Clinton Won’t Run Because She Wants to be the Democrats’ “Grey Cardinal” Instead

There was speculation ever since her epic loss last election that Hillary would throw her hat in the ring again one final time, but she put the rumors to rest in a recent TV interview when she ruled out running. She did say, however, that she’ll work with the various candidates and continue speaking up for what she believes in, making it seem as though she’s trying to play a so-called “grey cardinal” role over the process. In any case, while Clinton doesn’t seem interested in going away anytime soon, it’s better for the party as a whole that she decided not to run because otherwise her opponents would be pressured to sell out to her, submit, or get smashed if they refused to do so, which could have divided the party even more and brought about some terrible optics ahead of this do-or-die election for them.

As it stands, the Democratic field is certainly crowded and full of diverse personalities representing the party’s various factions, with the most prominent two being the “leftist-populists” represented by Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders (both of whom are usually regarded as socialists by the right-wing) and the “moderates” led by Kamala Harris. There’s also the superficially anti-systemic force being led by Tulsi Gabbard, but the Mainstream Media and the Democratic Party as a whole seem to be conspiring to suppress her campaign before it even gets off the ground. As such, it’s most realistic to speak about the two aforementioned factions from here on out, with the “leftist-populists” seemingly having the best chance to beat out the “moderates” if the party holds a free and fair primary unlike last time.

The reason for this prediction is because the political polarization that first became most noticeable under Bush led to the rise of Obama, which in turn fueled the reactionary rise of Trump, so there’s a precedent of America nowadays going back and forth between the two left-wing and right-wing extremes. That doesn’t necessarily mean that Trump will lose the next election, but just that the Democratic base might think that their best shot at winning is to proverbially “fight fire with fire”, which could explain why the President has preemptively targeted socialist ideas and made his crusade against them a staple of his re-election campaign. This naturally suggests that he might fear their electoral attractiveness and feel threatened by the prospects of going head-to-head with Bernie next year.

It should nevertheless be kept in mind, however, that Hillary will undoubtedly try to throw her weight around both behind the scenes and in public as she relishes in her envisaged “grey cardinal” role. This could be both helpful and harmful depending on what she says to whom and how and whether she conspires to undermine either of the two factions. Some might speculate that she’d lean towards supporting the “moderates”, but then again, if the base proves that they want the “leftist-populists”, it wouldn’t be inconceivable to see her one day out on the campaign trail stumping for Bernie just like he did for her as part of his post-primary humiliation. That might be poetic justice, but it might also not be enough for the Democrats to beat Trump if some of them think that this means Bernie sold out.


By Andrew Korybko
Source: Oriental Review

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