The first manifestations of a prognostication made earlier today on this very site?:
The Democrat National Convention isn’t for thirteen months, and Hillary Clinton isn’t the party’s nominee, but some Hispanic Democrat leaders are already pushing hard for Julián Castro to be her running mate — or at least a top contender for the job.
The former San Antonio mayor and current housing secretary was in Washington while [Mrs.] Clinton raised money in his hometown on Wednesday, but his name is on the minds and lips of Democrats close to the [Rodham] camp as the presidential front-runner crosses Texas for campaign fundraisers and a Houston speech on Thursday.
And I can understand why "Hispanic Democrat leaders," and Commissar Castro himself, would be "pushing hard" to be put on Mrs. Clinton's ticket - they obviously haven't yet fully grasped her utter unelectability and how it would drag down the "Great Brown Hope" to historical footnote status. But wasn't it just a couple of weeks ago that Henry Cisneros, Castro's predecessor as both San Antonio mayor and HUD Commissar, let slip that Hillary had JC on the top of her veep list already? Why would young Castro need to campaign for a job he's already functionally got in the bolsa?
My best guess? Control and public perception:
The flashy trial balloon and Castro’s innate appeal have likely ensured the Mexican-American Cabinet member a place on [Mrs.] Clinton’s vice presidential long list if she wins the nomination, Democrats close to [Mrs.] Clinton said. But Castro hardly has any relationship with the candidate herself, and the effort has gotten a mixed reception at best.
Democrats say it’s far too early for this conversation — arguing that it’s unproductive to talk about a general election ticket when [Mrs.] Clinton is battling three other declared Democrat candidates and the ever-present perception of inevitability.
What’s more, several Democrats warned, Castro’s backers run the risk of overplaying their strong hand.
“If I were Julián Castro I’d be worried,” said one [Rodham] ally with an eye on Democrats’ efforts to woo Hispanic voters. “Others who are in his corner need to dial down those effusive musings.”
Translation: Hillary does not want to be seen as being weak by allowing outsiders to be perceived as forcing Julian Castro onto her ticket. Not only would she be seen as losing control of her ticket (much the same way that Gerald Ford tried to force his way onto Ronald Reagan's ticket in 1980 as a "co-president"), but she would get little "credit" for Castro's selection. And, of course, it would take the focus and spotlight off of her and make her look like a caddy for the instant heir apparent. She wants it made unequivocally clear that she's calling the shots, as the nominee and, in her mind inevitably, as president.
Of course, that caddy impression is inescapable no matter how Castro winds up as her running mate, which his backers know even if the Empress's camp does not. And perhaps, just perhaps, this is the angle the former are working to launch an Obama-esque primary challenge against her.
I still don't see it, though, nor why JC would even want to ride shotgun on Mrs. Clinton's doomed quest. This isn't the time. Leaving aside the thin resume issues, the biggest difference between Castro and Obama is that the latter came along at the end of one of the most relentlessly vilified two-term Republican presidencies in American history, when the electorate had been primed and prepared and worked into a rabid "blue" froth. Charles Manson could have been elected in 2008 with a "D" after his name. But 2016 will be the exact opposite, the end of a disastrous and unpopular (despite the media's best efforts) Democrat presidency that has the electorate alarmed about the country's very continued existence, at least in an "as we've known it" sense. The political headwinds will be at gale-force velocities, particularly with Scott Walker heading up the GOP ticket (with Marco Rubio at his side, negating Castro's identity politics advantage), and with the prospect of a perceived continuation of Obama fatigue via either a woman who was a leading face of his Regime or another leftwingnut wunderkind cypher in the Obama mold likely to go over like a fart during a eulogy.
If I were Julián Castro, I would be worried, too - that Hillary WOULD tap me to be her running mate, when my path to the presidency is clearly via running for governor of Texas in 2018 (after Obamnesty has turned the Lone Star State "purple"), getting re-elected in 2022 (by which time it would be "blue"), and then going for broke in 2024 - when JC would still be under fifty and the electorate would be soured on the costs of digging out from under the rubble of the Obamidency and would be begging for its return.
But far be it from me to upset an enemy misperception that works so egregiously in our favor, I always say.
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