If the voters say it's your time, it's your time.

By Richard K. Barry 

For quite a while I have been in the camp of those who think Hillary Clinton will almost certainly make a run for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination. I don't expect a pat on the back for my brilliance. From my point of view, it's been a no-brainer. For those who think she will be too old by then, forget about it. She'll be fine. This ageist crap gets on my nerves. It never seems to be an issue for older men, for some reason.

I think she'll run if she thinks she can win, and I think she'll think she can win.

The likelihood of Hillary running got some notice over the weekend when The New York Times decided to draw attention to the obstacle this places in front of a potential run by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who, they write, has done a good job to position himself for the Democratic nomination:

He has challenged — and outmaneuvered — Albany's wily Legislature. He has kept his once-notorious temper from spilling over. He has built a prodigious fund-raising operation and earned poll numbers that are the envy of governors nationwide.

But now Mr. Cuomo, a man who likes to determine his own destiny, faces a variable beyond his control: Hillary Rodham Clinton.

We all know what Cuomo would be up against. Hillary Clinton has been a very popular secretary of state; the Big Dog is a rock star; and Hillary, though originally from Illinois, is now considered virtually a New Yorker, which crowds the neighbourhood for a New York governor.

I don't know that Cuomo would be foolish enough to go up against Clinton should she decide to run, but, if he did, I know there will be plenty of people who would cry foul as if there is a rule about it being his time and that she would be violating some unwritten law of nature to run.

But that's not the way it works. Sometimes when it looks like it's your time, it isn't. I don't suppose Hillary Clinton thought some guy by the name of Barack Obama was going to get in her way.

I don't necessarily keep a book of rules about politics, but, if I did, one of them would be that anyone legally qualified to run in any given race ought to be allowed to let the voters decide if that's a good idea or not. Loudmouths and other pundits, and not a few misogynists among the supposedly progressive class of commentators, will make it known they think Hillary Clinton should go away quietly.

They can all go to hell. I hope she runs. Hang in there, Andy. Your time will come too.

(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)