Predictions & Strategies (w/poll)

Republicans are predicting that Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic candidate for 2008 because it would benefit them.

That's the long and the short of it. I've known for several months that a Clinton nomination would be polarizing and easily would benefit the Republicans, who have mountains of things to dish at her and her husband. Why is the press buoying that?

Somehow, the (still-conservatively-held) press has it as a neck-and-neck race between Ms. Clinton and Mr. Obama--that is, a white woman vs. a black man. Who would you rather see in the White House? the media asks.

I want John Edwards. I want Edwards in the best and the worst way. Best because I actually agree with 90% of his positions. He understands that there are two Americas, and that has nothing to do with white or black, but rather rich and poor. Class, not race, should be what we as Americans confront and want to disassemble. Edwards is a wealthy man, yes, but he grew up in the South among working-class families. That means something. He has seen much.

I think he is the genuine article, which is why the media doesn't (know how to) cover him. If you mention him, you give him word-of-mouth, which is an amazing amount of power in a political race. I was surprised to see a neutral piece on his education plan. I'm much more used to seeing hatchet-jobs about the price of his haircuts (which, really, is a silly thing to point out--everyone in the business of being in front of a camera has to spend money on image; the better question would have been, how much did he tip?).

Edwards, somehow, by being "third" in the "top-tier" of candidates, is being shown as a loser, someone who cannot compete. Or when he does, he's too aggressive--he's taking swipes at Ms. Clinton for her stance on campaign finances or her position on the war. There is a saying that one can't win for losing; there's a song: "You can't win, child / you can't break even / you can't get out of the game."

I support Edwards because he has stood his ground on issues that are meaningful. Health care, education, unions and workers' rights, poverty. He is still the only candidate that is talking about poverty in the United States. It's an ever-increasing problem under the current administration, and yet no one talks about it but him.

The worst ways that I want him for president? He hails from Seneca, South Carolina, the birthplace of my grandmother and her sisters. I feel we have a kinship, somehow. And yes, he is a good-looking white man from the South. The last Democrat we had in the White House could be described as the same. Republicans are afraid of facing Edwards (another reason why they wanted Kerry to be the frontrunner in 2004): the dirt they would throw at him would just drop off. They don't know what to do except prematurely predict that his (white female) rival will gain the nomination.

"Hillary Clinton will make history by being the first woman president," Ray LaHood, a Republican.

They know who the real threat is in the race.

By the way, I am a black female, a sociologist, and a feminist.  I'm unfortunately seeing the Republican view cynically--I try to rather see things positively.  But sometimes you have to say things as they are.