On Friday, the political world was rocked when former presidential nominee Mitt Romney announced he would not be seeking another run at the White House. During a conference call to donors and supporters, Romney said: “After putting considerable thought into making another run for president, I’ve decided it’s best to give other leaders in the party the opportunity to become our next nominee.” He went on to say he believes he could beat the eventual democratic nominee but has decided not to run because he’s had his chance, and it’s time to move on. And I couldn’t agree more.
With the 2016 race largely focused on Mitt Romney for the past few weeks, not a lot of attention has been dedicated to presumed Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton. Actually, if you try to look into what has been happening with the former secretary of state lately, you won’t be able to find any news since the new year. And she wants it that way.
Many political strategists and commentators have said possible presidential contender Jeb Bush is employing an “invisible man” strategy, which involves staying away from the public eye and living behind closed doors to make calls to high-profile donors. Staying out of the limelight allows Bush to avoid pitfalls that often come along with running for president, such as making a Biden-esque gaffe that the media would run away with, or peaking too soon in popularity and then becoming yesterday’s news. Bush may be using this invisible man strategy, but Clinton is perfecting it.
Clinton is perhaps the smartest political figure in America right now, as she is using the Republicans’ political circus to her advantage. While the GOP throws out names of who might run for president, including former Gov. Sarah Palin and Donald Trump, Clinton is basking in the rhetoric that does all the dirty work for her. Republicans can’t seem to help themselves when it comes to bashing each other, even before the primaries begin. They did it in the 2012 primaries, which brought out the skeletons in their political closets without President Obama having to roll up his sleeves and get involved.
The same is happening now. And I thought elephants were supposed to be wise.
In addition to having the Republican showcase on display, Clinton is using this time to solidify her victory by securing vast amounts of money and support, with 2016 undoubtedly forecasted to be the year with the largest campaign finance expenses in American history. Recently, the Koch Brothers pledged to spend $889 billion on Republican candidates, which will only serve to help Clinton, as she will use this as a fear tactic to motivate her donors. Not only will Clinton be able to raise unprecedented levels of money over the next few months, but she can continue to build up her team and have some of the sharpest minds in the campaign world at the forefront of her operation.
An exclusive from Politico last week said that Clinton is considering postponing her announcement for president from April to July, because she feels no rush to announce just yet.
Waiting can have its advantages, including the ones I’ve already mentioned. She’ll also spend less time on the presidential stage, which means less air time for the past transgressions many consider to be huge political skeletons. These include her indifference toward the embassy attack in Benghazi, and statements she made about how broke she and Bill Clinton were after leaving the White House, even though finances were the least of their worries. Clinton is definitely a candidate who cannot relate to the everyday struggles of regular Americans, and she wants to delay that realization from the general public for as long as she can.
Clinton is the puppet master in the political arena right now and has the Republicans on strings going around making outrageous statements and dooming themselves even before the year is out.
If Republicans want to shift the tide, they need to focus all their energy and comments toward Clinton and show their base they are committed to electing a Republican in 2016, regardless of who that may be. If the GOP continues to be ambivalent and make reckless decisions, they will stay on course for another Clinton White House.
Nick Eagle is a UF economics and political science senior. His column appears on Mondays.
[A version of this story ran on page 6 on 2/2/2015 under the headline “MIA Hillary prepping for 2016 as Republicans stumble"]
