Bill Clinton Election Non-Factor?

by JASmius



Wow.  And the Big Me was Hillary's last chance, too.  Kind of like throwing up a deflated Hail-Mary and having it turn into a pick-six.  What ever is she going to do now?:

Bill Clinton may not be the "secret weapon" that Hillary Clinton needs in the U.S. presidential race....

Bill Clinton simply is not wielding that kind of influence - good or bad - over voters so far this year, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll. A majority of Americans, including 73% of Democrats and 52% of Republicans, said Bill Clinton does not factor into their opinion of Hillary for president.

The poll, conducted January 7th to 13th, found that 12% of Americans are more likely to vote for Hillary, the former [commissar] of state, because of her marriage to Bill. Among Democrats, fewer than half said Bill Clinton should be more prominent in his wife's campaign, and less than half felt that his presence in the race would boost her chances of winning.

Perhaps this is not so surprising as we think it is at first glance.  Remember the Rauch limit - the "expiration date" for national political figures beyond which they lose their "freshness," electability, and national influence.  It's generally held to be fourteen years from first emergence onto the national political stage, which put Mrs. Clinton beyond her expiration date when she ran in 2008, helping explain that previous defeat, since she entered national politics in 1992 as the first "co-president".  What that says about her current campaign is so redundant that I'll leave it for y'all to figure out for yourselves.

Mr. Bill's Rauch limit was reached at exactly the same time as his upside-down-legged wife's: a decade ago.  He's been out of office for fifteen years.  He's ancient history for the youngest voters, who have no memory of the "moist nineties".  It'd crush him if his ego permitted him to realize it, but time has kind of passed Sick Willie by.  And clearly the Empress hasn't figured this out, or she wouldn't have been relying upon him being her "not-so-secret weapon".

But then even when Clinton was still relevant, it's not like he ever had any penchant or knack for turning political chickenshit into political chicken salad.  He was the greatest political tactician in American history, but he wasn't a miracle-worker.  And his preternatural empathic/bamboozlery powers only worked for his own elections.  He was never adept at getting anybody else elected.  Which is why the notion of him being credited as the deciding factor in putting Barack Obama over the top for re-election in 2012 is patently absurd.  Obama got reelected for the same reason that he overtook Mrs. Clinton for the 2008 Democrat nomination in the first place: voter fraud.  But also that he was a superior candidate to his opponent.

It's not unlike the old adage that people don't vote for the bottom of the ticket.  A nominee can pick a fantastic running mate, but the election is still going to come down to him/her and his/her opponent.  There has never been any hiding Hillary Clinton from a Democrat electorate that she actively nauseates.  Bill was never going to be able to be that spoonful of sugar that made the castor oil go down.  This poll is simply the proof.