In another life, President Obama would be a conservative political columnist, at least according to Chuck Todd.
The “Meet the Press” host said during an interview with Salon magazine that Obama would choose to be conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks if he could select an alternate career.
“If he chose another career, I think he would be a David Brooks,” Todd speculated.
Todd said generally that he would not be surprised if Obama became a monthly op-ed columnist at a newspaper when he concludes his presidential career in two years.
“I think [Obama] likes writing and will look for opportunities to do that,” Todd elaborated. “I don’t expect him to write multiple books that are attempts to defend his legacy. If he writes multiple books, they’ll be more in the Nixon style — different topics where he has some expertise. I wouldn’t be surprised if he became a columnist somewhere.”
In addition to musing on Obama’s future career, Todd also contemplated the 2016 presidential race, citing “Hillary fatigue” as a hurdle Hillary Clinton will have to clear in her likely bid for the Oval Office.
“The biggest problem she has is that a ton of people in the media have Hillary fatigue,” detailed Todd. “I don’t know if the grass-roots Democrats do; eight years ago they did, which is why they looked to Obama. People had Hillary fatigue — really Clinton fatigue — and were looking for a new direction. Now in the grass roots there’s some Clinton nostalgia, especially as Obama’s presidency looks shaky. But the Hillary fatigue in the press corps is going to be a challenge.”
Though he didn’t express entire certainty that Hillary would win the Democratic bid for 2016, Todd didn’t seem too enthused about the other potential Democratic candidates.
“Can I envision the people we talk about now being that candidate?” Todd asked himself. “Martin O’Malley? Not really. Bernie Sanders? Probably not. Jim Webb? He doesn’t strike me as having the hunger to do the campaigning you need to do.”
“But Democrats do like to shop,” he added. “You just can’t help but wonder if someone will have a why-not-let’s-see-what-happens kind of moment. I understand Hillary getting in early because you’ve got to start an infrastructure and have it ready to go because the Republicans will do whatever they can to weaken her from the beginning. And what living American politician can wear well after two straight years of campaigning.”
Clinton is expected to announce whether or not she will run for president early next year.
