Today Hillary
Clinton threw her rather predictable and well trailed hat into the presidential
ring and became the first Democratic contender for the Game of Thrones (season
5)…er…sorry, I mean 2016 US election. Everyone has been expecting this since
she lost against Obama in 2008.
On the
Republican side, it’s very likely Jeb Bush (son of George, brother of W) will
also run and will soon announce his candidature.
If Hillary
Clinton or Jeb Bush wins in 2016 (which must be odds-on) it will mean that, for
a period of 32 years there has only once been a President not either a Bush or
a Clinton. Or, to put it another way, Barack Obama is the only non-Bush or
Clinton president since the days of Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. That’s almost
before the age of the internet!
Looking
forward, if Hillary wins, Jeb could always have another pop in 2020. If so, and
if he wins in 2020 (he will be in his late 60s), then, just conceivably, he
could be president for 8 years from that point through to 2028. Alternatively,
Hillary Clinton could win a second term in 2020 through to 2024 (although by
then she will be into her 80s). It is quite possible therefore that America
could have a President Bush and Clinton again from 2016 to 2028.
And it’s not
necessarily over. Who is to say that, by 2028 or the early 2030s, Chelsea
Clinton, by then well into her mid-40s, might not fancy a crack at the family
job (sorry, presidency). Could we could be in a position where, for 40 or more
years, Obama stands out as the only president not a Bush or a Clinton?
Is this healthy democracy
in action? Increasingly it could
resemble a sort of alternating monarchy between 2 mega powerful “royal”
families. How do they do it? The political conspiracy theorists will have a
field day…..
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