The more I see of how she and her husband are running her campaign, the more disgusted I am with the whole process.
Over the weekend, I shivered over the prospect of a Hillary vs McCain presidential race this fall....and got exceedingly depressed.
Either Hillary wins by the skin of her teeth, and governs like a scared rabbit for 4 years focused entirely on getting reelected, or she loses to McCain.
The former scenario is only moderately more desirable, in my opinion than the latter. At least Hillary won't be appointing nakedly rightwing ideologues to the Supreme Court or the federal bench. That is -- I think so. But, given her penchant for doing whatever it takes to suck up to moderates and Republican voters to obtain and retain power, I am not even 100% certain that is the case either.
Now, I am not doing this as an apologist for Barack Obama. He is not the perfect candidate by any means. He has his own problems.
But, the one thing I see in Obama that I do not see in Hillary Clinton is a transformational figure. Obama has the ability to completely realign the political firmament. He can cause a political paradigm shift to a progressive majority that I simply do not see Hillary being able to, or frankly, willing to achieve. He would also have large political coattails, attracting young people, independents and moderate Republicans into the party. Hillary would do the opposite. Especially against John McCain.
Hillary's concern is gaining power and then retaining it. When gaining and retaining power are your top priorities, you don't govern wisely or with any degree of vision or leadership.
Obama's campaign, it seems to me, is about enlising the American people in an effort to completely change the way things are done in this country. Obama understands that you can talk about changing Washington as much as you want. And you can even become President having every intention of doing so. But you cannot truly effect change without a strong political mandate from the people.
Does anyopne truly believe (even HIllary supporters) that Hillary would have a strong mandate for that kind of transformational change if she wins the Presidency?
As for campaign tactics, Hillary is running the campaign Al Gore or maybe even John Kerry should have run in 2000 and 2004. But, I think the time for that kind of agressive campaigning is not appropriate for this election.
The people associate that kind of rough and tumble politics with George W. Bush and the GOP. And they do not like it. It turns them off.
They are hungering for an inspiring leader they can be proud of.
I wish that could have been John Edwards, but I do not see that happening. So, my choice is Barack Obama or Hillary. And given the two choices, its Obama in a landslide.
Finally, who would have thought that it would be the white female candidate who is tearing the Democratic party apart at its coalitional foundations? She and her campaign started injecting race and gender issues into the campaign. Obama, naively, started retorting and exascerbating the problem. I think Obama, however, finally realized how perilous it was to burst the bubble of his campaign and to engage in this kind of turgid and ugly politics.
So, I have vented my thoughts on this subject. But let me say one last ting before I sign off. Those of you out there who are supporting Hillary out of some kind of sisterhood, and not because of her poliies, ideas, or her ability to lead this country really need to search your souls to find out whether you are supporting Hillary for the right reasons. The same goes for those who are supporting Obama out of a sense of racial pride.
Obama, ironically, probably would recoil or reject that basis for his support. Although he is not going to openly oppose it.
Hillary, on the other hand, seems to be openly cultivating it. That is a damn shame. And it is unworthy of the Democratic party and our great heritage.