I at least think Hillary Clinton would make a good president. She’s liberal on most social issues, and strong on defense.
My beef with her isn’t that she’d make a bad president. It’s that she just doesn’t have the personality to win people’s hearts.
She comes off as mean, and emotionless.
It shouldn’t be a personality contest. But I think sadly for most voters it is.
Here, this expresses my feelings best:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xxgRUyzgs0
Did Richard Nixon have the personality to get elected? 
To a certain extent, I think personality is an important attribute in a leader. A leader needs to inspire people to follow them and convince them that they know what they’re doing. In a time of crisis, they need to be able to bring people together, keep people calm, and keep energy directed in the way to best manage the crisis. And, really, even if someone is an effective executive, I think most people want to like the person leading them or at least think they’re a decent human being.
This is a big part of what helped Bush win the election in 2000, he ran as an every-man, and to be the type of person that people would want to have a beer with. Gore was criticized as being cold and robotic. Regardless of whether or not he really was or what people might think about the legitimacy of the election, that campaign was effective in gaining a lot of votes. Similarly, in 2008, Obama was an inspiring figure, he made people believe in his message and made people want. He told people he was going to change things and people believed it. Again, regardless of what one might think of his actual presidency, this got a lot of people, especially younger voters, out to vote and to volunteer for his campaign.
And really, to that extent, it’s an important part of the job precisely because it’s integral to getting elected. And, frankly, I think it’s one of her biggest weaknesses. Let us not forget she was the inevitable candidate back in 2008, but she ultimately lost to, at least on paper, a weaker candidate with less experience. I think this is also a big part of why Sanders is gaining on her, because he’s more likable and more inspiring, not to the level that Obama did, but certainly more than her. Without inspiring people to come vote and volunteer, she’s going to struggle to get a lot of those voters that might have stayed home last time had Obama not drawn them out. I think that even if she gets the nomination, if the Republicans can put forward someone with some charisma, she’s going to be in a lot of trouble.
Exactly. Hillary has a cold & distant personality. Notice how her attempts at humor always fall flat? She’s trying to fake an affable attitude, and it shows.
This doesn’t necessarily speak to her qualifications as president, but the fact is that kind of personality doesn’t endear you to anyone, much less the voting public.
Personality is important, but we’ve had plenty of solid Presidents who no one would want to spend any time with, having a beer, or even an awkward conversation at a party.
Clinton is capable of being a solid President. At her worst I think she’ll be better than the last two we’ve had. She understands what she’s good at and what she’s not. She has campaigned in both elections as the “serious” candidate. And she is. She’s Nixon, except with minor scandals instead of major ones. Unlikeable, dishonest, but not corrupt the way Nixon was.
Anyone old enough to remember Nixon’s infamouswalk on the beach (hint for youngsters: who wears dress shoes to walk on the beach?) knows that there are some candidates who simply don’t present themselves well.
I think Hillary is quite capable of being a good President, but damn, she makes it hard for me to root for her.
To me, it’s not personality that is the key, it’s fear. I don’t like Hilary, but I will undoubtedly vote for her over any of the Republican candidates. If Bernie sticks around long enough to get on my state’s ballot, I’ll vote for him over Hilary.
She’s my mom. I don’t mean, like, literally, but looks*, dress, demeanor, attitude, tone of voice - all those things that add up to “personality” when you’ve never actually met a person - absolutely identical. It’s creepy. I personally can’t vote for her in the primaries because of her personality, but that’s because I’ve got issues. If she gets the nomination, though, she’ll have my vote, because everyone on the Republican side is worse.
Besides, I just like Bernie Sanders better, in personality and in policy, so it’s really a non starter. A decade ago I might have voted for H. Clinton, but these days? Mommy issues.
*Actually, my mom *looks *exactly like Elizabeth Warren, who I would totally vote for. But the personality is all Hillary Clinton.
As with many other threads concerning the undetectability of Clinton, it is useless to look only at her when making this assessment. You need to compare her to her opposition. Does Trump or Bush have the personality to become president?
Clinton is definitely a flawed candidate in many ways and would likely lose against a Reagan, Obama, Bill Clinton or possibly even a circa 2000 George Bush. But none of those are running against her. It isn’t a choice between flawed and sound, but between flawed and fractured.
Hillary may be a steaming plate of poorly prepared Brussels sprouts, but the Republicans are platters of poisoned cow chips. Yeah, we may not like her, but we’ll take her if we have to. It’s hard to put your finger on it, when you listen to her she seems to say the right things, but you can’t escape the feeling that she’s thinking “I sure hope the rubes are buying this.” It’s that perception of entitlement that I have a hard time getting past. I would love to see Biden run and win, and if I was convinced Sanders could win I’d be in his corner. Hillary for me is like the third receiver on a 2nd and short situation. Yeah, if your first two guys can’t get open and you’re rather not throw it away, you’ll throw it her way. But not by choice.
The way things are going, you might not have to compare her to a Republican. It took Democrats awhile in 2008 to realize they didn’t have to settle for Clinton. I was hoping they’d figure it out faster this time around, but as long as they reach the right conclusion…
Robots don’t have personalities. They have programing.
She’s so incredibly phony and unlikable. I really can’t believe it’s gotten to this point where we’re going to elect her.
I don’t necessarily think she would be a terrible president in the same way that I don’t necessarily think Richard Nixon was a terrible president. However it further devalues us as a nation that these are the type of people that we elect as our leaders.
In the same way that I hate that Republicans allowed their party to be hijacked by the moral majority and later tea partiers I hate that the Democrats have thrown out this week opposition to Hillary Clinton.
Could be worse. Trump comes off as mean, and emotional.
Trump also comes off as genuine. You know who Donald Trump is, and you take it or leave it. Most voters will leave it, but what Trump is doing is making more authentic candidates who are less bombastic look good by comparison. And making Hillary look worse simply because her public persona is so fake.
The real Clinton has a temper. The real Clinton is snippy. The real Clinton is also warm, generous, and inspires loyalty in her friends. THe source of her fakeness isn’t actually her dishonesty. It’s her obsession with privacy. She doesn’t want the public to see the real Clinton, the good and the bad. Basically, she shouldn’t be in this line of work.
BTW, Trump and Clinton now enjoy roughly equal favorability ratings and are tied in the polls:
That’s just sad.
Democrats see her as a bulwark against the GOP and their conservative hijinks. If she gets the nomination, we’ll all hold our noses at the polls and do the right thing, not because of her so much, but because of them.
OTOH I can see her getting meaner and dirtier than Obama has done when the GOP attacks. Once she is in office I can see her taking the gloves off in a way Obama has not.
Which means that Democrats will only support her as long as they see no better alternative.
AT this point, she’s no longer even the most electable Democrat.
Cite?
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/us/general_election_bush_vs_clinton-3827.html
Clinton is statistically tied with the GOP candidates
Biden, however, enjoys sizeable leads:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/us/general_election_bush_vs_biden-3828.html
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/us/general_election_trump_vs_biden-5568.html
