What has clarified my understanding of Hillary's motivation is this: with the perfect storm of problems (Bush's poll numbers, the tragic Iraq war, the sinking economy, McSame's wearing the Bush mantle, etc) dragging down the Republican Party and predicting a Democratic victory in November, she (and I) believe that the Democratic nominee will absolutely become the next President of the United States. If it's Hillary, she gets the Oval Office!
More below the fold.
Therefore, all she has to do is get us to dismiss that annoyingly youthful, optimistic, enthusiastic, listening, Iraq-War-opposing, solution-seeking, inspirational, hope mongering Midwestern outsider with the photogenic family - and accept her instead.
I'm in my mid-40s and therefore don't have the memory of RFK, let alone JFK, with which to compare Obama, but let me tell you, it was inspirational watching Bill accept the nomination in Madison Square Garden in 1992 as. . . .the Man from Hope.
Well, those inspirational days are long gone.
I can also remember being asked in December 2000, before SCOTUS awarded the White House to Bush, if I wanted Bush's presidency to fail. In truth, I answered, "Absolutely not, because if he fails, so does our country. I hope Bush confounds all of us and has a successful presidency."
Well, even though I hoped for good things, Bush and his cohorts let us all down.
For me, the decison of who to support for president should be a slam dunk. Before this primary campaign season, I'd had my fill of Billary - and the feeling is 100 times deeper now. Yes, I'll even use the phrase "Clinton fatigue" to describe my exhaustion. I live in NYC and have been hearing about them daily since they left the White House. So, for me, a Hillary win is just a third term for the Clinton elite.
And in my eyes, a McSame win is just a third term for the Bush elite. Do you realize that there has been someone in the White House named either Bush or Clinton since Inauguration Day 1981? I wonder how many younger voters have lived their entire lives during that time?
To me, Barack offers something new, something rare in American politics, almost a "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" appeal. He is someone who is still young enough to have small children and the associated worries of raising them to be good people in what is a rather decadent society; someone who, along with his working spouse, has had day care concerns; someone from modest enough means to remember what it is like repaying student loans; someone who is the embodiment of American pluralism, inclusiveness and advancement through intelligence and merit, not entitlement or and nepotism.
As I watch the North Carolina and Indiana returns, I again hope for the end to this painfully long process, one which is surely killing Hillary and Bill. "So close," they must be thinking. "We came so close."
The poll below is a bit snarky, but it's been a long day and I needed a laugh. I hope it gives you a chuckle, too.