It was pretty obvious back in early 2009. Obama brought in political enemy Hillary Clinton to be his secretary of state as a rough equivalent to the oft-stated principle from the Godfather pictures -- "keep your friends close, but your enemies closer." But how long will it last?
According to new Gallup polling -- and despite Hillary in my estimation looking just as lost on the Libyan war as Obama himself -- Hillary's on an "all-time high" like Rita Coolidge in an obscure 007 flick:
"Clinton's favorable rating from Americans is now 66%, up from 61% in July 2010 and her highest rating to date while serving in the Obama administration. The current rating is just one percentage point below her all-time high rating of 67%, from December 1998 [following the Bill/Monica Lewinsky scandal]."
But not such good news for the president, as Obama's poll is definitely not rising, even given Michelle's general attractiveness. As Politico.com reports this week on a new Quinnipiac University poll:
"Half of registered voters surveyed for the poll think that the president does not deserve a second term in office, while 41% say he does. In another Quinnipiac poll released just four weeks ago, 45% said the president did not deserve reelection, while 47% said he did."
The 41% number is a "record low" for Obama, says Politico. [Interestingly, the Gallup polling data puts Obama's approval rating at above 50%, which on its face would not seem to jive with the Quinnipiac poll. However, my assumption is that the discrepancy has a hell of a lot to do with the fact that Quinnipiac polled registered voters, while it doesn't appear that Gallup imposed such a restriction (polling "Americans" in general, apparently.]
All of this new polling begs the question raised more than once before: Would Hillary consider a 2012 democrat party primary challenge from Obama's "right"? It still remains unlikely, and would presumably require Clinton (sooner rather than later) to resign as secretary of state (the enemy fleeing the gates, so to speak).
But if Obama's approval rating with registered voters continues to linger well under 50% in the months to come, he suddenly becomes very vulnerable in the general election despite (1) the huge inherent advantage he has in that election as the incumbent president and (2) the fact that the likely republican challenger will come from the current odd assortment of boring white male retreads and never-weres.
If it becomes pretty clear that Obama may be more likely than not to lose in 2012, I could see Clinton seriously considering tossing her hat into the primary ring. She's previously claimed to rule out a run in 2012, but these politicians all the time change their mind on such things (and make statements taking opposite positions from the past) and are rarely held accountable for it by much of anyone (except me).
Make no mistake, I believe I'm pretty clearly on record that I don't like Clinton and don't think I could ever vote for her. Frankly, as far to the left that the democrat party of today is, I doubt I'll ever again in my life vote for a democrat (I almost always vote for third party candidates).
But if we have to have either Obama or Clinton as president and no one else, give me Clinton because while she's certainly no "moderate" in my eyes, she's also not nearly as hardcore far leftist 20 percenter as Obama. She in many ways takes after her slimeball husband (whom I once voted for, believe it or not!) in that regard:
Like her husband, Hillary is very politically calculated in every single thing she does and will act "moderate" when she feels it's in her best political interests while acting more pure leftist when she sees a political advantage to doing that. Obama's not nearly as good at this. He was good at the "moderate" act during the 2008 campaign, but his efforts to pull it off as president since the distastrous 2010 midterm elections have been lackluster at best.
In other words, Obama's no Bubba! (Or Hillary, for that matter). And that fact could just result in continued poor polling numbers that would lead a Hillary Clinton to seriously consider a primary run. As consummate politicians (very much a derogatory description in my mind, BTW) such as Clinton are fond of often saying: "I wouldn't rule it out."
http://www.gallup.com/poll/146891/Hillary-Clinton-Favorable-Near-Time-High.aspx
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0311/52208.html
"Clinton's favorable rating from Americans is now 66%, up from 61% in July 2010 and her highest rating to date while serving in the Obama administration. The current rating is just one percentage point below her all-time high rating of 67%, from December 1998 [following the Bill/Monica Lewinsky scandal]."
But not such good news for the president, as Obama's poll is definitely not rising, even given Michelle's general attractiveness. As Politico.com reports this week on a new Quinnipiac University poll:
"Half of registered voters surveyed for the poll think that the president does not deserve a second term in office, while 41% say he does. In another Quinnipiac poll released just four weeks ago, 45% said the president did not deserve reelection, while 47% said he did."
The 41% number is a "record low" for Obama, says Politico. [Interestingly, the Gallup polling data puts Obama's approval rating at above 50%, which on its face would not seem to jive with the Quinnipiac poll. However, my assumption is that the discrepancy has a hell of a lot to do with the fact that Quinnipiac polled registered voters, while it doesn't appear that Gallup imposed such a restriction (polling "Americans" in general, apparently.]
All of this new polling begs the question raised more than once before: Would Hillary consider a 2012 democrat party primary challenge from Obama's "right"? It still remains unlikely, and would presumably require Clinton (sooner rather than later) to resign as secretary of state (the enemy fleeing the gates, so to speak).
But if Obama's approval rating with registered voters continues to linger well under 50% in the months to come, he suddenly becomes very vulnerable in the general election despite (1) the huge inherent advantage he has in that election as the incumbent president and (2) the fact that the likely republican challenger will come from the current odd assortment of boring white male retreads and never-weres.
If it becomes pretty clear that Obama may be more likely than not to lose in 2012, I could see Clinton seriously considering tossing her hat into the primary ring. She's previously claimed to rule out a run in 2012, but these politicians all the time change their mind on such things (and make statements taking opposite positions from the past) and are rarely held accountable for it by much of anyone (except me).
Make no mistake, I believe I'm pretty clearly on record that I don't like Clinton and don't think I could ever vote for her. Frankly, as far to the left that the democrat party of today is, I doubt I'll ever again in my life vote for a democrat (I almost always vote for third party candidates).
But if we have to have either Obama or Clinton as president and no one else, give me Clinton because while she's certainly no "moderate" in my eyes, she's also not nearly as hardcore far leftist 20 percenter as Obama. She in many ways takes after her slimeball husband (whom I once voted for, believe it or not!) in that regard:
Like her husband, Hillary is very politically calculated in every single thing she does and will act "moderate" when she feels it's in her best political interests while acting more pure leftist when she sees a political advantage to doing that. Obama's not nearly as good at this. He was good at the "moderate" act during the 2008 campaign, but his efforts to pull it off as president since the distastrous 2010 midterm elections have been lackluster at best.
In other words, Obama's no Bubba! (Or Hillary, for that matter). And that fact could just result in continued poor polling numbers that would lead a Hillary Clinton to seriously consider a primary run. As consummate politicians (very much a derogatory description in my mind, BTW) such as Clinton are fond of often saying: "I wouldn't rule it out."
http://www.gallup.com/poll/146891/Hillary-Clinton-Favorable-Near-Time-High.aspx
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0311/52208.html
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