Why Hillary Clinton has a right to run in 2020.

In 1824 John Quincy Adams, thanks to the Electoral College, became the President of the United States. Four years later, the popular vote winner in that election, Andrew Jackson won the first of two presidential terms.

In 1876 Rutherford B Hayes, in a questionable electoral college tally, beat popular vote winner Samuel Tllden for the Presidency. Tilden probably would have run again in 1880 but ill health prevented him. He would die in 1886.

In 1888 Benjamin Harrison achieved an electoral college victory over incumbent President and popular vote winner Grover Cleveland. Four years later, Cleveland would become the first President to serve two non-consecutive four-year terms.

In 2000, Vice President Al Gore won the popular vote over George W, Bush but a poorly constructed butterfly ballot in Palm Beach (where voters erroneously voted for the Pre Trump Pat Buchanan) and a Republican-friendly Supreme Court tipped the electoral college to George W. Bush. Criticized for the campaign he ran in 2000 (where he did not emphasize the peace and prosperity of the Clinton/Gore Administration), Gore decided not to run in 2004.

So in the first four cases where a Presidential Popular Vote winner lost the Electoral College, two of the candidates ran again four years later and won and two decided not to. None of them would run again and lose.

Fast forward to 2018 and the 2016 popular vote winner (by a two and a half million larger vote margin than Gore in 2000) Hillary Clinton, a former Secretary of State, Senator, and First Lady is being criticized for, apparently, considering a third run for the Presidency. This is outrageous.

To say Hillary Clinton should not run for the Presidency again forgets our history of the last 120 years. Ronald Reagan lost his first bid for the Presidency in 1976 and no one said “how dare he” when he ran again in 1980. George H.W Bush ran for the Presidency in 1980 and no one said he should not run again when 1988 came. Al Gore tried for the Democratic Nomination in 1988 before trying again in 2000. Adhali Stevenson and Thomas Dewey were the nominees of their party twice in losing efforts. Theodore Roosevelt ran for a third term on the Bull Moose Ticket. Richard Nixon, Hubert Humphrey, William Jennings Bryan ran for the Presidency three times with only Nixon reaching the office twice.

Most would probably agree, some maybe with “buyers remorse” that the person that won the popular vote in the last election has earned the right to decide if she wants to run again against the KKK endorsed candidate without ridicule. It is her right. That does not mean she is entitled to a straight path to the convention. Other Democrats (and the list is starting to get numerous) think they would be good Presidents at this time and most of them deserve serious consideration. But pundits should not scoff at her for wanting to run. That is very wrong. She should run if she wants to. On her worst day, she would be better than the individual currently residing at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Nearly three million more people thought so in 2016 and more will probably feel that way (especially in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin) in 2020.

 

https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/12/politics/hillary-clinton-2020-donald-trump/index.html?fbclid=IwAR3gxT8RY8cxUN67L-jW9mmCEaU90-HU8YFsPEA5PMP4nEEaMrClA69st1A

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/12/clinton-aide-2020-run-983684




2 thoughts on “Why Hillary Clinton has a right to run in 2020.”

  1. Well, she lost to a reality TV game show host because she was too arrogant to travel to Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and now we have “Good” Nazi’s murdering people in the street and babies in cages crying for their mothers, our allies no longer trust us and at any given moment the US Constitution is going to end up in a shredder.

    But sure, let’s give 2016 a reboot and see what happens this time.

    Our definitions of what’s “outrageous” would seem to be very different.

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