Denying Hillary Clinton the presidency

Charles Krauthammer weighs in on the Democrats' expected presidential pick for the 2016

This is a RUSH transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," April 22, 2014. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

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In "Back of the Book" segment tonight, denying Hillary Clinton the presidency. It's widely expected, she will run on the Democratic --

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-- ticket in 2016. Recent Fox News poll says 49 percent of Americans have a favorable view of Mrs. Clinton, 45 percent unfavorable.

And, overwhelmingly, she's the choice of Democrats to run -- 69 percent wanted her to do that, just 14 percent support Vice President Biden.

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Joining us now from Washington, Fox News Political Analyst Charles Krauthammer. So, not much is going to change as far as Hillary Clinton is concerned in the next two years.

Her record is her record. How do you beat her.

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: You let reality set in. I think the Democrats will surely nominate her if she wants, so it will be a coronation.

But I think, if you look at how the polls have narrowed over the last few months, I think -- what did you say, 49 or 45, that's how pretty narrow range.

We're still two and a half years away. You know, I think the reason that people have this --

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-- fussy picture of her, the name "Clinton," the 90s, very good time, peace and prosperity. They don't remember anything particularly bad.

But then, as reality approaches and they get to look at her record, this is not going to be an easy run in the presidency once she gets in the general.

And when they look at her record, the begin to examine the real Hillary and the real achievements, the lack of achievements, I would say, then she's going to be up against the real race.

O'REILLY: All right, let's go over the achievements --

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-- that Mrs. Clinton has on her resume. And I hold in my hand those achievements. As Senator for New York, --

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-- she co-introduced legislation to increase the size of the Army. So , she will be able to run as a fairly tough foreign policy person, correct?

KRAUTHAMMER: No. And I think it doesn't really matter if she co- sponsored a bill to increase the size of the Army.

That doesn't count. What counts is what she's known for. What counts is what she had just finished doing.

What counts is how she is addressed now, "Madam Secretary." She was asked at a forum just a few weeks ago, "What is your proudest achievement as Secretary of State."

She could not answer the question.

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She fumbled around. And you know what she ended up saying, "I handed off the baton."

Can you tell me if there's any great track and field star who was remembered for handing off the baton. In other words -- and I ask you, I'd defy anybody to tell me, to name a single achievement of this person who has been called by Democrats, in a very extravagant way, "One of the great Secretaries of State."

She has zero achievements.

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The two things she has done and that she will be remembered for is the disastrous reset policy founded in naivete, gave away the story to the Russians, the fruits of which we can see unraveling right now in Ukraine, in Crimea, in Iran and Syria.

O'REILLY: But she'll blame Obama for that. She's not going to blame --

KRAUTHAMMER: She was the Secretary of State.

O'REILLY: I know. But you know how it goes.

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KRAUTHAMMER: There is the video of her handing it over. Well, then, in other words, you're saying, she was a cipher and a nobody.

I think that she will repudiate a lot of Barack Obama's policies when she runs. I do.

I think that she will get out there and she will say, "You know what, I was a good team player but I didn't agree with x, y and z. And I would have done ObamaCare differently," blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

I don't think she's going to run on the Obama ticket. I do not.

KRAUTHAMMER: But she doesn't -- what I'm talking about are her credentials, her achievements. Why should she be President of the United States other than she married a man who became president.

O'REILLY: Well, the First Woman President. She's going to have that going for her.

She's going to position herself, and I think you know this, as the champion of women and children, all right. The only thing she did while senator of New York was she did get a bill passed that mandates a rating system for video games to protect the tykes from, you know, pernicious DVDs and all of that.

But she's going -- that's where she's going to run. "I'm your champion, women and children, I'm your champion."

KRAUTHAMMER: Well, I would say that the country has just gone through a six-year, and it will soon be an eight-year experience, of electing a man because he would have been a historic first.

Completely understandable but it was one of the reasons that so many people supported him. It was one of the reasons I felt proud to be American the day he was sworn in.

But given the record of this amateur who came in to the presidency unprepared, and the record he's going to leave behind, I'm not sure the country will want to elect a second president --

O'REILLY: That's why she's going to get away. She's going to get away with them.

KRAUTHAMMER: -- simply to set a precedent.

O'REILLY: Now, how much will Bill be, in your opinion, at her side and basically, "Listen, maybe I'm not the smartest guy."

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"But he is and he did it for eight years. And he's going to be the co-president."

KRAUTHAMMER: Well, I don't think you're running that way. I don't think you do it explicitly.

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Bill is the one who said, when he was running, "Two for the price of one," that she would be a co-president.

She doesn't have to say it. All she has to do is to make a speech with him, standing with him, that beatific smile on his face, looking at her, and everybody will know --

O'REILLY: Because that's going to be a factor.

KRAUTHAMMER: But it's not so much that Clinton will be involved in her presidency. It is that he radiates, he reflects the '90s which were a great decade for the country. It was in-between the Cold War on the one hand, and 9/11 on the other.

O'REILLY: But that's a plus for her though.

KRAUTHAMMER: It is absolutely a plus. And that's --

O'REILLY: And he's going to be the attack dog, too. Whoever goes after her, he's going to be the one that fights back.

KRAUTHAMMER: I'm trying to say that all she's running on is the reflected glory of the '90s and zero achievements on her party.

O'REILLY: All right.

KRAUTHAMMER: And that will be a problematic legacy on which to run because the '90s are over. You don't have to be a genius to figure out how to run against her, reset, Benghazi, reflected glory. That's how you attack it.

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