31 August 2007

Clinton: The Hate Factor

Elizabeth Edwards hints that it might not be a good idea for Democrats to nominate Senator Clinton for the Presidency because so many Republicans hate her (see http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Elizabeth-Edwards-Clinton.html). She says that Republicans might be more motivated to vote for their own party by hatred of Mrs. Clinton than by any enthusiasm for their own nominee. Really, that's just for starters. Mrs. Edwards doesn't mention the numerous independents and Democrats who will certainly be influenced by what we should fairly call legitimate suspicions about the Senator's character and policies. It would be more surprising if people weren't suspicious about an avowed feminist who rode toward power on her husband's coat-tail, or a professed champion of the common folk who's been a board member of Wal-Mart and a beneficiary of Rupert Murdoch. These suspicions don't exempt us from objectively weighing her qualifications against those of her rivals, but if they make people think twice about their normal reflex vote for a Democrat, no matter how they feel about Republicans, it might also embolden them to take a step in a new direction, away from a two-party system that forces a Hilary or Worse choice upon them.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Or maybe they'll love Mrs. Clinton. Especially if she follows in her husband's footsteps and eliminates more regulations regarding federal oversight of government contracts---or elimates more of the staff relegated to investigating and enforcing these contracts (61 people currently to oversee the hundreds of billions of dollars in current government contracts). Making it even easier for sleazy corporations to bilk the American taxpayers out of even more money (over 700,000,000 dollars wasted by Homeland Security alone.) And maybe she'll be more favourable to handing over even more American jobs to foreign nationals, just like Billy did with his (so-called) North American Free Trade Alliance. Hmmm...HillBilly indeed.