|
For one thing, when push comes to shove. I strongly suspect that the Republicans do not want to run against a woman for President - at least not one who can not easily be painted as a soft "mommy" who isn't tough enough to protect America. Many here maybe don't like how she's done it, but Hillary Clinton has put to rest any concerns that, as a women, she isn't strong enough to lead America. That was always the first line of defense for Republicans against women candidates. That is why they try to refer to Democrats as the "Mommy Party " in a put down sort of way. That type of stereotype simply does not stick on Hillary.
The simple fact is that Women in America are not a minority group, they are a majority group which has always been treated with tokenism in regards to leadership. We now have a Supreme Court with only one female member, and the most there have ever been was two. All women understand this, including Republicans. With Barack Obama in the race the significance of Hillary Clinton being the first female to run for President with a good chance of winning has been diluted by the same being true for an African American. By and large Republican women are more moderate than Republican men, and the National Republican Party will have a needle to thread in attacking Hillary without seeming to assault her. They've done it before of course, but this time will be different because this time, if Hillary is our nominee, she has a readily available platform 24 hours a day to defend herself immediately. If Clinton is the Democratic nominee they can't just "deaden her mike". A presidential campaign is not like the Rush Limbaugh show. They can't just land low blows against Hillary without being held account for them. Republicans risk a backlash from moderate Republican and independent women if they try to savage Hillary Clinton too harshly.
Point two. This year the Presidency is ours to lose. The National Republican Party has been an 8 year disaster for America; from the war in Iraq, to massive budget deficits, to making no real progress on health care, to Katrina, to ruling over the debt and mortgage crisis, to sex scandals, to fiscal corruption, to moral hypocrisy of every stripe imaginable, etc etc etc. The only real way for us to be defeated is if we defeat ourselves. Republicans have two cards to play and that is all. The first is the fear card that we live in a dangerous world - which they will certainly play regardless, and they will play it even harder should some new bomb go off in a British underground, let alone on a NYC Subway. Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden are the two candidates who we could run who can best throw the Republican fear card in their face. The public is already predisposed to believe that Clinton and Biden are knowledgeable and tough. If either is our nominee the Republicans have much less to work with in that regard.
The only other real way for Republicans to win is if they go massively on a personal offensive against perceived weaknesses of the Democratic candidate, and that candidate proves ineffective at defending him or herself from Republican attacks. If the Democratic candidate can take a hard punch, either above or below the belt as the case may be, and punch right back as hard or harder, we win in November. I have more reason to feel confident of Hillary Clinton's ability to pass that test than I do for any other Democrat running. They already spent over 50 million dollars investigating all aspects of Hillary's life with full subpoena power. What they might still find to throw at her now will not seem shocking, it will not seem fresh, and it will not seem as compelling as some brand new line of attack that can be trotted out against another Democrat running who hasn't bee n subject to that type of scrutiny yet.
Point 3 is the contrast between the last 8 years and the 8 years before them. The question has become a political classic; "Are you better off today than you were 8 years ago?" The answer for almost everyone is "NO". Who were in the White House 8 years ago? The Clintons. Which of our nominees can most powerfully pose that question? Hillary Clinton. It is simple and it will be a politically devastating line to use against the Republicans by Hillary because it is so simple and so clear.
Point 4 is Hillary Clinton's obvious intelligence and familiarity with the nuances of many issues. She may not come off warm enough to some but she never comes off wooden, and she displays a familiarity with the issues facing America that gives her an air of competency and assuredness. Americans don't have to love Hillary to elect her, they have to trust her ability to do the job and I think she scores well in that critical regard, better than most of our candidates - especially when one considers that in the General Election it isn't sniping from the left that a Democrat most has to worry about.
I have mentioned on DU this guy I know from outside of politics before - he actually is one of the 5,000 wealthiest people in the world and (no surprise here) he's a Republican. He is also disgusted by the mess the Republican Party has made of America over the last 8 years. For at least 6 years I have listened to him tell me how much he doesn't like Hillary Clinton. Now he thinks she may be the only person running on both sides with the intelligence and the toughness needed to understand the problems facing American and to tackle them. He still doesn't like her, he doesn't have to in order to respect and back her.
Point 5 is the boon of lowered expectations. Hillary Clinton has huge name and identity recognition already, it won't be easy to move her negatives any further than they are, but outside of New York State prior to the primary campaign, she hasn't had as much direct access to voters to make her own case as the national Republican hit machine has had to relentlessly paint her as some kind of witch for 15 years and counting. As the Democratic Candidate for President Hillary Clinton will finally get a lot of direct "face time" with voters who never actually "spent much time" with her personally. If they start out with a falsely and garishly painted image of Hillary Clinton as a total bitch/witch, let's just say that the real woman who they will meet has a lot of room for a real upside surprise.
|
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
