Since Obama has this in the bag, I was thinking about 2016...

[sofa king]

40. Okay...

I'll skip the observation that thinking it is in the bag is the best way to lose it, and move on to this:

I think 2016 is wide open, and that it is possible that most of us are hardly even aware of the person who will be eventual nominee, right now.

It sounds silly when I say it to myself, but I swear it's the truth: there is a new path to the White House, and that path relies on doing one's fucking job well. Imagine that!

But seriously, the last nomination process, in 2008, came down to two people who did short but unusually effective stints in the Senate, which is where Presidential aspirations used to go to die. The commonality between them is that they both did their jobs exceptionally well, and then got out.

The next nominee may still be a state legislator, or thanklessly toiling elsewhere, with an eye to the 2014 mid-term elections as a short cut to the White House. Since this awesome President (and Hillary Clinton) knocked down the last of the old racial and gender prejudices, our side gets to pick from a much broader and deeper talent pool, as well.

So I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that the nominee will be my sister.