Bin Laden death adds to Obama’s incumbent strength
STARKVILLE — Perhaps Gov. Haley Barbour’s decision to forego a bid for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination was fortuitous, even prescient.
Despite the worst recession since the Great Depression, despite two ongoing military conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq and despite the mire of runaway government debt and deficits on Capitol Hill, the eventual Republican nominee in 2012 will face the $1 billion campaign of incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and defeating him will be no small feat.
National pundits – and some closer to home who know Barbour – have suggested that Barbour’s fortunes in seeking the GOP nod were shaping up nicely enough, but that the prospects for any Republican successfully taking on Obama in November were less encouraging.
Clarion Ledger
5/3/11