The Argument for Hillary Rodham Clinton

Disclaimer: I am an Obama supporter and have already voted for my candidate. While Senator Clinton no longer has a chance at getting my vote, she can still get my money. But I need a few things....

Unlike the popularized (and probably unfair) caricature of the typical Obama supporter, I am deeply cynical, skeptical of charisma and intensely partisan. I could walk you through my reasons for supporting Obama, but it would be a wasted effort. I have already cast my vote.

Why does Hillary offer a compelling argument to be our next president?

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#1: EXPERIENCE

I’m not the kind who sneezes at experience. It counts for a lot, if it is the RIGHT kind of experience. I am more interested in Hillary’s experience as First Lady, than her experience as a Senator. The presidency is unlike any other job in existence. There is no ideal preparation for it. Only a role through which someone becomes acquainted with the intimate details of running a government could be considered relevant preparation. Hillary possesses that experience. She had a front row seat to the Bill Clinton presidency. She saw the successes. She saw the failures. She saw a White House fight and beat one of the worst witch hunts in American political history. Why is this compelling? Although Obama is a wonderfully intelligent person, there are going to be aspects to running a government that he will be woefully unprepared for. Sure, being the brilliant man that he is, he will adapt and learn. There is no better example of this than Bill Clinton’s first year in office. Why not go with the candidate who could hit the ground running?

Think about it. Imagine how you would do things differently if you were given a second chance at love, work or some other endeavor. How much of a difference would it make if you could take your experience from today and transport to an earlier time? That is essentially what a Hillary Clinton presidency would be. People had this idea, but there is a wealth of institutional memory (much of it good) that would return to the White House with a Clinton win. Like it or not, institutional memory can be invaluable to advancing policy interests.  
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#2 PARTISAN POLITICS

I’m a Democrat. I have huge policy disagreements with Republicans. As if my policy disagreements with Republicans weren’t enough, they also have the unfortunate tendency to elect venal, race-baiting, misogynistic, cold-hearted bastards. I want us to beat Republican politicians just to watch them die (not literally, in case Joe Klein types are reading this). I want the American people to have a clear idea of what the differences between Republican and Democratic policies are. I don’t want them to vote for us because of some warm fuzzy feeling they might have for our candidates. I want them to vote for us because they know we’re right. I want them to not only ‘buy’ our politicians, but also our politics. Believe it or not, the American people respect guts. Ask Russ Feingold. He beat the living daylights out of his opponent after voting against the Iraq war and being the lone (Senate) vote against the PATRIOT Act. Tell people where you disagree with them and why you believe you are right. You’ll be surprised by the response. Be partisan. Make your case.  

What do I want Hillary to do? Be more partisan. Use policy as a cudgel and beat the brains out of Republicans on the campaign trail. Tell Democratic voters you’ll win independent and Republican votes, not through force of personality, but through force of policy. Tell them you’ll win these voters (and the election) by making Americans understand the difference between our parties. Tell them that’s how you build a long term foundation. Tell them that personalities come and go. Policy persists. Tell Democratic voters you’ll win the policy argument and build the foundation for a new generation of progressive politics.

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I have a couple of other suggestions. For starters, screw likability. No matter what profession you work in, there’s always a double standard for women. A driven woman gets labeled as 'pushy'. A strong woman gets labeled as being on a 'power trip'. I doubt I’m the first person to say this, but please ignore all the crap about needing to soften your image. Trust the voters to look past the "have a beer with" question. Trust them to put aside any media driven labeling and instead put more stock in the fact that you’re a leader with strong progressive beliefs. Trust them to vote for you, even if they don’t really want to have a beer with you. Plus, beer sucks anyway.

From ‘The West Wing'.....

WILL: How does it feel?

SAM: Winning?

WILL: Yeah.

SAM: Good.

WILL: I thought he was going to have to fall all over himself trying to be genial.

SAM: So did we. But then, we were convinced by polling that said he was going to be seen as arrogant no matter what performance he gave in the debate. And then, that morning at 3:10, my phone rings, and it's Toby Ziegler. He says, "Don't you get it? It's a gift that they're irreversibly convinced that he's arrogant 'cause now he can be." If your guy's seen that way, you might as well knock some bodies down with it.

KNOCK SOME BODIES DOWN!
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My only other advice for Senator Clinton is to jettison Mark Penn, or at least reevaluate the way she uses his ‘advice’. See polls not as an indicator of how things are, but rather as a guide on whom to persuade. Some politicians are moved by polls, others move polls. Be the latter kind of politician.

Another nugget from the 'The West Wing'....

JOSH: Numbers don't lie.

JOEY LUCAS: They lie all the time. They lie when 72% of Americans say they're tired of a sex scandal, while all the while, newspaper circulation goes through the roof for anyone featuring the story. If you polled a hundred Donnas and asked them if they think we should go out, you'd get a high positive response. But, the poll wouldn't tell you it's because she likes you. And she knows it's beginning to show and she needs to cover herself with misdirection.

You say that these numbers mean dial it down. I say they mean dial it up. You haven't gotten through. There're people you haven't persuaded yet. I say dial it up. Otherwise you're like the French radical saying, "There go my people. I should find out where they're going so I can lead them."

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