Democrats consider run by gaffe-prone Joe Biden?

Dr. Jill Biden "not sold on potential Biden run?"

Well, the Huffington Post headline tells us, “Jill Not Sold On Potential Biden Run.” The reasons the article gives avoid one of Joe’s weaknesses that perhaps his wife knows better than anyone else. The article mentions the grief the family is experiencing in the aftermath of Beau Biden’s death as a major source of Jill’s resistance to Joe’s candidacy in 2016. Could be, though, the thought of her gaffe-prone husband being elected president makes her a little nervous; as well it should.

As President Obama hinted in his introductory remarks in March 2010 at Northern Virginia Community College in Alexandria, Virginia, Vice President Biden could be a problem now and then:  Introduced by Dr. Jill Biden, the vice president's wife, Obama said, "Thank you Dr. Biden for that outstanding introduction, and for putting up with Joe"

You have to wonder how many heads of state would be as gracious as Jill in putting up with Joe Biden’s unfortunate gaffes.

But then anti-Hillary Democrats are becoming increasingly desperate in their search for a candidate to oppose Hillary Clinton in the 2016 primary. The politically inexperienced Elizabeth Warren has enough common sense to refuse to run; Socialist maverick Bernie Sanders would have to lunge even farther to the center than Obama did in order to get elected; and Joe Biden, most well known for his gaffes, would likely embarrass the Dems or more accurately, the Dims, even before his nomination.

It’s time for the Democratic Party to get its act together and throw its full support behind its most experienced, politically savvy, and authentic candidate  – what you see is what you get with Hillary.

A wave to sister bloggers from 2008 who supported Hillary

High marks in foreign policy with Hillary as SoS.

All of the online chatter about a potential Hillary Clinton run in 2016 is naturally triggering a flashback to 2008, but not necessarily to the Democratic primary or its outcome. Instead, it’s kind of a nostalgia trip in which I’m remembering with affection sister bloggers across the Internet who went all out in support of Hillary. And I’m wondering where they are now and what they’re thinking about in the run up to 2016. Here’s a wave from Virginia at Katalusis to Heidi Li at Heidi Li’s Potpourri, Stray Yellar Dog, Lady Boomer NYC, Puma for Life, Tennessee Guerilla Women, Cine’s World, and other online Hillary supporters too numerous to mention.

In the meantime, John Fetter, co-director of Foreign Policy in Focus, has published a thought-provoking piece on what a Hillary Clinton presidency might look like. But first, let me remind Fetter that the Obama Administration’s poll ranking in foreign policy was much higher when Clinton was SoS, than it is now with John Kerry holding that top cabinet post.

In one of the most enduring images from the lead-up to the 2008 Democratic primaries, frontrunner Hillary Clinton appeared in a rogue political ad as Big Brother.

It was a take-off on the infamous 1984 Super Bowl commercial that pitted upstart Apple against Big Blue (IBM) and urged consumers to "Think Different." In the campaign makeover two decades later, Clinton is intoning political platitudes on a screen in front of an audience of grey worker drones. A young woman races down the aisle, her Obama T-shirt ablaze with color in a black-and-white world, and launches a hammer at the screen. It explodes, and Clinton disappears. The ad is titled "Vote Different."

Like Apple, Obama styled himself as the younger, hipper, more unconventional alternative to the staid mainstream choice. Obama was so much of an outsider that many believed he'd been born outside the United States, while Clinton, the former first lady, was a consummate insider. He opposed the Iraq War while she voted for it. He embraced "purple America," while she was as Big Blue as you could get. He was a swirl of different flavors, while she was plain vanilla.

Each of these contrasts broke down on closer examination. But in part because he cultivated this image of a disrupter in the mold of Steve Jobs, Obama went on to win the Iowa primary, the Democratic Party nomination, and the presidency. Hillary Clinton had to content herself with secretary of state.

Seven years later, Clinton is considering another run at the presidency. Once again, she is the dominant brand in the marketplace, the one to beat. Just as IBM borrowed some of Apple's shine to reconnect with consumers -- adopting for example a more user-friendly interface -- Hillary will try, if she declares her candidacy, to capitalize on whatever remains of Obama's popularity to become America's first woman president. The right, without an obvious candidate to support, has already poured money into efforts like the website Washington Free Beacon to disrupt her candidacy. Several potential insurgents on the left -- Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders -- are waiting off stage.

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