The Time Has Really Come for Hilary Rodham Clinton to Declare Her Intentions

   The Democratic Party has chosen the site of its convention, to take place in July 2016. The pick is Philadelphia, which made sense for two reasons: Pennsylvania is probably less sure to be a blue state than New York, so it might help a bit at election time. Probably more significant is a quite practical reason. New York City offered Brooklyn which as a sometime New Yorker I thought was a bum idea, since it makes for inconvenient commutes between that borough and hotel rich Manhattan. In any case, I take the fact that both parties have now picked time and place for their conventions to be something of signal that the overture to the selection of presidential candidates is accelerating.

   Last June, I posted what I hoped was a respectful statement urging Hilary Rodham Clinton not to run for president. http://rhweingartner.blogspot.mx/search?updated-max=2014-06-23T05:55:00-07:00&max-results=7&start=21&by-date=false I gave two reasons. Her age was the first. If she wins, she would be several months over 70 when inaugurated, the oldest person in US history, with virtually no chance that she could capture a second term in the White House. Equally or even more important, while I had no doubt that in her campaign “she would have new and worthwhile things to say . . . she cannot change her voice and visage.  However new her thoughts, her ideas, they will come across as spoken by a voice from the past.” I further argued strenuously that she should declare her intention no later than the end of the year now well passed.

   That of course did not happen; but it must happen now. While widespread speculation has it that Ms. Clinton will be a candidate, those who really know her intentions aren’t talking. But it greatly matters for political actors in the Democratic party to know what is the case and for the voters to know what to expect.

   Suppose the speculation is correct, and Ms. Clinton declares her candidacy. Bigwig Democrats can begin to be organized into an effective support effort; the money that would be needed can get to be raised definitively, so to speak, and not just tentatively. Moreover, whoever the brave soul or souls might be who would challenge her for the nomination can come out of hiding and begin to give their effort a shot.

   The situation is even more serious if Hilary Rodham Clinton ultimately announces that she will not be a candidate. There are now no obvious alternative Democratic candidates waiting in the wings, ready to emerge promptly if relieved of the duty to be respectful of Clinton’s potential candidacy. If indeed she does not run, there will be—has to be—a lot of jockeying, a sorting out process that will take time run its course and that should not be required to be played out in a rush.

   The Republicans have long since begun that sorting process and I urge all potential voters to look at the cast of characters that are vying to be IT. A couple of them can be seen to be conservatives and not expected to try to overturn apple carts. More of those would-be presidents are radicals and not conservative at all. Please note, dear reader, that radicals are not only to be found on the left, of which we have a shrinking number; on the other hand, the number of radicals on the right—proponents who, rejecting the present, aim to return to past stages, real or imagined—have greatly increased in number and influence.

   But probably even more discouraging than the ideologies of the present Republican would-be presidential candidates is the fact that not one of them has the intellect and character desirable in a president. None is a potential Teddy Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, or even George H. W. Bush. I voted for none of these, but have to concede that each did at least a credible job. And Nixon—whom I mostly despised when he was around—will be judged by history to have accomplished much, even if his temperament and manner make that hard for us to see, not to mention that he turned out to be a crook. Given the present roster of Republican papabiles, the pickin’ is slim; I want none of the above.

   And if I don’t want any of the aspiring crew, neither does Hilary for sure. So please, Hilary get moving. The stakes are high. Hilary Rodham Clinton state your intentions now.