Hillary's election-day disappearing act

During a tumultuous Democratic election year, Hillary Clinton finds support with a 62 percent favorable rating compared with 57 percent for Obama.

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last updated 8 January 2015

"Hillary Clinton can see a train wreck when it's coming," says Peter Lucas in The Lowell Sun. Which is precisely why she is taking a two-week tour of Asia and the Pacific Rim just as her fellow Democrats are about to get mauled in the midterm elections. "It is not that she can publicly do much to save some sinking Democrats." As the nation's top diplomat, she is "barred by convention and tradition" from partisan politicking. Still, Hillary "could have supplied some moral support for her Democratic friends" in Congress — but she wisely wants to distance herself from the losing side. Here, an excerpt:

While Obama's support and the support of the Democratic Party has eroded, support for Hillary Clinton has risen. A recent Associated Press poll had Clinton with a 62 percent favorable rating to 57 percent for Obama and 50 percent for Biden. This perhaps accounts for the passing interest in the idea — since shot down — that Clinton would swap jobs with Biden and run with Obama as his vice-presidential running mate in 2012. Why would she want to run with Obama when this impending Democratic disaster is so bad that it might bring down Obama as well?

... Clinton is not expected to return to Washington until Nov. 8, which means she will be out of the country Election Day, and as far away as possible from what are expected to be ugly returns for Obama and the Democrats. The secretary of state is no slouch when it comes to elective politics, and she does not need President Obama's weathermen to tell her which way the wind is blowing.