Paging Hillary...?

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Hillary Clinton isn't out of the picture yet.  In fact, I never was convinced that she was out of the picture, and as time has gone on since Obama's election I'm only becoming more and more convinced that Obama is going to be a one-term President due to getting thrown out of his own party.  More and more people are starting to find this conclusion, too.  Observe this from Hot Air:

Three weeks ago, I posed the question of what would happen if Democrats became so convinced that Barack Obama could not win a second term that they asked him to step aside.  Yesterday, the New York Times reports that leaders in the party are starting to come to the conclusion that Obama may not be able to succeed — and that has alarm bells going off:

Democrats are expressing growing alarm about President Obama's re-election prospects and, in interviews, are openly acknowledging anxiety about the White House's ability to strengthen the president's standing over the next 14 months.

Elected officials and party leaders at all levels said their worries have intensified as the economy has displayed new signs of weakness. They said the likelihood of a highly competitive 2012 race is increasing as the Republican field, once dismissed by many Democrats as too inexperienced and conservative to pose a serious threat, has started narrowing to two leading candidates, Mitt Romney and Rick Perry, who have executive experience and messages built around job creation.

And in a campaign cycle in which Democrats had entertained hopes of reversing losses from last year's midterm elections, some in the party fear that Mr. Obama's troubles could reverberate down the ballot into Congressional, state and local races. …

But a survey of two dozen Democratic officials found a palpable sense of concern that transcended a single week of ups and downs. The conversations signaled a change in mood from only a few months ago, when Democrats widely believed that Mr. Obama's path to re-election, while challenging, was secure.

The article goes on to describe how the Dems appear to be misunderstanding the root cause of Obama's re-election prospects, but I think the key point is that even Democrats are starting to get nervous about what The One has done to them, and question whether or not it's possible for him to win in 2012.

The Hillary Plan B was a crazy theory back in 2008 when Hillary bowed out, but the evidence since then sure raises some pointed questions.  Basically, the idea is that Obama has done such tremendous damage to the nation that his responsibility and culpability is inescapable.  Unless there is a genuine recovery between now and the 2012 election -- which is unlikely, given the economy-destroying policies that Obama has implemented -- he is going to be held largely responsible no matter how much Soros money is dumped into his re-election campaign.  The numbers just don't lie, and they paint too vivid a picture that resonates with too many people, and every Republican candidate should be able to blow gaping holes in Obama's campaign with it, especially given that Obama had a pure Democrat majority to implement his policies.  Faced with such a scenario, and the very real prospects that Obama's failures just might anchor the entire Democrat party to make the historic losses of 2010 pale in comparison across the nation, he may 'choose' not to pursue a second term.  He'll plead family time, health, getting done what he wanted to get done, or some other flimsy excuse that won't admit to being booted, but the reality is that he's out.  Hillary Clinton has the name recognition and the experience to be able to heroically step right into the thick of things and slug it out with any of the Republican candidates, especially when you factor in Slick Willy.  She's a familiar commodity with Democrat voters, and though they might not particularly like her (or the thought of another Clinton), she'd be a palatable candidate compared to any Republican.  She's also the only woman who could counter a potential Sarah Palin or Michelle Bachman candidacy, and I don't think enough people are giving enough credence to the notion that women will want their turn at the 'first' Presidential gig, too.

It's obviously way too soon to know anything for sure, but if the economy continues to limp along, and if Obama continues to rely on now-repetitive speeches that everyone knows are devoid of any substance while failing to put forward any legitimate solutions to any of the problems facing this struggling nation...well, it's not such a crazy theory anymore.