will know that Mark and I get some of our best material, be it directly or indirectly, from blogger Andrew Sullivan, former conservative, former Iraq war supporter, current Obamamaniac. I parted ways with Mark and Andrew when they supported the war, and I read him less then. But since he drank the Obama kool aid I read him every day. This post of his explains why, even though I am okay with most of their politics, I do not believe the Clintons are good for America.
I started this election season telling people that animosity toward Hillary was Updexacerbated by sexism--that she gets a lot more grief for pulling the same dirty tricks that most politicians engage in. I still believe that. If she weren't the wife of a former president, one who was impeached no less, I might overlook it. If I didn't have a better option ready at hand, I might overlook it. But she is and I do.
I think the Fairfield plan for an Obama/Clinton ticket is really interesting and it makes me wonder what is going on behind the scenes. I know that in the last couple of days she has hinted at a ticket with her at the top, which is clever because it would rid some of the guilt they would have for abandoning the popular candidate who has more delegates. But it wouldn't answer the questions about the Clintons that plague so many in this country.
Alison F and I both saw people at our (very different) polling places wearing both an Obama and a Clinton button. Is there a strong constituency out there that wants both of these two in 08? Rain Man, I mean Johnny Walker, can you help us out with the political math here? Putting our personal feelings aside for a minute, would this be genius for the Democrats, or is Obama smarter to try to eke out a slim delegate victory and put all this Clinton business behind us once and for all? I am guessing it's the latter but a little voice is telling me not to be so sure.
UPDATE: For Limbaugh's sophisticated-as-always take on the question, go here.
3 comments:
An Obama/Clinton ticket or a Clinton/Obama ticket would be a disaster, especially a Clinton/Obama ticket.
White males, around 38-40% of the vote, would swarm to McCain.
Furthermore, a lot of either blacks or women, depending on who was the VP vs. the P candidate, would either sit the vote out or vote Republican out of spite.
Whoever is the Presidential candidate needs a moderate, white male with some kind of military/foreign policy background.
In a different race I would agree with Walker about VP bona fides, but I disagree that Blacks would sit out or women (en masse) depending on the positioning of the ticket -- it's the closest either "identity" has ever come to any spot in the White House. (If one is into identity politics.)
With a race this close (and mind you, unlike other states, Hillary has really good local political support in PA) to drop one of them could risk alienating half of our (dems) party. Which is on the minds of Howard Dean on down. I think the general election would come down to who can get the vote out on each side. And there is more disappointment on the Republican side.
Having said that, though, there is certainly the nagging question for democrats about liberal elect-ability. Yes I am old enough to remember George McGovern losing every single state but his own. And there was all this rah rah youth vote for him too. Which is partly why I am immune to Obama hype. The Obama/Clinton ticket is a liberal one. Having checked their recent senate voting records, they are pretty close to lock step with a few conservative votes from Hillary. Interestingly, they have an identical no-vote-cast record, Jenny, which says to me they are equally "political" about avoiding hot button votes.
To change this scenerio maybe Obama needs to get smarter about how to go negative on Clinton. He needs to run an ad comparing their senatorial achievements to make a point about leadership. Wanting to know who funded Bill's library as an attack I find so "90's".
Alison Fairfield
PS While I'm at it, I REALLY dislike Obama's "false" identity politics in the black community. A flyer I saw at our caucus made him look like he was some kind of born again Baptist. Steve and I have sat through many an hours-long Black Baptist church service and trust me his views on gay marriage and abortion are not shared by them in the least.
Well, I don't know how willing he has been to bring up differences on the abortion issue, but he has talked to audiences in a couple of black churches about homophobia and exhorted them to cut it out. Which I appreciate.
Post a Comment