All day today I’ve been channel surfing (and calling my dad- the biggest influence in my political ideas and my love of all things political) because within 15 minutes from now, Senator Barack Obama is going to be the official Democratic nominee to be President of the United States of America. I’m getting goose bumps just thinking about it.
I’ll admit that I’ve been a Hillary fan for many years, but due to to an e-mail to the Obama campaign that ran amock and didn’t quite turn out the way I had hoped, I got on the daily Obama e-mail list and it’s actually been really cool hearing about Obama’s ideas as he campaigned state to state. (Plus there were always links to videos to his speeches, which was really great to watch and see when I wanted to see them.)
I also just read an article between Oprah Winfrey and Michelle Obama, and let me tell you, Ms. Obama is such a strong woman and a positive role model, she’ll be an a** kicker in whatever role she decides to play in the White House. As for Senator Hillary Clinton. I really do hope that she becomes the Vice President. I really rooted for her universal health care plan of the 90’s, which unfortunately failed. (But now Massachusetts, is trying the very same thing. As of Jan. 1st of this year, everyone in Massachusetts is required to have health care.) An Obama/Clinton ticket would balance out ideologically, geographically, ethnically, etc. It really would be the dream ticket. I think the only ticket from the Republicans that could beat an Obama/Clinton would be a John McCain/Gen. Colin Powell ticket. I don’t think there’s anyone else out there at this time who could get 100,000 at a rally other than Powell, but an Obama/Clinton could!
The only problem I see is President Bill Clinton. It’s the same story as when he was President. He never knew when to keep his mouth shut. I think the best thing to do is to keep sending President George HW Bush (41) and President Bill Clinton off to try and raise money for disasters, or maybe they could go to Israel and the Holy Lands and try and broker (with President Jimmy Carter) a Middle East Peace. Let them go off and make their legacies be what they’ve done after being president.
CNN—9PM CNN projected Barack Obama earns enough delegates to win the Democratic Nomination!!!!
I think Hillary is unfortunately a liability – part of it is Bill, and part of it is the Clinton hubris. That speech Tuesday was a *huge* mistake on her part – she wanted to position herself for leverage, and instead she emphasized what is a huge weakness in a vice-president: the desire to run the show. Terry McAuliffe did her no favors by introducing her as the next president of the United States after Obama had the delegate count to be the nominee, and after her speech Tuesday, the percentage of Obama supporters who absolutely don’t want to see her on the ticket has gone up to 54%.
I just don’t see her and Bill (I never thought of them as a single unit until her campaign, but it’s very clear that you don’t get one without the other) taking enough of a backseat to not blow the general election. I absolutely believe the Clintons were felled by the vast right-wing conspiracy in the 90s, but they keep making themselves such excellent targets, and it’s totally unnecessary. There is a lot of resentment among college-educated Democrats (which is why they overwhelmingly go for Obama, 50-something+ white women excluded) for the shenanigans that brought the government to a standstill in the 90’s (fundraisers in the Lincoln bedroom, Bill being a dumbass about his affair (*knowing* the right-wing loonies were just waiting for him to do exactly what he did and then being stupid and denying it, etc etc), and it’s pretty clear that this still comes with the package.
I think someone like Jim Webb (who has the credibility and experience to get us *out* of Iraq sensibly) or John Edwards (who has a lot of Hillary’s strong points without the negatives of the drama and the possible problems with reporting a spouse’s nebulous business income) would be a much smarter move. It’s just a matter of gauging the impact of the anger of the uberfeminists who are rather childishly saying that they’re going to vote for McCain simply because they didn’t get what they want.
Personally, I think Hillary could work her healthcare agenda *much* more effectively as, for example, Secretary for Health and Human Services. I think she’d make a great attorney general (we might finally get justice for the horrors that have gone on during this administration, and I absolutely believe she’d pursue it effectively and tirelessly). I think she’d have a lot more power in a cabinet position than as vice-president.
But mostly, I think the problem will be something I heard a while back – Clinton would have always been able to feel secure in trusted Obama as a veep in terms of not doing stuff behind his back. Obama will never be able to be sure that the Clinton machine isn’t up to something after some of the stupid, nasty things they’ve done this election.
I honestly really hope he doesn’t select her, and I hope they come to some sort of agreement that allows her to be in a position of power and allows her to effectively pursue some of her sound policies without putting her in a position to upstage and undermine the president. I just can’t stomach some of the unbelievable hubris that has come from the Clintons toward the end of this campaign, and I think this strategic mistake (she could have been playing from a position of power, but she overdid it) has not only turned off a good portion of the Obama supporters (and his campaign, from what I hear), but also increased her profile as a liability to the Democrats in November.
The real problem is the same problem she had in not admitting to having made a mistake in giving Bush the authority to go to war (and she’s not a stupid woman – she knew, like everyone else, exactly what choice she was making) – she is simply unable to back down and concede when it is time to do so. A president – or vice president – who can’t be humble when she needs to be is a political train wreck waiting to happen.
But that’s just my opinion, and is only worth the ether it’s printed on
I’m just one of the many who sees it as an absolute nightmare ticket, and I don’t know how the party bridges the gap.