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Michelle !?

Dr.Sid

Philosopher
Joined
Sep 13, 2009
Messages
6,270
Location
Olomouc, Czech Republic
Oh wise Americans .. enlighten me. Based on this event:

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/07/25/politics/michelle-obama-dnc-speech/index.html

our local (Czech Republic) news started to speculate that Michelle could actually enter the election and could even have decent chance.
I mean I see how she could have decent chance. But it's very unclear to me how she could enter.

All I realized after googling is that the situation is quite complicated. Please do not go into detailed descriptions, I can find those, it's just hard to asses them in the whole. All I wanna know is: can Michelle Obama still enter next presidential elections ?

Also, obviously, what do you think about that ?
 
From any practical standpoint, no. It's tough to get on state ballots with so little time remaining. 2020, sure, she could run for the Dem nomination. There's now historical precedent for a presidential spouse doing that.
 
I'd vote for her but I'm pretty sure
a) no mechanism exists to put her in power in the current election cycle, beyond a cabinet appointment or something in a democratic White House

b)she wants no part of it anyway. Although she will still be in DC until the girls graduate, per last thing I heard they said about plans for after the presidency.
 
I could see her running for state level office somewhere in 6 or 8 years, once she's rested up from the double duty of mom and Mrs president.
 
Oh wise Americans .. enlighten me. Based on this event:

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/07/25/politics/michelle-obama-dnc-speech/index.html

our local (Czech Republic) news started to speculate that Michelle could actually enter the election and could even have decent chance.
I mean I see how she could have decent chance. But it's very unclear to me how she could enter.

All I realized after googling is that the situation is quite complicated. Please do not go into detailed descriptions, I can find those, it's just hard to asses them in the whole. All I wanna know is: can Michelle Obama still enter next presidential elections ?

Also, obviously, what do you think about that ?

She could in 4 years. Not this cycle. But to the best of my knowledge Michelle Obama holds no aspirations.
 
In broadest terms, no.

Even though it is a national election, each state has its own rules and requirements about the ballots and voting. Every state has a cut-off date for getting one's name on the presidential ballot. All those deadlines have passed. But some parties reserve a spot on the ballot for a candidate to be named later. So M. Obama could run if a party that is already on the ballot nominated her and she agreed. If Clinton were unable or unwilling to run, there is no rule or law preventing the Democrats from nominating her.1 If M. Obama were to take over the Green Party or some other minor party, it would be considered very destructive because she could split the liberals in such a way that Trump might win.2

1) it would be a risky strategy because then both major parties would be running someone with ZERO political experience.
2) one needs more than 50% of the electoral vote to outright win the presidential election. If there were a three way split that preventing any one candidate from getting a majority, the matter gets thrown to the Senate. At that point anyone can be elected - not just the ones who finished near the top. The catch is that each state gets only one vote and while many of the states have two senators from the same party, some states are split with a senator from each of the two parties.
 
I think she is too normal to touch it with a barge pole

She has seen all the crap

Seems like a really genuine person, which amongst this lot on both sides is refreshing
 
She could. She might even win.

I will say again, as I have been saying for the last 8+ years, I hope that there exists enough qualified, good people out there that we do not need to make a habit of returning to the same families over and over again.

I appreciate that Clinton will probably do a fine job, but I really dislike the idea of political dynasties or, in this case, passing the Presidency back and forth between a handful of families. I would much rather have more diversity in the presidential ..."gene pool" isn't quite the right term since Hillary isn't genetically related to Bill, but something like that.
 
She won't. I foresee any return to public life as continuing to advocate for issues she sees as important once she and Barack become empty nesters.
 
She won't. I foresee any return to public life as continuing to advocate for issues she sees as important once she and Barack become empty nesters.

And based on the quality of her speeches I could see her making far more than Hillary did working the same circuit.
 
Silly speculation. Won't happen. Can't happen.


The Obamas' approval ratings have started to rise in their last year in office but only because people assume they are on their way out.
 
Can we not have any more dynastic politics, please?

It's the "family business". And politics is a business. We only recognize the "big names": Adams, Lodge, Roosevelt, Gore, Kennedy, Bush, Clinton, Romney - to name the most obvious.

There have been hundreds, if not thousands of smaller [some not so small] families who were political for a couple of generations. There's an argument to be made for sending someone up to Washington who might actually know how things work and how to get things done. Many feel that that is actually preferable to "Old Clete, down by the Bait 'n Lube. He sure does talk good and everybody likes him."
 
So people can **** on her for the next eight years? Nah.

As far as I can tell, she has little to no interest in politics, and as we've seen, both former presidents and former first ladies can contribute to society in a lot of ways that don't involve having to deal with a pack of lunatics.

And as for this election - no chance, as others have said. The pure logistics of getting on the ballot render it all but impossible, even if she were interested in it. And as much as I like her, I don't see how she's qualified for the job.
 

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