(image via nysocialdiary)
It looks like Hillary Clinton, who is all but sure to run in 2008, has finally found a rationale, a central theme, to her impending candidacy, namely -- Competence versus Incompetence.
Until this landmark moment, it should be said, Hillary has been rocking a sort of amorphous pudding of Centrism (anti-violent video games, pro-Iraq funds). "We can handle the reins of government," is what the campaign-in-exile seems to be saying now, or at least hinting after, "but the Republicans don't seem able to do so." Meg Ryan's onetime man-date (It was a correspondent's dinner; relax), Howard Fineman observes, acutely, on MSNBC:
"What Sen. Clinton said to reporters in the conference call I just listened to � that FEMA should be separated from the Department of Homeland Security; that we need a 9/11-style investigative commission � is less interesting than why she said it, and why she said it now.
The answers go beyond the obvious fact that President Bush is in an enfeebled state, entering the sixth year of his presidency hobbled by suspicously skyrocketing gasoline prices and the Mesopotamian Morass.
"Hillary, always the didactic one, thinks she has a deeper point to offer � and with it, a rationale of her pending run for the White House in 2008. And that rationale is: we Clintons know all about the proper, humane use of national government, and these (Bush) conservatives don't.
Attached to that is a more personal point: Yes, my husband was no saint, but it's okay to talk about him now because everyone agrees that he and his administration handled disaster relief well."
The trick of this strategy will be to not make this sound Elitist (The snooty "Hah-vid" connection, if you go in for that sort of thing), especially coming from her mouth, because the elitist (We're-smarter-than-you) card -- played so poorly by Al Gore and John Kerry -- backfires in the red states. Big time.
Curiously, The President eschewed the idea (Offered by a Republican) of sending Giuliani or Powell (One can imagine Powell salivating -- and now quite angry -- at the missed opportunity to regain statesmanship points and, ancillary to that, African-American street cred in N'Orleans after his damning UN performace) and opted instead to go in-house, with that paragon of warmheartedness, Vice President Dick Cheney. We won't entertain the possibility that Bush refrained from throwing this bone to the well-qualified Giuliani, a bone which would no doubt help the oft-married potential Presidential with his rep in the red-state South -- a potential heropass for him -- because it might undermine Rove's Choice in 2008; we simply won't entertain that political possibility.
The Presidential races -- IMHO -- is about, ultimately, who you'd rather drink a beer with at the local bar (Dukakis or Bush 41; Gore of Bush 43; Jefferson or Burr; Kennedy or Nixon?). Or, if you want it to sound more intellectual, who are you going to invite into your living room once a year for the State of the Union, and during national crises. Will a competence with the handling of levers of government burocracy in this perilous age overcome the mainstream perception of her imperious frostiness (Which, arguably, is an overripe stereotype of the "1970s Working Woman" variety)? And, will Hillary Clinton's appeals to the comparatively golden Bill Clinton era amount to a net-plus, or the proverbial big goose egg? Enquiring minds want to know ...
5 comments:
damn, Ron...now you KNOW you've made it. Comment spam!
I'm tired of all the Red-Staters accusing well-educated people of being elitist. Why? What's wrong with a good education? Why is that something to be stomped upon? "Dumbing the country down" does no one any good whatsoever. What's wrong with striving for a good education? Ask the myriad black families who are struggling to send their children to good institutions (and, perhaps, are being discriminated against, or not afforded the opportunities). People should YEARN for a good education, not blast it as "elitism." Just one of the many things that leaves me, a through-and-through immigrant, shaking my head at the narrow-mindedness of the masses here. In my country--virtually a third world nation--Romania, education is valued to the nth degree. Everyone strives to go to University there. If they don't they end up digging ditches for the Army. And so even in my shitty, bass-ackwards, corrupted country, education is valued more than anything. Why not here, also?
well said, LX. I do not agree with the elitism charge. It works, though, tapping into deep-seeded resentments. Bill Clinton was effective against these attacks in '96 because: a) Clinton, though highly-educated, knew how to speak to "The Bubba," b) Bob Dole sucked as a candidate, but it was his turn (Republicans are extremely fair with regard to succession) and, c)he is a Southern Christian.
Can Hillary win it? I don't think so. Perhaps if she ran --and won -- for the Senate in Arkansas, she might have a better chance. Do I like Hillary? Yes, I do. But the Democrtas are going to have to pick a Centrist from either the West, or South, or someone who can turn over a red-state. That person will have to (sadly) mask the appearance of "sophistication" and a good education, and speak in terms of "righteousness," and "wisdom."
so sad...but true.
Hillary has my vote...if the Dems. nominate her. Which they won't do. But hey, what do I know...I still think Lieberman would make a good pres. But Americans will elect a woman before they elect a Jewish man. so sad.
You're right about that. I was a Naderite in 2000, something I'm embarrassed about now (how absurdly naive of me). 2000 really changed the way I think about politics and the necessity of giving Centrism a voice. If the Dems nominate Hill (and they might) and she loses, she will have done a service to the advancement of women in the same way Jeanne Kirkpatrick cleared the way for Albright to become Secretary of State unopposed. If Hill gets the Dem nod, the next -- Centrist -- women with credentials will have an easier time becoming President. And it's about time for that(Women outnumber men in America, in college, and the world).
Spoken like a true "Anonymous"
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