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You may have read my post a few days ago about my dad's theory about the Clintons' current strategy. Basically, he believes that they know Hillary won't win the nomination this year, so they are tearing down Obama so that he loses and she can run in 2012 (instead of waiting until 2016).
To reiterate, I'm still not sure whether I believe this or not, but it's easy to see why many people believe this based on the deluge of recent news.
Aside from more of Bill Clinton complimenting McCain, the first recent piece that caught my eye was from Newsweek. Jonathan Atler writes that many big-time Clinton backers want her to take the Governorship of New York as a consolation prize should she not win the nomination. Okay, but then this paragraph caught my eye:
Via Newsweek:
Under the scenario sketched out by the insiders, serving two years as governor would give Clinton the executive experience to become the prohibitive favorite for the 2012 Democratic presidential nomination. Clinton believes that Barack Obama may well lose this year to John McCain, who would be 75 in 2012 and a possible one-term president. Clinton would arguably be better positioned to replace McCain in the White House as a governor than as a senator.
Hmmm...this suggests that the Clinton camp is seriously thinking about 2012. Then, from Slate comes a dispatch that Obama's favorability ratings, once astronomical, are lowering. Some polls even show them lowering to near-Hillary levels.
Via Slate:
However, a new SurveyUSA poll shows the two candidates' unfavorables to be much closer. Obama and Clinton have similar numbers in this poll, with Clinton polling unfavorably among 42 percent of voters. He is viewed unfavorably by 40 percent of the voters.
While this is only one poll (and from the sometimes-unreliable SurveyUSA, to boot), it shows that the prolonged primary battle, which most observers acknowledge Clinton has little chance of winning, is dragging Obama down.
So what could possibly make Obama lose in November? Lowered favorability ratings, for one.
Again, I'm not prepared to say that this is definitely what the Clintons are doing, but it's getting harder to dismiss the theory. Thoughts?
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