Following on
kos's excellent
piece today for Hillary to run, I'd throw in another comment. Not only is it great historical opportunity for her personally and Democrats generally, quite frankly she is the only person who can do what must be done to win in 2016:
Only Hillary can separate herself from Obama while uniting Democrats.
In 2016, Republicans will be all about "change" as is customer after an 8 years of one party in the White House. It really wont matter what President Obama's approval ratings are, by the time we reach the end of his term the American people will be plenty tired of him and I'm pretty sure the feeling will be mutual.
It will be delicate task for any candidate, especially a white candidate, to carry a broader message of change while at the same time not creating divisions within the Party.
Who else could do this? If there is anybody who can say "I'm different from Obama on this and that" and still get the support of base voters, then what you'll see is a united party fairly early. I can't think of any other national candidate who can effectively do this. She is the only one who can unite the party and plausibly make a change candidacy.
The other scenario, a scenario without Clinton, mainly involves a fight within Democrats over Obama. Those candidates who run on the Obama legacy in order to win the nomination, and those who run against it in order to position for the general election. Inevitably, this will turn racial and probably ugly. And since the other possible candidates are much less known, it will be much more difficult to emerge from that fight intact.
Finally, for those hoping for a true liberal candidate in the White House, you're focusing on the wrong end of Pennsylvania Avenue.