Scenarios that are hard to wrap your head around #1
It's not exactly news that Hillary Clinton has her eye on a White House run, but if she gets the nomination, who would her opponent be?
Rice?What would this matchup do to the narrow-minded, anachronistic elements of this country? Make their heads explode, that's what. Just imagine some yokel/pighead in a voting booth, laughing at the name Hillary Clinton—one of the most hated liberals in the country (for reasons I've never figured out), who is also a woman, who was also decided by tunnel-visioned Repubs around 1993 to be an obvious lesbian (logic: liberal+woman=lesbian)—but then seeing that the opponent is not only another woman, but is also unmarried and black. That sound coming from Louisiana and Colorado is the sound of hateful people weeping at the polls.
On one hand, this seems like a pretty amazing, inspiring scenario, regardless of what you think of Rice. But on the other hand, just imagine the third party candidate that will rise up to get the votes of those who are so reactionary that they couldn't vote for ultra-conservative Rice simply because of her race and/or gender and/or marital status. It might make those rise-of-the-right fears in France from a few years ago look laughable in comparison. Which, when you think about it, is what we do best in America: upstage.
5 comments:
I know you're just introduding that as a "wouldn't this be interesting" theory, but I really don't think it would come to that. I think Hillary might get the Democratic nomination, but I really don't see Rice getting the GOP nomination.
Even if Edwards throws his name in, I think democrats will be more likely to vote for Hillary. What she'll probably have to look out for is that dood from Indiana, whose name is escaping me right now.
Rice just doesn't stand a chance. She makes everyone squirmish. Forget that she's black and female. She just isn't a good looking person at all. As petty as that sounds, it really is a deciding factor for a lot of voters. Anyway, she's likely to go up against McCain for the GOP nomination, and he's far more viable.
I don't quite get the violent hatred of Hillary, but most of it probably stems from the way she handled herself while running for the senate seat in NY. Although the only residency requirement is that you establish residency prior to election date (which she did), she raised people's ire by wearing a Yankees ballcap as if she were a native New Yorker.
Oh, man...people hated Hillary LONG before she ran for Senate. There was plenty of whining all through Bill's presidency about what a horrible, hateful bitch (and, of course, lesbian) she was. The Senate run just made it worse, but she was heartily disliked long before that.
I might get shit for this, but I actually think Rice is exactly what I'd call a very handsome woman. She's very poised, well-spoken (I mean the way she speaks; not what she says), and is calm but still forceful in her views.
And what that news blurb points out is that if the Republicans were to run someone who was conservative but also female and black, that they would get not only the conservative votes, but would also win over a lot of black and female moderates, a groups that the Republicans traditionally have a very hard time getting in large numbers. I just think that they're underestimating those conservatives for whom race and gender would be a VERY big issue.
What I'm fantasizing about these days is a McCain/Anyone v. Clinton/Obama race. That might just be decisive enough to tell us whether we really should move to Vancouver or Manchester or Auckland or stay here and stick it out, fight the good fight. Although I must admit that, if they'd take me, I'd have become a Londoner a long time ago.
Hillary got on a lot of people's bad side because she never really "paid her dues" politically, so to speak. Her husband ran for Congress (and lost), then was elected Arkansas' attorney general, and then was elected twice (non-concurrently) as governor before running for president. She, however, had absolutely no public policy experience when Bill put her in charge of that health care commission when he first took office...a position for which she was not even remotely qualified. Then, instead of starting out running for a state-wide office or even the House, she decided to skip ahead to the Senate. And of course, she didn't run in Arkansas or even in her native Illinois...but in a state where she'd never resided. Yes, she technically met the residency requirements, and yes, the people of NY have the right to vote for who they want, but it all just seemed so...opportunistic.
Anyway, I'll give you that Hillary is fairly intelligent and was a successful lawyer, but merely being the wife of a politician does not qualify her for public office. Maybe 2 or 3 more terms in the Senate and she'll be able to handle the Presidency. But she's nowhere near experienced enough now.
Same goes for Rice...although I don't really see her ever having the ambition to be President. She might match up well in a race against Hillary, but would you really want to see either one of them be the next President? I'd much rather see a race between Christie Todd Whitman and either Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Boxer, or Diane Feinstein.
-Scott
Does being a movie star or the song of a president qualify you to be governor of one of the biggest states in the nation? And plenty of people both Democrat and Republican have thrown their hats into the political ring by starting out as Senators. What's wrong with any of that?
Opportunistic? They're ALL opportunistic. This is a common, tired stereotype that I hear more often from Republicans: that Democrats are all just in it for the glory, whereas Republicans are selflessly trying to make a political change.
I really think that it's amazing that every election has tons of arguments about what makes someone qualified for the office, and every single one of those arguments boils down to party allegiance. Democrat? Clearly Hillary is qualified. Republican? Clearly she isn't. It's the most overused non-argument in the political world.
Hillary Clinton, Condoleeza Rice and just about anyone is qualified to be a senator, representative, governor, mayor or president.
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