronger than Obama.

On the other hand, Hilary did vote for the Iraq war signaling a willingness to go along to get along for no principled reason.

Ellen Cormier wrote:People need to seriously quit whining about Obama and ask themselves what they're doing personally to make this a better country and a better world. He said "yes WE can".