If Hillary Clinton had won in 2008

[Da2017]

I remember there talk about wanted someone who could bring people together. Clinton was seen as divisive as Bush. Obama was the candidate who would unite the country. Hillary was a polarizing figure. Obama if anything increase polarization, some of it was't his fault. Could Hillary had reversed the trend in the long term?

[Agonized-Statism]

Depends on what kind of administration she would have. I, for one, see Hillary as a political chameleon who'll campaign on the mood of the times. In the end, she would end up looking very much like Obama: excites young people with promises of hope and change, leaves office with the appearance of a grizzled corporatist establishmentarian. Social justice is equally likely to form under the circumstances of a Clinton presidency: Millennials stunted by the Recession are stuck playing defense for their rebellious leader, who's now in charge, and thus develop a weird kind of authoritarian attitude for their once rebellious positions. The religious right will still explode and leave its power vacuum in the GOP, meaning you're likely to get Trump on time for 2016.

Maybe less racial polarization without gaffes like "he could have been my son", but the polarization that came with social justice was inevitable. Social media is the culprit in this instance.

[Sumner 1868]

Both political and racial polarization would have been worse as the black community would view Obama's loss of the nomination as being a sign of rampant racism, while actual white nationalists hated her already. Meanwhile, the GOP wave of 2010 would mean endless Whitewater-style investigations - and I'm sure she and Bill would give them plenty of material. Her policies would be very mediocre like Obama - a bit more left in some areas, a bit more right in others - and the same gloom and anti-politics politics we saw in 2016 would stll materialize.

I don't even want to think about how gender polarization would have turned out...

[Da2017]

Both political and racial polarization would have been worse as the black community would view Obama's loss of the nomination as being a sign of rampant racism, while actual white nationalists hated her already. Meanwhile, the GOP wave of 2010 would mean endless Whitewater-style investigations - and I'm sure she and Bill would give them plenty of material. Her policies would be very mediocre like Obama - a bit more left in some areas, a bit more right in others - and the same gloom and anti-politics politics we saw in 2016 would stll materialize.

I don't even want to think about how gender polarization would have turned out...

There are many factors that led Trump,s rise. I don,t think there would of been a birther movement.

[Cassandra]

Both political and racial polarization would have been worse as the black community would view Obama's loss of the nomination as being a sign of rampant racism, while actual white nationalists hated her already. Meanwhile, the GOP wave of 2010 would mean endless Whitewater-style investigations - and I'm sure she and Bill would give them plenty of material. Her policies would be very mediocre like Obama - a bit more left in some areas, a bit more right in others - and the same gloom and anti-politics politics we saw in 2016 would stll materialize.

I don't even want to think about how gender polarization would have turned out...

I agree with this. Hillary would have been a one term president. I wonder whether Obama would run again in 2016?