What’s wrong with Hillary Clinton’s likely 2016 presidential campaign in two words

Leslie Savan of The Nation has a great piece explaining what’s wrong with Hillary Clinton’s likely 2016 presidential campaign in two words.

“I’m baaack!” With those two words, delivered Arnold-style, Hillary Clinton revealed a lot about what’s wrong with her probable candidacy.

“Hello, Iowa!” she beamed from a stage at the Tom Harkin Steak Fry in Indianola over the weekend. Then, raising her arms, she delivered the Terminator’s catchphrase, showing herself to be tone deaf to the negative perception of her as an indestructible robot, as “inevitable,” the same presumption that hamstringed her campaign in 2008.

Not to mention the annoying factor. “I’m baaack!” is the greeting from people whose return is at best tiresome.

Maybe Clinton used the phrase to evince a get-back-up-on-your-feet gumption. That’s what it seemed to mean to her many fans, who cheered wildly at her return to Iowa, where she came in third place in the ’08 Democratic primary in a defeat she’s called “excruciating.”

But for the rest of us, quoting a cyborg is yet another sign (like her disingenuous comments about her wealth) that she’d make a poor candidate who can’t help but step on her own feet.

For what it’s worth, I think it’s inevitable that Hillary Clinton will seek the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, but I’m hoping that she’ll find herself challenged from the left, because the last thing I want is another moderate/corporate Democratic president like the one we’ve already got.