"I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth." --John F. Kennedy, May 25, 1961.
The engineers at NASA reduced that to three goals: Man. Moon. Decade.
Man. Moon. Decade.
I suggest that the Democrats adopt a similar attitude to the NASA engineers. The goal is to put a Democrat in the White House in 2009.
Democrat. White House. 2009.
The argument over who may be better qualified to be president is a nice theoretical debate that is, ultimately, pointless. In this primary season, the debate should be over who is best qualified to achieve the goal: Democrat. White House. 2009.
As I wrote nearly a month ago, I do not think that Hillary Clinton is the one to achieve those goals. As far as the Republicans are concerned, the name "Clinton" results in the same reaction you would get from throwing a deer into the midst of a bunch of starving wolves. A lot of people in this country hate Bill Clinton; the Republicans will not have to run a "get out the vote" operation to get people to turn out to vote against Hillary. Republican voters who might otherwise stay home in disgust over what Bush and his clones have done will go to the polls to vote against another Clinton. Independents who were dismayed by Bill Clinton will either vote Republican or stay home.
Nominating Hillary Clinton will spot the GOP probably 40% of the voters, maybe 42%. "Let's give the other guy a huge head start" is not a winning strategy. Ask Rudy Giuliani.
Against any other Democrat, those feeling of anger and disgust are not going to be so easy to stir up. Oh, they'll try. They'll say that Barack Obama's middle name is "Hussein" and that links him to terrorism. Yet they'll conveniently ignore that George Bush's middle name is "Walker"; the so-called "American Taliban", John Lindh, has the same middle name.
It's what Republicans do. They blasted John Kerry for being a flip-flopper, yet millions of them are supporting Willard M. Romney, who has flip-flopped on every issue possible, including outsourcing American jobs (he made a fortune doing it). They blasted Bill Clinton for being a draft-dodger, but they had no trouble with supporting draft dodgers such as George Bush, Richard Cheney, John Ashcroft, and others.
They are going to go after Obama, bet your ass. But with Clinton, the guns are already loaded, the troops are primed and ready. Why give them that advantage?
Democrat. White House. 2009.
Stay on target.
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2 comments:
It's too late now, because the most electable Democrat has dropped out. I like Obama.I fear Hillary's foreign policy will, like Bill, be shrub light. I fear a hidden revolt against a Black candidate. But, I fear a hidden revolt against a female candidate, too. And, you are right. She is a lightening rod in a thunderstorm. In the end, I agree. Obama is our best candidate.
Gug
I don't think all of the hostility that Hillary attracts is her own fault. But it is what it is.
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