“W’s” presidency doesn’t count because of how he was elected, and, much more importantly, because of how he governed after taking office. Bush lost the popular vote in 2000 by more than a half million votes. The electoral vote came down to Florida, and Bush prevailed when the Supreme Court in 7-2 and 5-4 decisions gave him Florida. Regardless of whom you think won that election, President Bush doomed the GOP when he preemptively attacked Iraq. Not only did he attack the wrong country, he and his Republican allies on the Hill put the costs of Iraq and Afghanistan on the national credit card. The national debt skyrocketed, Wall Street got away with murder, and by 2008 the economy was in free fall. The Republicans had become their own worst enemy.
In 2008 any Democrat would have trounced any Republican. By 2012 even a weakened and ineffective President Obama had little trouble dispatching Mitt Romney who raced far to the right in the GOP primaries to appease the party’s extremists and thereafter was never able to establish his footing in the general election.
Left to their own suicidal devices the Republicans are now gearing up to lose in 2016, an election that history tells us should be theirs for the taking. Looking back over more than a half century makes plain that after two terms the American people usually turn the White House over to the opposition party. Given the fact that President Obama has been one of the most polarizing presidents ever, that most Americans believe the nation is on the wrong track, and that Hillary Clinton is loaded with partisan baggage, there should be little doubt about a forthcoming Republican victory next year.
But Hillary Clinton is a savvy and cunning politician. She smells victory. There’s a good chance she’s right because the Democrats have a decided edge in the Electoral College and because of the GOP’s suicidal instincts. Read more.
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