Would Hillary Clinton endorse Darth Vader for president in 2016?
Darth Vader probably "looks pretty good" to crestfallen Americans disillusioned with Washington politics, Hillary Clinton conceded Sunday - but added that doesn't mean she'd back the Star Wars villain in a White House bid.
A poll out last week showed Luke Skywalker, Yoda and other characters from the popular sci-fi series boasting higher favorability than every potential 2016 presidential candidate, including Clinton and many of her theoretic Republican rivals. Congress suffered an even more embarrassing defeat: Jar Jar Binks, who posted the least favorable rating among the characters, bested federal legislators by a net favorability of 57.
But despite those numbers, the former secretary of state suggested during a lighthearted exchange that the infamous dark-masked antihero wouldn't have what it takes to assume the Oval Office: "Darth would not be my choice," she said, recommending instead a candidate with "perhaps a slightly more positive attitude in his presentation."
Laying into the debilitating partisanship that's held up virtually all major legislation on Capitol Hill in recent years, Clinton expanded to assess the "deeper meaning" underlying the poll results: "People love fantasies and sometimes when we're so frustrated with the gridlock in Washington, we would like some deus ex machina figure," she said.
"People get frustrated," Clinton went on. "And people are just so fed up with the gridlock and dysfunction in Washington. The Congress is just, you know, so, unfortunately, unable to even agree on the most obvious kinds of matters, that I think, you know, Darth Vader looks pretty good to a lot of people."
