FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
A radio host in Southern California named John Phillips wrote a piece in the Los Angeles Times titled "Why Hillary Clinton Must Run in 2012."
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In it, he lays out why he thinks Clinton could win the Oval Office this time around. He points to approval ratings– President Obama at just 42% in a new Quinnipiac University poll, Secretary of State Clinton at 66% in a similar poll conducted by Gallup.
Phillips also talks about dissatisfied Clinton backers from the 2008 primaries who never really fell in love with Obama. To quote, "They just fell in line." And Phillips suggests these folks are so fed up with Obama they could be persuaded to vote for a Republican rather than vote to re-elect the president.
But why is Hillary Clinton suddenly so much more attractive as a candidate? Phillips says the military action in Libya was Hillary's "I told you so" moment with "Hillary serving as the realistic, aggressive war hawk and Obama being a not-ready-for-prime-time waffler."
While Phillips might be on to something, the secretary of state has said repeatedly that she is not interested in running for president again.
When Wolf Blitzer asked her in Cairo if she'd want to be president in 2012, she quickly said no.
What about 2016? She said:
"I am doing what I want to do right now and I have no intention or any idea even of running again. I'm going to do the best I can at this job for the next two years."
Of course 2012 is still a ways off, and in politics, as we have seen, stranger things have happened.
Here’s my question to you: Do you think Hillary Clinton could beat President Obama next year?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Pat:
Yes, and regardless what she said about running for president, I think she would make a far better president than Obama ever has.
Ray in Knoxville, Tennessee:
Jack, she has improved her image immensely by her work as Secretary of State and President Obama has alienated the Democratic left, so she could win the nomination.
Susan in Oregon:
Sure. But why should she? Never send a man to do a woman's job and don't expect a woman to come in and clean up his mess after he's screwed it up. She's busted her butt as FLOTUS, Senator, and Secretary of State. It's her call but, yeah, it would be a shellacking.
AB:
Jack, despite the poll numbers favoring Hillary Clinton, she is no match for Obama and if she runs against him again, she will be beaten into bankruptcy and a nervous breakdown. Hillary made the grave mistake of underestimating the political savvy and acumen of Obama and I do not think that she will ever make that mistake again.
Scott:
Yes, I think Hillary could make a viable run in 2012. Some 2008 Obama campaign workers here in western Washington state are asking,"Why the escalation to a new war in Afghanistan? Why is GITMO still open? Where is the public option?" Little missteps by President Obama seem to mount, and with so many substantial problems unresolved, many voters I talk to are grossed out by the announcement already that he will start raising a billion dollars for his 2012 campaign. It may be time for a change.
Diana:
I think, like millions of Americans, she is the best. I am a Republican but if she runs for President for the first time in my life I will vote Democrat. Hillary is prepared and ready to run this country.
Bill:
Yes, she could. And it would be different. The question is would it be better?