MSNBC’s Chris Matthews did his best to cheerlead for Hillary Clinton to run for President during his Hardball program, offering up numerous talking points to sell her potential candidacy to his audience.
On Monday night Matthews declared: “Let me finish tonight with the prospect of Hillary Clinton becoming not just the next President, but a truly great President. Let me be the first to say that the elements are there: her political positioning, her talents and personality.”
Matthews' “Hillary for President” segment occurred during his nightly “Let me finish” segment in which he argued that Hillary represented “The desires of the electorate and the manifest needs of this country” before outlining why she could be a “truly great president.”
The Hardball host insisted:
Hillary is a notch and a half, I'd say, to the right of President Obama on foreign policy. I consider that the sweet spot. A little tough, a little more for American involvement than Obama, but not too much. Not over there with the Republicans and their neocon allies who want us at constant war with whoever happens to be thumbing their nose at us.
Matthews continued to fawn over Ms. Clinton, hyping how she has “a willingness to work with Republicans...If she weren't a candidate I'm sure a lot of Republicans would be saying this. It's an established fact that people who work with her like her.”
The MSNBC host concluded his pro-Hillary propaganda by seemingly getting a thrill up his leg as he mapped out a potential Hillary Clinton electoral victory:
Getting elected president alongside a Republican Congress would simply mean more gridlock, more anger and more defeat of American optimism and another decade of lost ground against our global competition. In other words, more nothing.
To me the only strategy for Hillary Clinton to follow is to come into office with enough power propelled by a sizable majority of the popular vote in the mid-50s, for example, so she can do what Roosevelt did in the '30s what, Johnson did in the mid '60s to really change America for the better.
See relevant transcript below from the end of the May 19 Hardball:
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Let me finish tonight with the prospect of Hillary Clinton becoming not just the next president but a truly great president. Let me be the first to say that the elements are there: her political positioning, her talents and personality. The desires of the electorate and the manifest needs of this country. First the political positioning. Hillary is a notch and a half, I'd say, to the right of President Obama on foreign policy. I consider that the sweet spot.
A little tough, a little more for American involvement than Obama, but not too much. Not over there with the Republicans and their neocon allies who want us at constant war with whoever happens to be thumbing their nose at us. Second, there are her talents: hard work, experience, a willingness to work with Republicans. Indeed, a real feel for the political world and how it works. If she weren't a candidate I'm sure a lot of Republicans would be saying this. It's an established fact that people who work with her like her. She is, to paraphrase an old adversary, more than likable enough. Third, the American people have had it up to here with the national politics that argues incessantly and gets nothing done. This damn gridlock. They want a president who can crack through the ice of do-nothing government. Someone who can bring down the walls that divide the two parties which discourage them from working together for the country.
Look at the list of potential presidents in both parties and tell me someone else besides Hillary Clinton who has the track record she does to carry on in this front. Fourth, for this country to compete with China and the rest of the world in this looming century, we need to find a leader who will inspire trust, trust to rebuild America. Trust with the money to do it. Trust to rebuild our immigration policy. Trust to bring harmony and hope at home and true enforcement at the border. That too requires trust.
Getting elected president alongside a Republican Congress would simply mean more gridlock, more anger and more defeat of American optimism and another decade of lost ground against our global competition. In other words, more nothing. To me the only strategy for Hillary Clinton to follow is to come into office with enough power propelled by a sizable majority of the popular vote in the mid-50s, for example, so she can do what Roosevelt did in the '30s what, Johnson did in the mid '60s to really change America for the better.
— Jeffrey Meyer is a News Analyst at the Media Research Center. Follow Jeffrey Meyer on Twitter. [1]