The half-joking play about whether she is running is starting to get a little old, but the reasons young attendees at Tom Harkin’s annual confab offered for supporting her were worse.

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So the good news is that Hillary doesn’t have to worry about meeting the high bar for excellence in campaigning set by Obama; few young people will be directly comparing her to him. The bad news is that these young people aren’t expecting to be wowed. They may respond to the argument that Hillary is the best qualified and that it is, looking at the math, her turn. But I can’t see them filling stadiums to proclaim that. Her problem is half the bigotry of low expectations and half the reluctance of a child faced with a plate of green vegetables: “This doesn’t taste good, but I don’t expect it to.” Woe be to her if another candidate with the appeal of an ice cream truck happens to drive by.