Former President Bill Clinton, in an interview with CNN, predicted the GOP may eventually feel it has to deal with President Barack Obama if economic progress kicks in — and that the public will give Obama about a year for signs of improvement:
Within a year campaign 2010 — where all the House seats will be up for re-election — will be going full blast (it could be argued it is now going…blast). So the key thing to watch will be all economic indicators plus whether Obama will indeed prove to be the masterful communicator many thought he would be. If the public doesn’t see signs of improvement will they stick with him and the Democrats? Or will they try the Republicans again? Or will George Bush have done to the Republicans for an election cycle or two what Herbert Hoover did to them in the 1930s and 40s?
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.