One future presidential nominee needs someone with a totally different ethnic and social background. The incumbent needs someone who doesn't trip over their tongue and has star power to rekindle his fading one.
The future looks bright for a showdown of major proportions this November. The stakes have never been higher and both sides will send their biggest players to the sandbox for the tournament that produces just one winner.
Hillary Clinton is tired of traveling the world as this country's Secretary of State (who can blame her) and she's ready to park it for four years. Where better than as vice-president to her former adversary and boss, Barack Obama, where she can contemplate a run for President in her early 70's the next four years while attending state funerals and shopping center openings through her largely ceremonial position.
On the other hand, bright and ambitious up-and-comer Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida is fresh out of the box and itching for a fight with Obama. Who better to compliment Mitt Romney's Beacon Hill reputation than a refugee Cuban from South Florida who just might turn the Latino vote on its ear with his brilliant oratory and grasp of the issues. Young and vibrant, a perfect vice-president who can be groomed for the next eight years, as George H.W. Bush was under Ronald Reagan. It would be hard to stop Rubio's candidacy in 2020 to be the 46th President of the United States.
A highly disciplined and unified Republican opposition has taken a toll. This is no time for the president to doddle, leaving someone of Joe Biden's stature languishing in a position where he has been mocked and derided behind his back from Saturday Night Live to the New York Times. No, with the Republicans taking on firebrand Rubio to compliment Romney's immense business experience, Obama has to go for gold.
Clinton is a bit of a risk. Unlike the totally defined reasoning behind Rubio that includes an all-out attempt to capture the elusive Latino vote, Obama's problems aren't in the foreign policy department where Clinton obviously excels. “He” killed bin Laden and plowed drones down our enemy's throats, which makes him quite popular on that front. Hillary cannot add anything to that part of the resume, nor actually help him through any real world experience on the economy.
What Hillary brings is the female vote. Many have not forgotten the brutal and often personal 2008 campaign with Obama. This would heal a lot of wounds, be great copy for the media and leave a message that enables Obama to run away from his atrocious record rather than toward it. According to the latest Gallup poll, the duo are this year's most admired man and woman. This marks the fourth consecutive win for Obama, while Clinton has been the most admired woman in each of the last 10 years.
Forget about the primaries and caucuses thus far for the Republicans. Mitt Romney will be the nominee unless the Republicans lose their minds. They don't appear posed to commit national suicide in the looming election, although Newt has had his day in the sun. That will all end in Florida as Romney will run the board here on out.
Romney will need a conservative wing man the Tea Partiers approve of. Rubio, an evangelical Christian committed to reducing taxes and shrinking growth of government fits the bill. Add his Latino (Cuban) heritage and the huge state of Florida and you have a winning combination of North and South meeting in the middle. Today's candidate and tomorrow's star.
Yes, it will be Massachusetts/Florida vs Illinois, Hawaii/Arkansas, Illinois, New York.
Count on it.
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