The latest from Hillary is an emotional plea meant to counterbalance the hard ambitious ( in the bard's Mark Antony sense) image of the Senator from New York.
When I was contemplating whether or not to run for the Senate, I found myself swinging back and forth. One moment it was a good idea. The next, it seemed crazy. So I kept pondering what to do, waiting for lightning to strike.
Apparently while promoting a film about women sports, the captain of the basketball team leaned over and whispered " Mrs. Clinton, dare to compete." Suddenly it dawns on the First Lady that she might be afraid of something that she had urged countless other women to do. I thought it might be the Moynihan endorsement for the pitiable figure who emerged looking like a fool after her husband's humiliation of impeachment over what seemed like a messy hummer.
It doesn't even take the end of the first page before the plea for cash is related to women running for political office. I suppose that's why she sends stuff to my wife and not me. The next page goes on with eight short segments about Mrs. Clinton, six of which begin with 'I'. She introduces the idea of a feminine collective who she only wants to share the excitement of the campaign with. If you run as a Democrat you're guaranteed almost fifty percent of the vote anyway just on sheer electoral dynamics. If a third party candidate sent out a note like this, they would be considered overly sentimental, unrealistic and naive. Compete indeed.
I've yet to meet a passionate Hillary supporter. Unlike an Obama or even a thoughtful Richardson supporter, they tend to be old time party stalwarts. Thus unions, state workers and a rare intellectual are the life blood of the Clinton campaign. If one checks my local Meetup options in terms of Hillary there's three people. One from Connecticut and another from Massachusetts. Barack's got a five member group from the Berkshires. That goldbug doctor from Texas has almost 100.
While Rudy's raking it in moving against MoveOn and Edwards got some dough for the Coulter calumnies, Hillary's making a pure gender pander. It might be time for the Radcliffe interns to stop the fund raising brain storming. She'll still have enough benefit from a system without true competition.
I don't like Hillary any more than you do. But I think in all fairness she deserves some credit for her own powerful political position. Sure she's riding Bill's questionable coattails. But she certainly proved that she can operate in the US Senate in an effective way. And she earned her seat by campaigning and communicating retail with the voters of the state, half of whom tend to be conservatives. That surprised me. I don't know too many other famous wives could have done that. So she has my respect, if the warmest of feelings.
My attitude is, if she gets the nomination, I'll vote for her in the general election, because she might be effective, if not likeable, as president. My personal choice would be either Dennis Kucinich or Ron Paul for
president. Richardson is interesting too. I LIKE Obama, but as president, he could turn out to be like Carter, well-meaning, but wishy-washy. But failing those, I'll take a smart, if shifty, professional. The last thing we need is another ideologue with low self-esteem and zero intellectual breadth.
Thanks for the comment Harry. Keep in mind that this a response to a recent mailing, not a roundhouse shot at Mrs. Clinton for the hell of it.
While I'm committed to the LP candidate regardless if he or she is a monkey, I'm always happy to respond to or highlight a mailing that many people will most likely not see.
I like Kucinich simply for his gusty resolve against this whole occupation mess. Gravel too. It's too bad its such a mob mentality when it comes to these races, elect ability and inevitability reign the day when we do need a heightened conversation. We have about a hundred days before it's Rudy v. Hillary.