The Second President Clinton

Hillary Clinton's announcement of her candidacy for the 2016 Democratic Party presidential nomination came out via Twitter on a sunny April Sunday. The former Secretary of State and former First Lady learned the hard way about social media. This time, she let tweets do the work of spreading the news that surprised absolutely no one.

Hillary, Bill, and Chelsea Clinton
(Image: guardian.com)

While most of the Democratic Party is offering a nolo contendere to the formidable Clinton political apparatus, the Republican Party will not be so accommodating. The GOP will certainly want to make la famille Clinton a key issue in the upcoming campaign. To that end, Chelsea Clinton will become fair game, especially as she plays a central role in Mom's political march and in the Clinton Foundation. Expect the Republicans to drag media darling Chelsea into the mud.

Ditto for the Clinton Foundation. Mrs. C. will have some explaining to do regarding selected foundation initiatives, with medical programs focusing on sexual behavior at the top of the list. It's red meat for evangelical Christians, who form a significant portion of the GOP's primary voters.

Of course, there's Benghazi, which Fox News and other right-wing propagandists insist has dark, even criminal overtones. Where Hillary will have a significant problem is the Affordable Care Act. Her position on Obamacare will be telling, and the Republicans could make hay linking Hillary to this controversial program.

Ironically, the person who can least help the Clintons return to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is its current occupant, Barack Obama. The president is caught in a net consisting of a health care conundrum, a middle-class freakout over Common Core, a mutiny over Iran, so-so economic progress for the majority of Americans, and a hostile Congress. The so-called "post-racial" society that liberals so triumphantly proclaimed after Obama's 2008 election has turned quite sour. Count on the GOP to tie Hillary and The One together.

Mrs. Clinton has never forgotten how men couldn't quite bring themselves to vote for a woman to be Commander-in-Chief. Compounding that obstacle will be her age: she will be nearly as old as Ronald Reagan was when he ran against Jimmy Carter in 1980. Finally, the First Gentleman lurks in the background. He's an X factor.