If Democratic nominee distances from Obama.....

[Suburbia]

If the Democratic presidential ticket distances themselves from the Obama/Biden legacy as some Democratic candidates did in 2010 and 2014, will it help or hurt them? McCain tried to distance from Bush/Cheney/Rove in '08, Gore did from Bill Clinton in '00.

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/obama-2016-game-plan-216922

[pbrower2a]

If the Democratic presidential ticket distances themselves from the Obama/Biden legacy as some Democratic candidates did in 2010 and 2014, will it help or hurt them? McCain tried to distance from Bush/Cheney/Rove in '08, Gore did from Bill Clinton in '00.

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/obama-2016-game-plan-216922

If you mean that the Democrats have distanced themselves from President Obama for both personality and policies, then such implies that the Democrats have lost the 2016 election before it has started. Republicans will have won as they did in 1980, and they could end up with a filibuster-proof Senate. Paradoxically the Democrats have only one thing protecting such House seats as they have -- gerrymandering that gave the Republicans the edge in most districts and Democrats some very safe seats.

Democrats in some areas might not want to be seen with President Obama... and he will go along with that. He stayed clear of Indiana and Missouri in 2012 as Democrats struggled to win or hold Senate seats where he was seen as toxic, and lost both states (Indiana was a bare win for him and Missouri was a bare loss for him in 2008) -- badly. The Senate seats meant more to him than did the 21 electoral votes of those two states.   

[Stranger in a strange land]

He/She will lose. This is one of those things that Beltway Types think is a good idea that never works out in practice. It's not like running away from Obama helped the Democrats in 2010 or 2014, nor did distancing themselves from Bush do the Republicans any favors in 2006 or 2008.

[Xing]

They would get crushed, beaten in a landslide. Pointing out a few differences is okay, but pulling a Pryor will make them easy prey. Fortunately, neither Clinton nor Sanders seem interested in doing this. They seem to have generally positive things to say about Obama's presidency.

[King]

Distancing has never worked.

It's much easier for Obama to get back into popularity on the campaign trail for the nominee than to disappear.

[Adam Griffin]

The only real way to distance oneself from Obama is to move to the right. Distancing oneself from Obama by moving to the left would be a non-starter in the general election for rather obvious reasons.

The Democratic Party is where Obama is at - arguably, to some degree, even further to the left - and so "distancing oneself from Obama" means distancing oneself from the Democratic Party. This would fail to inspire voters, Democratic turnout would be depressed, and with the polarization of the electorate/the propensity of Republicans to convince "other" voters that we're radicals no matter what policies are advocated, the nominee would likely lose by Romney-like margins at minimum.

[Lyin' Steve]

The Democratic Party is where Obama is at - arguably, to some degree, even further to the left -

Exactly.  Everyone whines about Obama but aside from a few one-off misguided actions, his domestic policy has been pretty solid.  His foreign policy has been abysmal, but Hillary can blame that all on Kerry, i.e. "things were just fine when I was in office, then Kerry came in and blew it."
As for his personality, you can distinguish yourself from Obama personally without distancing yourself from him.  Although what people are really sick of with Obama is the stilted, halting, press conferences and condescending "I'm the only adult in the country" out-of-touch admonishments, and Hillary loves both of those as well.  So it may be hard for her to distinguish herself on that regard.

[Kingpoleon]

The only real way to distance oneself from Obama is to move to the right. Distancing oneself from Obama by moving to the left would be a non-starter in the general election for rather obvious reasons.

The Democratic Party is where Obama is at - arguably, to some degree, even further to the left - and so "distancing oneself from Obama" means distancing oneself from the Democratic Party. This would fail to inspire voters, Democratic turnout would be depressed, and with the polarization of the electorate/the propensity of Republicans to convince "other" voters that we're radicals no matter what policies are advocated, the nominee would likely lose by Romney-like margins at minimum.

In this cycle, I think MN & MI flip before WI.

[Pyro]

Just ask Al Gore how distancing himself from Clinton turned out.

[/]

Just ask Al Gore how distancing himself from Clinton turned out.

clinton was popular

[Blair]

Clinton/Gore was one of the things that people love to cite now however all the polling/evidence/pundits at the time where screaming for Gore to distance himself-picking Lieberman, kissing his wife, Bush promising to 'restore dignity to the office of President' etc all show that whilst Clinton's policies where popular voters didn't trust him.

[pbrower2a]

Abandoning his style? Inevitable. There is no politician like him. Abandon his agenda? Most Democrats want it.

Democrats need to put more emphasis on relieving poverty -- something that Barack Obama could not address so effectively because... you know.

[Coolface Sock #42069]

A presidential nominee distancing him/herself from a sitting president of the same party is a presidential nominee who will lose.

What did Kay Hagan, Mark Pryor, Mary Landrieu, Bruce Braley, etc. gain by keeping Obama at arms' length?

[TDAS04]

It would be very, very stupid for Hillary to distance herself from Obama.  Hillary simply needs the same voters Obama won, and she should win.