If Hillary wins, she should serve one term and move on

by Jonathan Walczak, contributor - 10/26/16 11:56 AM ET

Hillary Clinton should serve one term, step aside à la LBJ, and turn over the leadership of her party to a new generation in 2020.

It’s the best thing for her and the country.

{mosads}Now, maybe Hillary — a wickedly smart and resilient woman — will surprise; she’s certainly capable of it. Perhaps she’ll rally the nation to her causes and succeed in passing significant legislation.

But we all know how the next four years will likely go. Hillary will take office, she’ll probably have a Democratic Senate for two years, the GOP will retain control of the House, and everything will still be a battle. She faces fire from every direction — left, right, and center.

She’s most likely to accomplish her goals in her first term. If she can’t, it’s unlikely she will in a second term. A second term which, given the boiling, bipartisan anger raging from Detroit to Des Moines, will likely not happen if the Republicans nominate anyone with a pulse not named Donald J. Trump (some combination of Ben Sasse and Nikki Haley would be a strong ticket). Or if a well-funded independent runs. Or if a populist Democrat stages a primary challenge.

So, Hillary should work like hell, do her best, and fight to make her mark. Then she should spare Democrats a nasty primary fight. The times call for new blood.

A few candidates who could run in 2020:

Michelle Obama. No explanation needed.
Elizabeth Warren will be 71 by Election Day 2020 — not quite new blood, but she’d have a good chance of winning. If she doesn’t run then, she likely never will.
If Trump made it this far, how do you think George Clooney would do? Or Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz? Either could run as a Democrat – or an independent. Laugh at the Clooney mention, if you will; but he gives a damn about the world and would run as a celebrity in post-2016 America.
Or what about Tulsi Gabbard, the rebellious Hawaiian rep and combat vet who supported Bernie this year. She’ll only be 39. Too young? Perhaps. But if a 70-something socialist from Vermont could mount a credible campaign against Hillary, so too could Gabbard.

What a sour proposal, I know. Election 2016 isn’t even over yet, and here’s this fool telling Hillary what to do. Give her a chance to savor a long-sought victory. I know, I know.

But America needs a Lincoln, not a Clinton. Hillary is a placeholder president. She doesn’t embody or seem to understand the anger on the streets. Or if she does, she is horrible at channeling it.

I wish Hillary luck. Really, I do. But the smartest thing for her to do would be to fight as she has for decades for another four years, and then gracefully exit stage left.

Walczak is a New Orleans-based journalist and the author of “Four Gone,” an in-depth investigation into the 1972 disappearance of Congressmen Hale Boggs and Nick Begich.

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