Wow. Just Wow.
Posted: October 27, 2011 Filed under: Foreign Affairs, Hillary Clinton, Women's Rights 41 Comments
A national poll conducted for TIME on Oct. 9 and 10 found that if Clinton were the Democratic nominee for President in 2012, she would best Mitt Romney 55% to 38%, Rick Perry 58% to 32% and Herman Cain 56% to 34% among likely voters in a general election. The same poll found that President Obama would edge Romney by just 46% to 43%, Perry by 50% to 38% and Cain by 49% to 37% among likely voters.
This weeks’ Time Magazine features Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. It has interviews and some great Diana Walker Photos. The interview is on the idea of “smart power” which may become known as the Clinton Doctrine.
Hillary Clinton argues in our cover story this week, now available online to subscribers, that America is not so much in decline as adjusting to a world of increasingly diffuse power, where like-minded networked individuals, non-governmental organizations and other non-traditional global actors may steer events as much as great power capitals. Clinton lays out “smart power” strategies for protecting and advancing U.S. interests in that new non-polar world.
We argue that Clinton is something of an expert at coming up with strategies for maximizing limited power given her life experiences, including being a First Lady with high visibility but little official swat, and a Secretary of State in the administration of her former rival, President Obama, who makes the final call on most major foreign policy and national security decisions with a small group of aides at the White House—and without Clinton.
The story is told largely through the lens of the very limited war in Libya, which is in many ways Clinton’s war, thanks to her efforts lining up the Arab and European coalitions that fought it. We have some good reporting on her trip there last week, as well as on the internal and external challenges she faced in advancing the cause of intervention. We also lay out the ways in which Libya remains dangerously unpredictable, and underscore areas where her new strategies are more talk than action.
Lastly, we polled her against Romney and Perry, and found that she does better, by far, than Obama, leading Romney by 17 points and Perry by 26*. Her closest aides strongly dismiss any 2012 ambitions and say 2016 is very unlikely: she’d be 69 the day of the vote that year. We don’t speculate on the source of her popularity.
peej
Carissa
bostonboomer
ecocatwoman
mablue2
Mama Lopez
peggysue22
quixote
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
“In short, she’s a real leader.” Yep.
Obama makes final foreign policy decisions in the White House with his cronies — “and without Clinton.”
I guess it’s his persistent hubris. And of course Michelle so loathes Hillary. They still feel wary of her.
God, I wish she’d run and wipe the floor with them. Because, after all, the pixie dust has now fallen from the eyes of the Obama adorers.
Yeah, I though that was an odd thing to put in a story about her. But, they have to maintain their ‘correctness’ in the 2008 fluffing. It’s not really HER. They can’t explain her popularity. It would be speculation.
Foreign leaders recognized her ‘Smart Power’, and her own party still is claiming they don’t see it…
I am glad she projects strength, integrity, wisdom, laughter and SMART POWER!
Go Hillary GO!
Maybe, just maybe I might renew my Time subscription (I cancelled after the 2008 coverage).
Wow is right. If only she would run.
What we lost and what we have had to put up with instead is enough to make me cry.
Wow is right. But not surprising. Hillary Clinton was the leader we were denied. And for that, the Democratic leadership will stand forever guilty.
Those numbers are stunning. Makes me want to weep, particularly with everything going on right now.
How I wish she would change her mind. But I’m trying to be a grownup because wishes are for children. Still . . .
Leader.
Hillary 2012
I can’t read this stuff without getting a lump in my throat over how things might have been.
No argument that she would blast those fake phonies out of the water if she were running.
This is what a real leader looks like.
Me, too, with the lump in my throat. I thought immediately of this clip from the 2008 campaign – I have the t-shirt that has the words that make me cry each time I hear them or read them.
This clip, Del, whether I read the speech or listen to the video always brings a lump to my throat. It was so perfectly scripted to the moment and yet could easily hit the mark for the now, the precise moment we’re all standing in.
The country was robbed, the Democratic Party split and any illusion that we had or have a fair electoral process went out the window. The Democratic leadership didn’t then and still don’t understand that when you destroy the electorate’s faith, you lose everything. They were able to snooker the good portion of the voters but for diehard FDR Dems like myself, they’ll never have me back completely. And they won’t have me at all until Barack Obama and his Republican-lite. we-must-be-bipartisan chums are out of office, forever.
What we lost, all of it thrown overboard for self-delusion, silly chants and Greek columns. We traded that for leadership.
I have one of those t-shirts. We missed a golden opportunity in 2008. I have no idea when there might be the same quality chance again.
me three on all accounts
I get mad that the respect Hillary so richly deserves seems only given in small begrudging ways by the press. And I hate that cr@p about 70 being too old – Biden is 70, isn’t he?
And if you want to get mad with me – go to HuffPo and look at Lawrence Weschler’s article, A Man Can Dream (I see it’s listed over on the right from memeorandum)…..be sure to have vomit pail handy. He thinks Chelsea should get pregnant so Hillary will retire and be a doting grandmother. I honeslty couldn’t read past that part.
Kinda contrasts to the mention about a possible congressional run below! Run, Chelsea, Run!
That writer is delusional. Obama cannot stand Elizabeth Warren any more than he can stand any strong, independent woman who outshines his piss poor performance.
Yes, Obama has a problem with women. If there were any doubt, the Suskind book would dispel it.
BB keeps telling me about that. I’m going to have to see if I can round up the funds to buy it and the time to read it.
He thinks Chelsea should get pregnant so Hillary will retire and be a doting grandmother. I honeslty couldn’t read past that part Indeed , Hill has been told to “get out and go away!” for decades now. Her very quality is an effrot they cannot bare
I just read that, and got so mad I’m surprised smoke didn’t come out of my ears. Elizabeth Warren has never held elective office, and suddenly she should be inexperienced Barack Obama’s VP? What an idiot. Let Warren run for Senate. Biden as SOS? Horrors! We don’t need a drunk running U.S. foreign policy.
I will buy the mag, and frame it for my computer room, it will keep me smiling everyday when I think of politics……………I wish Hillary would Jump in 2012.
I cancelled after the 2008 coverage.not ever to return. 🙂
Same here. I will buy this issue. Am saving all Hillary things for my now three year old granddaughter.
Still hoping Hillary will be our President sooner rather than later. Of course, I already consider her my President now.
While I enjoy seeing them stating the obvious, ( how great Hill is ) one has to wonder what TIME’s agenda is….when the media is nice to Hillary, it’s usually for a reason….I often feel like Hill ’08 was our last chance… 😦
Back in 2009 Bostonboomer wrote a beautiful letter to Hillary when we were all together at TC that had us all weeping like fools. Some here may remember that day.
I printed it out and my daughter in law had it framed for me. It sits right up here on my computer desk to this day.
A reminder that once not so long ago we still had hopes.
Good thing you printed it out. You never know when things will be disappeared under a fascist regime. 😉
I’d love to see her letter. Is that possible?
I still have it. I’ll locate it for you.
Here is that post Pat mentioned.
That is good you have the link…best copy it now…
Thanks. I’ve looked up that letter and put it in a safe place.
Thanks for the link, BB – it is a beautiful letter. I couldn’t help but notice the date – it was the day after I switched my registration from D to Independent based on that horrific RBC travesty.
OT but this might turn out to be a big deal. I think Hillary would like it.
via FDL: Delaware AG Beau Biden Sues MERS
Eric Schniederman [NY AG] and Bo Biden are pushing forward on the mortgage investigations even though there’s been considerable opposition from the WH. In fact, I wonder if Obama’s sudden interest in giving homeowner relief is not only for election purposes but to headoff criminal investigations of his bankrollers [from what I’ve read the relief to homeowners comes with a waiver for the banks–that they not be held accountable for all the hanky-panky that went on or the illegitimate foreclosures]. Schneiderman has stated that what he and Biden are pursuing has begun to inspire other state AGs to be more agressive in their own areas, rather than fold like cheap lawn chairs to the wishes of the banks, mortgage companies and the politicians protecting them.
I wrote Schneiderman a note a number of weeks ago, thanking him for the principled stand he was taking despite the pressure to stop [one of his assistants was slammed with a personal story published in the NY Post that she was into S&M. So, obviously the dogs have been released to dig up any and all trash to descredit Schneiderman’s efforts].
To my utter surprise, Schneiderman’s office wrote back, thanked me for the letter of support and said that the staff was dedicated to completing the investigative process. It’s a small thing but I took it as a good sign–an office actually responsive to the public. And I’m a out of stater.
I listened to a Maddow clip yesterday where she interviewed Schniederman. His office faces Zuccotti Park. He said he absolutely understands why people are encamped–that they’ve lost faith in the equitable application of the law. And that’s why he feels that these ongoing investigations are so critical. It was an interesting, even heartening conversation.
I could be in love :0).
I saw the Maddow clip and thought he was just great. He seems like the real deal to me.
Matt Taibbi has the best takedown of Rick Perry I’ve seen yet. He has him cold.
“Rick Perry: The Best Little Whore In Texas”
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/rick-perry-the-best-little-whore-in-texas-20111026
Wherever she goes Hillary is received with enthusiasm far beyond that of ordinary diplomatic protocol. However bad things are here, she is our face to the world in a way that Obama can never be. I haven’t seen anything like it since JFK.
Iceland elected a female Prime Minister, who faced down the banks, and now they’re doing (un)surprisingly well.
Germany’s Merkel just faced down the banks, with the result that the whole planet is hoping maybe we won’t head straight over the cliff. (We may zigzag over it anyway, but, hey, every little bit helps.)
And in the US, we have … what? Cancellation of a 3% withholding on government contractors that was never actually implemented but nonetheless had to be paid for by reducing eligibility and reimbursals for Medicaid patients. That’ll create jobs. We know that because it’s part of Obama’s bits-n-pieces Jobs Bill.
Oddly enough, though, foreign policy is one of the few success stories.
Now, if I could just figure out what is the common element in the success stories….
Women are used to making do with little and dealing with children throwing temper tantrums because they want more toys.
On Krugman’s blog there’s a link to an IMF symposium on Iceland. He and Stiglitz were there I believe but I didn’t have a chance to check it out and probably wouldn’t understand half of it anyway. If there is video, you might like it.
Thanks, I’ll go look at it!! I’m going to need something to get me to sleep after I finish up all this stuff on my list tomorrow!!!
What I would like to see is a poll showing how well “NONE OF THE ABOVE” would do…while still a registered democrat, I think I’d rather gouge out my eyeballs and snack on them than vote for Obama…
“We came, we saw, he died.”
No difference between Clinton and Bush or Obama other than the gender…