MSNBC’s Chris Matthews has made a new pronouncement, this time that Hillary Clinton is in the most “commanding position” to be anointed president since the general of all the U.S. Armies in WWII, Dwight D. Eisenhower, ran for President in 1952. Matthews also gushed that she is the “most celebrated woman leader” in the entire world.

Matthews began his April 1 broadcast pushing hard for a Hillary 2016 campaign, and his latest comments were aimed at building Hillary up to the level of smartest-woman-in-the-world status. Matthews also likened Mrs. Clinton to WWII hero Dwight D. “Ike” Eisenhower.

Interestingly, Matthews also seemed to apologize for making such an effusive statement because he’s a man.

Matthews noted that women have been forced to vote for “men of uneven quality, uneven character and uneven greatness” their whole lives, and now the urge to vote a woman into the White House will be too much to resist.

But he is sorry he’s the one that has to say it. “I know a woman should be saying this, but not me, but politics is my business,” Matthews said sorrowfully.

Matthews prattled on, saying that calls of “we want Hillary” will be “heard forever once it starts” and that it’s “going to come about a lot sooner than 2016.”

Without question, Hillary Clinton has a great resume. But a great resume is not the same thing as being a great leader.

Still, Matthews is prone to fawning like a star-struck teenager over his political heroes. Back in 2008 on Election Day, Matthews gushed that Barack Obama gave him a “thrill going up my leg.” Matthews was so effusive that even fellow far left commentator Keith Olbermann warned Matthews to “steady” himself.

Later in the show, Matthews made another outrageous pronouncement, claiming that only white men could be racist–a contention that even the left-leaning Mediaite website said was “plainly, almost proudly, ignorant.”

“Matthew’s claim that white people are the sole practitioners of racism is plainly, almost proudly, ignorant. Furthermore, such a statement suggests a lack of intellectual rigor or even curiosity about the nature of global conflict. At the very least, statements like these do not serve the audience of a news program,” Noah Rothman wrote on Mediaite.

Contrary to initial impressions, this April 1 show was no April Fool’s joke.

Transcript of Chris Matthews Opening Commentary, April 1, 2013

Let me start tonight with this: I remember when General Eisenhower ran for president. I was sitting in a movie theater. My dad was sitting to my right. “Is he president,” I asked, of the general sitting there, about to get on a plane. “No,” dad said, “but he will be.”

Well, nobody outside of incumbent presidents, and not even some of them, has in all the years since enjoyed such a commanding position going into a presidential cycle as Hillary Clinton. The number one reason is that her candidacy would be not just a campaign, but in a very powerful way, a movement.

She is the world’s most celebrated woman leader by far. She has made women issues an important part of her agenda and she, Hillary Clinton, came very close to winning the nomination five years ago.

Many of her followers are still out there, more committed than ever that she’ll win in this time.

And let me add an obvious: There are many women my age and older who have spent their lives voting for men, men of uneven quality, uneven character and uneven greatness, that have been waiting all their adult lives to put a woman in the White House, and not as First Lady, but as President of the United States.

For them, after too many delays, after the big delay of 2008, their rallying cry perhaps not even spelled out, but deeply felt, deeply shared, deeply passionate can be summed up if three words: it’s about time.

I know a woman should be saying this, but not me, but politics is my business. If I didn’t know all this in the air right now, I would have to be completely out of it. “We want Hillary” is not going to be a resounding call in this country yet. It’s going to be heard forever once it starts and going to come about a lot sooner than 2016.