Hillary Clinton hasn't been nominated yet.....

[Splinter Cell]

Just sayin'.

[LoisB]

1. Thank you.

[Beacool]

2. Who said she has?

[Jamaal510]

3. Nor has she declared for sure that she's running.

The last time I checked, she has repeatedly said "no", but nobody wants to take her at her word, especially not MSNBC. When there's a slow news cycle, they immediately get to speculating about a Clinton 2016 run.

[davidpdx]

4. I'm glad some people understand that

You've been around a lot longer that I have. You sure don't post very much!

[MBS]

5. Thank you for reminding folks here (and elsewhere).

The election is still more than THREE YEARS AWAY, people.
And Obama still has more than three years left in his second four-year term.

This kind of conversation is pointless and/or counterproductive for several reasons:
1. Most importantly, it distracts us from the truly urgent task of winning in the 2014 elections ,especially the need to purge both federal and state governments of the ultra-far-right wackos who endanger the foundations of our democracy.
Can we please put our energy into working for the success of THIS presidency and (for the sake of this administration and for the sake of the country) winning back the House for the Dems and maintaining a Democratic Senate(and hopefully increasing our margin), and also winning governorships and state legislatures (so important for demarcating congressional districts) in 2014?

2. We should be working (see 1, above) to help the Obama administration succeed. This is our best chance for change in several decades; let's not squander it!
Also, I personally find it insulting to Obama that the current conversations turn so often-- among DEMS-- to the very premature topic of who will succeed him.
Even die-hard Hillary supporters should have to see that a failed Obama presidency will give us a Republican president in 2016, not Hillary or any other Dem president.


3. As the 2008 election demonstrated, Hillary is least successful when she's running from a sense of entitlement, or sense of inevitability. If she runs virtually unopposed, and wins the nomination without a fight, she will not be ready to handle the Republican nominee.

I have to admit that I also dislike the pressure from the "ready for Hillary" campaign. First of all (as delineated above), it's way premature, and , IMHO (also see above), it's not good for Obama, it's not good for the Dems, and it's not good for Hillary. Secondly, I find it distasteful not just for the timing, but also because it feels orchestrated to me.