Ah, Yes, 2016

President Obama was inaugurated for his second term only about a week ago and here we are already discussing the 2016 election. I suspect that only in the United States would anything so completely nonsensical happen, other countries are much more serious when it comes go governing. Of course we have to recognize that if 2016 was not going to be the focus for the next four years our news media might have to actually invest money in trying to discover if anything of note was actually happening anywhere else around the world. I feel foolish indeed for falling into the trap of talking about 2016, but as that is the main topic of conversation these days I decided to comment.

The primary concern, it seems, is whether or not Hillary Clinton is going to run for President in 2016. I would think this a pretty stupid question to ask about a woman who has apparently wanted to be President since she was in elementary school, who already attempted it once, only to be defeated by a nation so sexist they preferred a Black man to a more qualified woman, the ultimate and impenetrable glass ceiling. Now, however, I believe things will be different when she runs. Besides being an ex First Lady, a successful and popular Senator, she has also “made her bones” as a very successful Secretary of State, probably one of the best ever, and enjoys enormous popularity virtually everywhere. It is widely believed that if she runs she will be unbeatable. I believe this is true. However, there are a lot of “ifs.”

It is four years (a long time) before the 2016 election. As she is no longer Secretary of State she will have to do something if she wants to remain in the public eye, something that will help her to continue to maintain her unusual popularity and possibly even add to it. She will also run if she avoids any health problems (she will be 69 in 2016), if she and Bill do not become involved in some kind of scandal, if someone on the kooky extreme right doesn’t assassinate her, if there is not some unpredictable occurrence that might interfere with her plans, if Joe Biden gets the blessing of President Obama rather than her, if the Republicans somehow find a candidate so sane and charismatic he might actually challenge her, if the earth is not burned to a crisp by then, and if, for some unknown, unpredictable, and unfathomable reason she decides not to run, if the earth is not invaded and conquered by visitors from outer space or destroyed by a series of nuclear accidents, if it is not hit by a stray comet, or if women are defeated in the “war on women” and so disgraced they are back to being barefoot and pregnant wearing flour sack dresses in the kitchen as the Republicans would have it. She might decide she simply does not want to put up with the horribly unpleasant roviation they will no doubt have in store for her. Obviously most of these things are unlikely, but four years is a long time, anything might happen, which is why we should not even be thinking about this at least for two or three more years. But, as I say, this is the United States, being run by a conglomerate of huge corporations that might just decide to sell it to China rather than be troubled by it any longer.

I do not believe that any woman, especially Hillary Clinton, could possibly resist the temptation of becoming the first female President of the United States. We managed somehow to elect a Black man as President, the next step has to be a woman. It is pretty obvious that Obama is setting her up to run in 2016 to continue his democratic legacy, equally obvious that is why Bill Clinton has gone all out in support of Obama. It is also obvious that Obama and Hillary share the same values and goals for the country. Who could possibly be a better candidate to follow Obama? This is, as they say, “a marriage made in heaven.” If Hillary runs of course I would support her although she is far too “hawkish” for my taste. I am also not sure where she (or even Obama for that matter) truly stands on the Israeli/Palestinian problem. In any case who would represent the Republican opposition, Sarah Palin, Paul Ryan, Bobby Jindal, the moron Governor of Texas, maybe New Jersey Fats? I cannot see any Republican candidate that could realistically beat Hillary.

But don’t forget, many people thought she would be the inevitable winner against Obama, and we know how that turned out.  

   “roviate v. to smear, slime, malign, denigrate, and attempt to destroy an opponent through the use of innuendo, rumor, slander, outright lies and any other despicable means available. Roviation works more effectively when done in collusion with major media.”