Why Hillary Clinton Must Run

Dear Secretary Clinton...

It's time for you to announce that you'll be running against Barack Obama in next year's Democratic presidential primaries. Your party and your country need you now more than ever.

Yes, we all know how rare it is to take on a sitting president from your own party. But this is no normal election year and the circumstances are dire and the stakes too high. By next November if there isn't significant improvement in the economy and appreciably reduced unemployment, President Obama will likely lose to a Republican. And it might be a Tea Party Republican like Michele Bachmann or Rick Perry, who will set America back 200 years from an economic, policy and social standpoint. Government as we Democrats know it will be unrecognizable, and the advancements we've made in the areas of education, healthcare, science, environmental protection and civil/human rights will fall to ignorance, intolerance and religious zealotry. We simply cannot lose next year's election, and you must be a part of the strategy to keep the White House in Democratic hands.

You've seen Obama's poll numbers. You know the state of the economy. You saw Friday's employment report that showed zero job growth for August. The Obama administration projects that unemployment will be at 9% by the election, yet no president since FDR has been elected when unemployment tops 7.2%. And you've seen how Obama's former supporters are hugely disappointed and disillusioned by his constant caving to the right. Most Americans now believe our government is broken and not functioning properly. Democrats need and want a president who knows how to fight. A president who knows what she stands for, has a vision to achieve her goals, and the passion and gravitas to battle the ruthless obstructionist GOP machine to push through her agenda. A president who'd rather wage war with Republicans than succumb to them. There are tens of millions of voters ready to dump Obama and support you.

There's been much speculation that you'll be running in 2016. But that will be too late. Your time is now. Regardless of whether a Republican or Democrat is in office, the economy is sure to turn around well before the 2016 election. Economies are cyclical, and this one too will improve. And if Obama loses next year, a Republican incumbent running in a strong economy will no doubt win re-election. Which means your next real chance to actually occupy the White House will be 2020 when you will be seventy-three; too old to be president and too old to want to be.

If you run next year you will win. Remember how close you came to beating Obama in 2008. Think of how easy it will be to beat him this time. And I'll bet my life savings on a match-up between you and any Republican. Should you run, I and countless others will do everything in our power to support you... from blogging to raising money to campaigning in the streets.

Madam Secretary, please run. America's future depends on you.

 

Follow Andy Ostroy on Twitter: www.twitter.com/AndyOstroy

Comments

[rfrey]

05:09 PM on 09/16/2011

Dear Hillary...Although I was an avid campaigner for Obama I now have to admit that I am feeling that he will not be able to be re-elected come 2012. The GOP has spent every day of his Presidency trying to make it just one term and I believe they are succeeding. I beg and implore you, for the sake of the country and the Democratic party and its ideals, to run for POTUS. I will stand behind you, work for you, commit to bring you votes, etc. Most of the people I know would carry your torch. I urge you to consider running...it is your time...and ours.

[BinghamLofts]

12:17 PM on 09/16/2011

hillary clintion did not lose the democratic primaries in 2008. they were taken from her by her party who was so in love with this obama guy. now two years later, it is very clear what a mistake that was.

[party-of-one]

12:24 PM on 09/30/2011

many Democratic voters, and even more progressives who did not vote in the primaries, did not want Hillary Clinton, and Bill and their baggage, in the White House. period. If she had been elected, in addition to expansions in Iraq and Afghanistan, we would likely be at war with Iran. We suffer enough with the Clintons' service to corporate profiteers now. I cannot image what they would have done or still would do, if they got back into the presidency itself.

I don't think Hillary could have been elected, or could have governed if she was.

Knowing all that I know, I still believe Obama would be better choice over the Clintons.

[Nuala007]

09:11 AM on 09/14/2011

Well said!

[lilyinbloom]

01:30 PM on 09/13/2011

Shoulda, woulda, coulda ... That said, she'd have my vote and active support if she did run. (Although, based on interviews she's given up to this point, that's not looking likely.)

[abhorson]

03:33 AM on 09/13/2011

I don't care either way ... BUT... if she runs Obama is toast... party will be split in 1/2... she'll lose and she'll be accused of racism ... it will take the Dems 10 years to recover.... which might be fine with a lot of folks ...

[lilyinbloom]

01:26 PM on 09/13/2011

Considering his current approval rating and hers, I don't think Dems will necessarily be split.

[abhorson]

02:29 PM on 09/13/2011

it won't work... never has... you just gotta grin and bear it ... either he wins and gets knocked around for 4 years... or he loses and Dems get to knock Romney around...

[tedperl]

10:55 PM on 09/14/2011

Thinking that a primary challenge by Clinton would be good for the Democratic Party has to be one of the dumbest ideas--Sarah Palin dumb-that I have ever heard. Doubtful that she could beat Obama, and the cost would be civil war in the party, which would take 10 years to recover. And even if she won, the nomination would not be worth the proverbial vat of warm spit. Even Palin could beat whoever survived that process.

[diatribe tx]

06:07 PM on 09/12/2011

Keep doing what your doing, you might get to hobnob with them someday... which is clearly what you are all about. Know somebody who knows somebody that is a friend of the Clinton's by chance? I'm sure when Chelsea starts up her political career you won't be far behind with your pom-poms. This guy is an obvious schmooze.

[Lu4PUMA]

08:51 PM on 09/09/2011

Run, Hillary Run!!!!!!!!!!!!

[party-of-one]

09:33 AM on 09/10/2011

If she is going to run, she should get into the Republican debates now, or she will never be able to defeat Perry or Romney in the primaries and win her party's nomination. :)

[DefenseProducts]

10:05 AM on 09/09/2011

I agree that she should run! She'll have my vote!

[Menemshasunset]

07:50 PM on 09/08/2011

YES!

[KrazyJay]

10:10 PM on 09/07/2011

Are we really going to play into Dick Cheney's game? Whatever we could have done, we should have done it in 2008, and we made a different choice. There is no example in modern history where a sitting President was challenged successfully within his own party, with the challenger going on to win. Poll the Democratic base, and yes, you may see a preference ... but the voting public majority really isn't crying for old Hills right now.

Yes, we should have voted for her in 2008, but she isn't Bobby Kennedy.

[Andy Ostroy]

07:52 AM on 09/08/2011

flashback to 2008..."A black man with no experience named 'Barack Hussein Obama' and a Senator no less? When's the last time a Senator was elected president...and we'll NEVER have a black president!" How many people said that then? Look...I don;t play the "we've never had" game. You can do that. Times are different now, and this economy is the worst in 85 years. Anything can, and will, happen...

[TheBaffler]

08:47 AM on 09/08/2011

Flashback to yesterday, from a post by someone named Andy Ostroy:

'"President Feingold" is unelectabl­e. This is the problem with many Democrats. You guys fall in love too easy with ideals and "message" candidates­...with fringe candidates who may on some level be worthy of the job but, for various reasons (including being dull, unknown, too far left, etc), would never even come close. Eugene McCarthy..­.Ralph Nader...Be­rnie Sanders...­Dennis Kucinich. This is why our party is so splintered and we rarely win. get real. The only person who has a shot at actually beating Obama is Hillary.'

So, people were wrong to assume an unknown black man with little experience could become president, but today we're supposed to scoff at the possibility of anyone but Hillary Clinton winning. Hilarious.

[violettefemme]

01:12 PM on 09/13/2011

There is also no example in even the most recent history when anyone other than a white man was US president...among many other things.

[Dan Hydar]

06:57 PM on 09/07/2011

On the other hand, pushing Obama out would result in record low black voter turnout & possibly even protest votes for the GOP. It would be very difficult for Hillary.... or any Democrat to win in that situation. Heck, it would risk a longer-term rift in the Democrat coallition.

[The JillyBean]

12:16 AM on 09/15/2011

Some of us know to vote with our brain not our pigment. The very problems that people are angry with Obama now, were the suspicions I had about his unfitness to be president. Which is why I did not vote for him in the primaries or the general election. He's great at speeches and lousy at action. As far as I'm concerned anyone who didn't see this coming a mile away must have been walking around blindfolded. I'm of average intelligence and I figured it out.

[Andy Ostroy]

11:09 AM on 09/07/2011

To those of you who were extremely upset that you might have to miss part of Jerry Springer today to watch me on MSNBC, you've been given a temporary reprieve. My interview has been rescheduled to tomorrow/Thursday same time...11:30am EST

[Rob Brooks]

11:54 AM on 09/07/2011

Congratulations Andy. Way to go.

[WilliamL]

02:33 PM on 09/07/2011

That is great but why do you find it necessary to be insulting ?

A simple headups would have been sufficient.

[Andy Ostroy]

11:32 PM on 09/07/2011

Insulting? Try humor! And, I personally love/watch Springer whenever I can. And BTW....they now moved me again! To Friday at 11am EST. Hopefully will be able to comment on Obama's speech now too...

[violettefemme]

01:13 PM on 09/13/2011

What was insulting about that?

[Lee Johnston]

09:56 AM on 09/07/2011

The reason you want Clinton to run for president is not because Obama is incompetent but because a Republican win (I quote) "will set America back 200 years from an economic, policy and social standpoint." Really I haven't heard a single Republican say “I plan to take this country back to 1812 economically and socially. 1800's do you actually believe that? Do you really think Bachmann or Perry would like to see the advancements made in the areas of education, healthcare, science, environmental protection and civil/human rights returned to the 1800's? This is why there was such a Republican landslide the last election and why Obama will lose the next election. Instead of attacking the real issues liberals make statements that they know to be outrageous lies. Even the most hardcore Democrats are starting to recognize that you can't spend your way out of debt. The policies of liberalism are slowly eating away the moral fiber that binds this country together as a great nation. You may hope that Hillary can motivate the Democratic Party but I believe that it's a little too late.

[Larrythetarheel]

10:15 AM on 09/07/2011

You see you do not know the Bachman Perry wing, they would just love to go back to the 1930's. That would be good enough for them.

[splinky]

10:52 AM on 09/07/2011

Ron Paul did say that he wanted the government response to a natural disaster to be what it was in 1900.

[tonijefferson3]

08:22 PM on 09/12/2011

Sure did!

[mountainweb]

08:50 AM on 09/07/2011

Key factor, unemployment in the black community is at 20% and rising in many places, the rest of the country is at 9% and rising. The unemployed do not buy new cars and houses, they do not spend money on expensive vacations. They are NOT impressed by the massive spending under Obama that has done nothing but put money in the pockets of the banks that are trying to foreclose on their homes. Way too many voters see the democratic party as lost in a policy of waging war with the other party instead of addressing the issues of the average taxpayer. Bottom line, they want a CHANGE and clearly Obama is not the person to bring the kind of change they want...

[Helzapoppin]

08:46 AM on 09/07/2011

Dems don't need another Clinton any more than they need 4 more years of Obama. What America needs is someone who fights for the pre-Clinton legacy of the Democratic Party - one that stood up for workers, human rights, the environment, and was not a subsidiary of Wall Street.

[IAM4CLINTON]

06:46 PM on 09/08/2011

You mean we Democrats should go back to Jimmy Carter- hell No ! Bill Clinton restored the relevancy of the Democratic party to the Presidency and it is indeed very sad to see Barack Obama totally destroy that credibility that the Democratic party regained in the 90s

[tonijefferson3]

08:23 PM on 09/12/2011

Suggestions?