Hillary and the Machine - By Ross Douthat

WITH Jeb Bush committed and Hillary Clinton all but crowned, the easiest story to tell about 2016 is a tale of two dynasties, a Bush-Clinton grudge match, a fated collision between the first families of American politics.

But only one party is actively cooperating with that narrative. Clinton’s inevitability may inspire as much resignation as enthusiasm, but she’s currently so far ahead of her “rivals” that she looks like she could win the Democratic nomination with a William McKinleyesque front porch campaign — if her Georgetown mansion had one, that is.

On the Republican side, though, Bush’s alleged front-runner status doesn’t show up in any polls. He’s locking up money and talent, but his actual numbers are bobbing along in the teens, and his approval ratings are not the kind you associate with a man of destiny. He may win the nomination, but it will be a near-run thing, and nothing like the looming Democratic coronation.

Given the stereotypes about our parties, this is a notable reversal. The Republicans are supposed to be the party of primogeniture, the Democrats of fratricide. The now-ancient Will Rogers joke — “I belong to no organized political party; I’m a Democrat” — has been recycled for decades for a reason.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/01/opinion/sunday/hillary-and-the-machine.html?ref=opinion