One poll question explains why Hillary Clinton isn’t even close to a shoo-in for the presidency in 2016. The Washington Post,
A question asked by Quinnipiac University polls in Iowa, Colorado and Virginia this week illustrates that challenge. Asked “Would you like to see the next President generally; continue with Barack Obama’s policies or change direction from Barack Obama’s policies”, just 34 percent of Iowans and Coloradans said they want the next president to move forward on Obama policies while just three in ten (31 percent) of Virginians said the same.
No problem, say Hillary allies. She isn’t the same person as Obama — hard to argue — and will make her own way. Ok. That is possible — especially because Clinton not only ran a long and nasty primary campaign against Obama (thus allowing her to say she isn’t an Obama clone) but also because she has been in politics for a very long time and has carved out a political identity entirely apart from Obama.
But, it being possible doesn’t mean it’s the most likely scenario. Republicans have, for months, been bashing Clinton as an Obama loyalist and a rubber stamp for some of his more controversial foreign policy decisions. Her time as Secretary of State — no matter her relatively subtle attempts to distance herself from his decision in, say, Syria — make it virtually impossible for Clinton to totally beat back the attack that voting for her represents a third term for Obama.
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