There seems to be remarkably little enthusiasm. Here is a poll.
“Don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out!”
I have little enthusiasm for a Hillary Clinton run. So, I said Yay, she’s not running. However, I vastly prefer her to any of the known Republicans interested in the job, and I think she could beat any of them. I’m not as confident about other Democrats is she stays out of the race.
Overall, my reaction would be “I told you she wouldn’t run, but no one believed me.”
It would depend on the other candidates – if one of the other Democratic candidates stood out (and seemed like they could win), I’d be fine. If it looked like Biden was the favorite, I might be concerned (I like Biden, but I’m not sure if he’d have a very good chance to win).
I am not convinced Hillary would be a particularly good president, so I would say “yay she’s not running” as a liberal.
- Her foreign policy instincts are about as hawkish as John McCain’s or Lindsey Graham’s, which is to say, in line with or to the right of the median GOP congressman. I expect at least one destructive and unnecessary foreign intervention under a President HRC. I expect her to do doodly-squat on the Middle East peace process. I expect her to be baited into needless escalation when something like the Ukraine crisis pops up.
- I think Obama is a principled and relatively trustworthy (by politician standards) individual with an ethical core. He gets himself into trouble because he at least occasionally says pretty insightful, interesting, and original things, like when he said we should be more worried about climate change than terrorism. I just don’t get that from Hillary. I see a rather run-of-the-mill politician in Hillary and I don’t particularly trust or like her.
- It’s not a dealbreaker, but I am concerned about her age and potential health issues. I’ll be paying closer attention to the VP pick than usual, if she’s the nominee.
I expect to find the Republican nominee at least as objectionable as I do Hillary, especially on foreign policy, but taking the “long view” I’m not sure the Democratic party is better off having a mediocre president vs losing an election cycle. There’s no question in my mind the GOP would be better off today if Gore had been president. (Most likely, John McCain would be finishing out his second term.) The Democratic party was probably better off losing in 1988, which paved the way for the relatively successful Clinton presidency. If Clinton’s the nominee in 2016, I’m actually ok losing and seeing if the Democrats can run a better field in 2020.
I’m a Liberal and I would yay yay yay!
I absolutely despise this notion of dynasties that we find ourselves in. Just can’t emphasize enough how much I hate it. I would be willing to enact a law that says if you have been elected President, then your siblings / spouse / children / grandchildren are not eligible to run. Thems the breaks.
Beyond that, I’m very ambivalent about her as a person and politician. While at this point in time it looks like she would win, I don’t see her having effective coat-tails in Senate and Congressional races. I fear she would be a one term President, and because strong candidates in the same party just don’t run against a sitting President, the next one would be a Republican. And we just can’t have that, jeepersnope.
So, my fondest wish is that another strong inspirational Democratic candidate emerges and pulls an Obama on her and wins the nomination and Presidency, for 8 years. 'cause we’re gonna need a lot of years to clean out the Supreme Court.
I can’t say I would say “No, she should have run” because I wouldn’t want to run for president.
On the other hand, I think she’d make a good president, even if she isn’t one of my favorite people.
So, I ended up choosing the “I’m a liberal and she should have run” option, but I don’t think it captures what I’d really be thinking.
Since the default will likely be a hold-your-nose Bush-Clinton choice, I’d rather she didn’t drop out. There’s really nobody else waiting in the wings, which would mean a walk for yet another Bush progeny after two failures from that family. My reaction, therefore, would be “fuck me to tears, she should have run; time to cash out my stocks”.
She’s running. The announcement is in a few weeks. She’ll be the nominee, and probable victor. No point in alternate-universe questions like this one.
I would prefer a more boldly progressive approach than she’s likely to bring to the job, but it’s far more important to win it first, and she’s the best chance we progressives have to get progress made. The Republican alternatives are tantrum-throwing children.
There’s no long term in electoral politics and no reason to consider it, either.
My reaction would probably be ‘WTF??’, but I said yeah, she should run (I’m the only one here that self identifies as neither conservative nor liberal I guess :p).
I consider myself more “Democrat” than “liberal” so I suppose it’s no surprise that I’d think she should have run.
I am well to the left of liberals, as are all good and decent people, and my reaction would be, “Meh.”
I’d be surprised, but respect her decision. She, much more than other candidates, really knows how the spotlight of the presidency can be a heavy burden.
I expect her to run, unless there is something of a surprise we don’t already know about.
I’m Republican and would be disappointed. I’m neither good nor decent people according to both Parties’ more extreme “base.” 
At this point, she’s the early front runner for my vote head to head against anyone from either party. She’s one of the few Democrats in the list of possibles that has a realistic chance of pulling my vote unless my party goes with one of the socially conservative whackadoodles…
Looks at the list of my party potentials :smack:
Please, please, please Hillary runnnnnnn.
I would cheer, simply because I think there are better Democrats with more accomplishments. Joe Biden spent more time in the Senate, has more experience in foreign relations, and is a two-term VP. He’s been a staple of Sunday morning talk shows, which might not seem important, but it means he’s very comfortable speaking off the cuff and can speak knowledgably on a wide variety of subjects without being coached. There’s a reason only a few politicians are regulars on those shows while the rest keep it to a minimum.
Martin O’Malley was a successful governor who made advances in the field of data driven governance.
Jim Webb has a rock solid resume, is a war hero, and as independent-minded as they come. NO ONE will own Jim Webb if he’s in the White House.
There are probably others who might be interested in getting in if Clinton stays out. Virginia alone has two Senators who would make great Presidents: Mark Warner and Tim Kaine. And hell, why not give Tom Vilsack another look, if only because the Daily Show loves his name so much. But in all seriousness, Vilsack was always solid Presidential material.
My biggest fear if Clinton decides to get out is that Liz Warren might get in. I think that Liz Warren is easy to beat, but she could win and that must not happen. Her window is small due to her age, so if Clinton is the only factor keeping her out, then I’ll root for Clinton to stay in. I don’t trust her very much, but I know my side can do business with her, so I’ll settle.
The closest answer to my own is "I am a liberal, and my reaction would be, “Yay, she’s not running.” So that’s how I voted in this poll. But in my own words it would be, “I’m a center-left Democrat, and it’s just as well that she’s not running, because I’ll probably vote for Martin O’Malley.”
Tallying all of this up so far, that’s 19 votes for “Yay, she’s not running” (from voters of all categories in this poll) and 26 votes for “No, she should have run” (from voters of all categories in this poll.)
It is not clear to me why the liberal/conservative label is a factor in the poll but I voted “Yay, she’s not running.” Sen. Clinton has her flaws as do the other candidates and I would not be upset if she chose not to run and endorsed VP Biden.
If she drops out, I hope the Dems go with Liz Warren because Warren will be so badly flattened that road kill will have to look down to see her.
It’s good that Hillary is running now - more time for scandals to come out and make her look even more devious than she does already. I can’t believe she will drop out, unless health issues crop up, but she is increasingly beatable and the race has hardly begun.
Ideal scenario is that she limps to the nomination based mostly on the idea that the Dems have put all their eggs in one basket, Romney changes his mind and runs after no clear Republican emerges as the front runner, and then cruises to victory and begins responsible financial governance of the country.
And the Pit resembles the scene from Kingsmen: The Secret Service as liberal heads make like the Fourth of July.
Regards,
Shodan