The Campaign for 2012

If stories are true we are about to get Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State and Bob Gates as Secretary of Defense. I think Clinton's creds for being Secretary of State is that she has been a senator a few months longer than Obama. I'm not sure I get it really, from her point of view, isn't she better off as a Senator. I mean aside from the slightly better health plan, she has an agenda of her own that she wants to get back to. Right? Doesn't she? Being Secretary of State means you get to do a lot, as long as it is what the President tells you to do. Clinton is not just trading in a Senate seat, she's trading in a lifetime appointment to the senate. As long as she wants it, New Yorkers aren't giving it to anyone else. What is in it for her... and for Obama?

That's the other thing, Obama had won this one. Throwing a bone to Clinton supporters is one thing, just to make peace. This is adopting the dog. Well, that's the metaphor. So Hillary is not here for her expertise. If Obama wanted that he would keep Condi Rice. She 's the real deal when it comes to expertise. Like Kissinger, except maybe much more popular. Is Hillary an "enemy" to keep closer? I think they qualify as two comrades who simply wanted the exact same job at the same time. There may be animosity between the "camps", but not between the two individuals. They are both radical leftists who do a good job of acting centrist. Why Hillary. Why now, and by the way, if now, then why not last summer?

I think he wants to get his approval rating as high as it can go. That's the only reason for her being there. See, if virtually all democrats support either her or him, then if they are both working in the same administration, almost all dems will vote yes... fantastic job Mr President. In fact, he wraps up a chunk of the independent vote as well. Republicans... well, you really can't please all the people. However Gates will help a lot both with republicans and independents who see him as the catalyst to changing our fortunes in Iraq. He could, by the way, hint hint, be the most popular republican around these days.

So lets say in bad times your poll numbers are about 60% approval, and in good they are 85%. That's pretty good. Easily good enough to get re-elected. That's all there is to it. Stuffing the ballot box so the media will report month after month what great poll numbers he has, even if the editors & reporters have grown disallusioned with his decisions.

The future Mr. President has realized something I don't he think had figured out when he picked Crazy Joe Biden as his running mate last summer. The real 2012 campaign has already started, and the approval ratings are the thing. He is worried about the same thing I am, that the media made him president and they will elect the next president too. Good approval ratings make that a lot harder to do. Iraq until 2011? Baby steps in Universal Health Care? Four more years of Bush after all? Maybe those tax increases on the wealthy (ie- people with jobs) will not be so big after all. Under cover of the monthly Approval Ratings bonanza of Obama & Clinton & Gates supporters, this new president might just take that honeymoon through to 2012.