I've been focusing a lot on 2008 presidential candidates. I've got a
site devoted to it and everything. I love hearing people's opinions on various candidates. I was here as far back as 2002, so I saw how that race for the nomination ended up.
I was never that enthused about any of the candidates for '04, so when Clark entered the race I jumped on his bandwagon. I did so until it was time for me and the rest of Virginia to vote in the primary and I ended up voting for Edwards. I did so because I knew it would come down to either him or Kerry, and I thought Edwards was the superior candidate between the two.
I recognized that this site was overwhelming Dean, and I saw the anger that ensued when Dean's campaign was brought to a halt. Many were upset because they thought that "electability" was a myth, and Kerry's failure in the general election is brought up as evidence that their really is no such thing. People sarcastically refer to Kerry's electability now in order to laughingly point out how it doesn't exist. Or at least to point out that people's perceptions of the electable candidate were misguided.
Fast forward a little bit now to the new frontrunner for the Democratic Presidential Nomination. Sen. Hillary Clinton. Many people here on DailyKos don't like her for various reasons. What I find ammusing is that some people here say that she can't win. They say that she is "UN-electable". How is this any different than someone fearing that Dean couldn't win in a general election? I hear a lot how we can't nominate someone from the northeast again. Yet Dean is from Vermont. People say that even though Clinton's Senate record is closer to the center than people think, they already think of her as ultra-liberal. The same was said of Dean, he was a moderate Governor who's not as liberal as people think he is. Well that may be true but how do we know he would have been able to convince people of that?
Now I'm not saying that Hillary and Dean are one and the same. Far from it. But stop knocking people who thought Dean would have a hard time winning a general election. I see it as very hypocritical. You may think he's vastly superior to Sen. Clinton in many ways. But that's your opinion. Stop saying Dean IS electable like it's a fact. Stop saying that the only reason Bush is still President is because we didn't nominate Howard Dean. You could be right, but hindsight is 20-20.
I do not support Hillary Clinton for President in 2008. But I also don't claim to know that she can't win. I thought that her running for Senate in 2000 was an awful idea. Now she's more popular than Giuliani. And don't forget, if she's re-elected in 2006 it will send a strong signal. New York is not just any northeastern blue state. Republicans assumed that NY would turn red because of national security concerns, and they have been dead wrong. If Hillary Clinton gets a thumbs up from New York in '06, it will send a signal to the rest of the country that we trust Hillary in a post 9/11 world. New Yorkers are more concerned with their safety than any state in the union, and they trust a Democrat over a Republican to keep them safe. The right HATES Hillary Clinton. But if she ran for President it would just be a matter of time before some Republican slipped up and said something negative about her being a woman. Hillary is a petite woman, going negative on her makes you look like an asshole/bully and it energizes other women to jump to her defense. If you made the race into "Boys vs. Girls" I'd put my money on the fairer sex, who vote in larger numbers than men.
Again, I'm not a Hillary supporter. I guest blog on Dean Nation, and I get mentioned on more centrist sites like Americans for Bayh. I think a number of candidates being mentioned have serious potential though. And I count her as one of them. If you agree with the "Hillary is too liberal" argument, then the race is already over. It also makes you a hypocrite for despising people who told you that Dean couldn't win because he was "too liberal". Stop letting Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh tell you how to think! If that is the perception out there now about Hillary or other Democrats, change it. Don't sit back and accept it and look for other options. Republicans weren't worried about percieved electability when they nominated Reagan or Smirky McDumbass. Otherwise we'd be ranting about President(or former President) McCain.