President Barack Obama’s weakened presidency implicitly helps bolster the case for this passel of ambitious chief executives. Republicans now regularly cite Obama’s swift ascent and lack of experience – he began running for president only two years after beginning his U.S. Senate tenure – as the underlying reason for his failures.
In a hypothetical primary, expect any governor to jam a potential rival coming out of the Senate with, “We tried this and it didn’t work.”
“When you see President Obama, who couldn’t run a two-car funeral, you see why executive experience is important,” says former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, who pondered a presidential campaign in 2012.
Adds Hatch: “Is two years in the Senate enough to run for president? Yes. They can do it. But there’s going to be a lot of suspicion given this presidency.”