Hillary Clinton will never be President
Tue Apr 15, 2008 at 02:03:01 PM PDT
This diary's title was not chosen to be provocative. Instead it is a truth most know and only a few refuse to acknowledge. They would rather focus on reasons why they believe Barack Obama cannot be elected. And maybe they are right. Maybe Barack Obama won't be elected, but he has a far better chance than Hillary and that is an inescapable truth they don't want to discuss.
However, it is time we discuss it. It is time we realize that it isn't all about race and gender. It is far deeper than that and it is the proverbial 800lb gorilla in the room.
More below the fold....
For Democrats that gorilla is known as ENNUI and for Republicans ENTHUSIASM. If Hillary Clinton gets the nomination, as many already know, it will re-awaken a sleepy Republican electorate. It has already been seen nibbling on the sidelines on the Tuszla Tales and assorted other fabrications of "experience" spoonfed to it by the poorly prepared Clinton machine. The smell of fresh blood is in the air.
Despite their claims that she's already been vetted and the hand-wringing over what Republicans will do to Obama with all that Reverend Wright and Bittergate material, stuff that is unlikely to be any less stale when reheated, Hillary supporters are choosing to ignore the fact that she is twice as vulnerable to Republican attacks than Obama ever will be. And all the tears and claims of misogyny and media bias will fall on deaf ears. Democrats are sensitive to those things, the Republicans scoff at them. There'll be no sympathy votes from the other side of the aisle. Don't expect kid gloves either. They will tear into her, no holds barred, and relish every bite. If she cries this time, they will call her weak and compare her unfavorably to Margaret Thatcher. If she and her followers whine about media bias, they'll be slapped with the anti "PC" rant. And they will mock her 3 A.M ads by pointing out she is probably up at that hour waiting for her husband to come home.
No matter all the accusations of viciousness and claims of unfair attacks levelled at Obama supporters from the HRC choir, the primary season has been way too easy on Hillary. And in many ways, that is part of the problem. It has left her supporters feeling like they have seen the worst and that she's a fighter, a survivor. It is a false sense of security because Obama has been trying to forge a new kind of campaign, focused on issues more than personal attacks. If anyone has shown strength it has been Senator Obama. He has been attacked continually by Hillary, Bill, and McCain. McCain has stayed quiet about all of Hillary's foibles. He's saving his strength. And while Obama hasn't come close to throwing the kitchen sink at her, you can believe the Republicans will unload the whole house.
Hillary has given them plenty of ammunition. Just wait until you see those ads of Hillary talking about her duck hunting days, or sipping her whisky shot. And she calls Obama "elitist"? Forget the flip-flops, Republicans will be sporting camouflage and flak jackets with Sniper targets plastered on their foreheads. Their convention will be ringing with Hillary duck calls. Bill Clinton alone will provide them with far more material than any "Obamabot" every dreamed of or imagined.
Oh, and that great "friendship" with John McCain? Perhaps you haven't heard that friendly little joke about how Chelsea got to be so ugly. Trust me, McCain would toss his own mother under a bus if she stood in the way of his getting the Presidency. Just another thing the two of them have in common.
However, there are a lot of things that McCain and Hillary don't share. Fealty from the press, for example. They love him and abhor her. And because McCain is a more sympathetic character, wounded war hero and cancer survivor, they will rally round his flag every time Hillary attacks him.
They don't hate Obama. If anything, they respect him. He hasn't lied to them. He hasn't blamed them for his problems or tried to portray them as biased, even when some have been less than fair and balanced. It is likely the press will be a lot more neutral in an Obama vs. McCain match.
Don't look for the party to run to her defense. When Hillary took the gloves off with Obama, she set herself up as a punching bag. Obama didn't lay a glove on her, but the Republicans will. Like any Hillary supporter will tell you, Republicans are vicious.
Hillary's campaign has been disorganized. Her fundraising anemic. Taking the nomination from the candidate with the money and organization needed to defeat the opposition and to do so by employing GOP tactics is not how you win friends and influence people. Certifying your Republican opponent as Commander In Chief material and making "experience" the chief reason for choosing a President pretty much insures your defeat when the Republican's credentials in that area surpass your own. By doing so, Hillary has left little reason for Democrats to support her. And by the way she has conducted her campaign in the primaries, she has given them even less reason to work for her in the GE.
I know I am not alone in my belief that while many currently supporting Senator Obama will likely vote for Hillary in the GE if she is the nominee, few if any will actively work to get her elected or contribute to her campaign. In all honesty, I see so little difference in the politics of Clinton vs. McCain that if it wasn't for concern over down ticket races I would probably sit this one out. And while I expect I will get the argument that McCain will be far worse, that Hillary will work for Democratic causes, I have my doubts. Hillary has consistently voted against my interests by voting for the Iraq War, for Kyl-Lieberman, for the bankruptcy bill, for DOMA, etc. And she is as in-the-pocket of special interests as any of her Republican co-horts.
So, like many others on this board and out in the field working for change, I have no enthusiasm for a Democratic slate with Hillary Clinton on it. And I am not so deluded as those few Democrats who still hold onto the idea of a unity ticket. That is, as you can see by now, inconceivable. I am mad as hell at what Hillary and Bill Clinton have done to my party and I am not alone.
If she has a snowball's chance of gaining the Democratic nomination, count me among the many praying for a heatwave. Hillary Clinton cannot win the Presidency, but she can severely damage the progress the Democrats have made in attracting new and enthusiastic young members to our party. She will succeed in alienating one of the party's most loyal constituencies in the black community. And she will destroy the one good chance we have of regaining the White House and changing the disastrous course our country is on.
Permalink | 12 comments