Upside/ Downside for Hillary Clinton

[Mister Mets]

If Hillary Clinton were interested in running for President again, what is the upside and downside?

The most obvious reason to run is that she might win. It would be a more crowded field in the primary, but she would have significant name recognition. It would be possible for her to win the General Election as well, turning her 2016 defeat into a footnote rather than a capstone.

The most obvious reason not to run is that she could lose. Her last political act might be losing a presidential primary, or she might go down in history as the person who lost to Trump twice. Democrats who were keeping quiet about their thoughts on her might go more negative during the primary, further damaging her reputation.

[Mister Mets]

My question on upside and downside was mainly from her perspective. It gets a little more complicated for the rest of the party.

Upside...
She remains more experienced than most of the alternatives.
If she loses, it would be a referendum on her rather than on female candidates (If Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Kristen Gilibrand or Amy Klobuchar loses a General Election, there may be questions about the electability of women.)
She is better when she runs as an underdog.
Some of the stuff that has come out has exonerated  her from the right's craziest claims.

Downside...
High negatives.
Experience isn't electorally valuable.
She has run several deeply flawed campaigns.
Proven character flaws.

[Mister Mets]

That's exactly what I mean though. And it's not just Obama, a lot of people made fun and still make fun of Trump and that never disqualified anyone.

What do you mean make fun of Trump? What does that have to do with anything?

Obama mocked Special Olympians on the Tonight Show and the media never mentioned it (for obvious reasons).

One of the first google results is ABC's coverage of his apology.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=7129997