(no subject)
So, the NY Times has a big old editorial about Hilary Clinton's presidential campaign. And I'm reading and all I can think is "What's the big deal?" I mean, my biggest concern with Senator Clinton becoming "Democratic Presidential Candidate Clinton" is quite simple.
She cannot win.
I'll even state that again because it seems to be vaguely important in this race.
She cannot win.
Now, I know what every Massachusetts liberal will be thinking about this, "How can she not win? The Republicans have practically hung themselves in every way possible!" The explanation for that is equally simple. And it has nothing to do with gender or personal politics or the mud-slinging of the Democratic primaries. It has to do with the Republican war-machine
The Republicans have been prepping themselves for a fight with "Democratic Presidential Candidate Clinton" for the last, oh, ten years. They had eight years of relative peace and prosperity under Bill's leadership, they failed to discredit him with the American people over his philandering and failed to impeach him for lying to congress about those same extramarital habits. They are still smarting over Clinton's successes and their own failures during his administration and they have been brooding about it, collecting their talking points, sharpening their knives and honing their rhetoric SPECIFICALLY against her campaign. Mrs. Clinton running as the Democratic candidate is tantamount to bringing a knife to an artillery strike.
What the Republicans don't have is anything concrete or condemning on any of the other candidates. They've been so ready to dog-pile on Hilary that they have almost entirely ignored all of the other Democratic candidates. All they have to use against Obama is "He's black! And he's...BLACK!" And besides that one, racially motivated fact about Obama, they've paid so much attention to Hilary (and so has the media, to be fair) that they have been ignoring the rest of the Democratic field.
Edwards? Nothing.
Dodd? Nothin'.
Richardson? Nuffin.
Okay, Kucinich did himself in with his "I saw a UFO at Shirley McClaine's house" anecdote from the NPR debate. And Biden probably hamstrung himself with that whole "Obama is so clean and well-spoken" gaff from earlier this year. But that's it.
The real question should be that if we know that the Republicans are arming themselves for a war against the second Clinton administration, why is everyone talking about Clinton like her candidacy is inevitable, including the Democratic National Committee? If the DNC is really worried about her candidacy, they do realize they have the power to put someone else up there, right?
Now, of course, in the immortal words of Dennis Miller, that's just my opinion. I can always be wrong.