I personally love Hillary Clinton. I always have. I interned for her office when she was the First Lady. I think she is intellectually powerful, politically astute, and personally resilient.
That being said, I realize that for reasons I will probably never understand, a lot of people really dislike her (even hate her). Hillary comes with baggage… a lot of baggage. Her name recognition is her greatest asset as well as her greatest weakness, and the same can be said of her husband (who, of course, I also love).
So here is the problem: money can't buy you love. It can’t buy me love. And it certainly cannot buy HIllary love. It can't undo the past. It can't unpack or unload that baggage that has been thrust upon her by the public. There are not enough advertisements in the world to make that 52% change their mind about her.
I think we can all list the reasons why she would be a great President. That is because we are Democrats and we like the Clintons (at least the vast majority of us do). But we are not the only people voting in November. In fact, we may not even be a majority of people voting in November.
The bottom line is that she still is not a viable candidate for the general election. It hurts me to think that. It isn't fair necessarily but it is a truth that Dems don't seem to want to admit about the general public and the general election.
I don't want to pat myself on the back b/c we nominated a talented, smart, capable woman to be the Democratic presidential nominee. I want to pat myself on the back for taking the WHite HOuse from the party that is driving this country into the ground and if that means I have to post-pone the ground-breaking, history-making nominee to do it, then I will.
__________________________
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead.
There is some polling out
There is some polling out there indicating that her negatives are coming down in key swing states.
__________________________Work and struggle and never accept an evil that you can change -- Andre Gide
That's interesting... but I
That's interesting... but I wonder if those numbers would go back up if she got the ticket and the Rep attack machine let their dogs loose on her?
I might be wrong, I am just PETRIFIED that we will be over-confident, assume too much, and then lose to a Republican.
__________________________"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead.
I share your concerns as far
I share your concerns as far as overconfidence goes. It is difficult to look at the current political and socio-economic climate and not be terribly optimistic about the 2008 elections. For me I only have to think of 2000 to remember the last time the democrats should have won in a route based on those same factors. I do think however, that Hillary brings a lot to the table that somewhat offsets her negatives. She probably has the best campaign organization of all candidates democratic and republican. She is well-versed on policy, domestic and foreign and she is extremely tough. She isn't going to lay down and roll over when attacked by the republican hit machine the way some of our previous candidates did. I think that is true of Obama and Edwards as well. The other thing is that no candidate is perfect. They will all have some short comings. I think it will come down to how well they present themselves in the campaign.
__________________________Work and struggle and never accept an evil that you can change -- Andre Gide