Should the Democrats nominate Hillary Clinton for President in 2008?
As a Liberal except when it comes to the 2nd Ammendment I’d really like to see a Democrat in the Oval Office. I think it’s past time for the U.S. to join the rest of the industrialised world and recognise the value of human beings. I think we should focus on people instead of corporations.
But Hillary? :dubious:
I was rather disappointed when ‘Hillary Care’ was shot down. (You remember the opposition’s commercials: ‘If National Health Care passes, you’ll die!’ Note: such hyperbolic parentheticals should be read with a ‘Mr. Garrison’ voice.) What better person to put forward a social plan I really like than the person who came up with it in the first place? But there’s the problem.
Since Hillary Clinton came up with ‘Hillary Care’, the Republicans have a ready-made campaign issue. (‘Hillary wants you to die!’) And… I hate to bring this up… Maybe it might go unnoticed… but… Hillary Clinton is a woman! :eek: Okay, Margaret Thatcher is a woman and she was PM of Great Britain. The Republicans liked her, too. But I just have this feeling that there is a certain population of Americans who would simply not vote for a female candidate. A Democratic female candidate? Kiss those swing votes goodbye! Oh, and sha has a connection to the Clinton Whitehouse, too. That may hurt her in some circles.
I just don’t think she can be elected. Not yet. A Democrat might win the election. After all, the last two races were close. But I think there’s a large percentage of voters who will not vote for her simply because she’s a woman. What if the race came down to Hillary vs. Jeb? We’d be stuck with another Bush. (Actually, I didn’t mind Bush the Elder. But his son has given the Bush name a black eye.)
I’d vote for Hillary, but I don’t think she can win the election. Should the Democrats choose someone else? If so, who?
Honestly, I’ve yet to see a democrat that I can really get behind (‘cept Mr. Clinton. . . no pun intended). Hillary seems intelligent, but there is just something about her. Something I can’t lay my finger on. She just seems like a friggin’ harpie who has no real opinion about anything.
So far, I’m hoping someone runs McCain, that’d be nice. I’d even vote Republican (gasp gasp gasp!).
I would love for the Dems to come up with a strong, likable, intelligent candidate who is relatable but can still speak. Someone who has opinions on important stuff and doesn’t just flip flop to whatever people want to hear (not just Kerry. Every dem in the last election had no friggin’ opnion- except Dean, sorta).
Well, I’d vote for her. Problem is, I don’t think most people see it my way. I’d rather the nomination go to someone who would actually win. Don’t know who that might be though. I have had wistful thoughts about Al Gore running again. Sigh.
As a liberal democrat I am here to say I’d not vote for Hillary. For much the same reasons Johnny pointed out. Furthermore, I do not think she has the foreign affairs acumen this country needs in a leader. I want to see the repubs out as much as any democrat, but not Hillary in the White House…She’s already had her time in there.
I wouldn’t vote for her. There is just something about her (like DiosaBellissima, I can’t put my finger on it) that I don’t like. I hate to say it, but I think I would rather have Bush in the Whitehouse again than Clinton.
I’d vote for Hillary. Of course, at this point, I would vote for Gary Coleman if I thought it would get a Democrat back in the White House.
But regarding Hillary’s chances - sure, there are some who would never vote for a woman for President, but my guess is 99% of those who won’t vote for a woman wouldn’t vote for a Democrat anyway.
The biggest problem is that, unlike other disaster scenarios, the Republican Party has been gearing up for this potential disaster (Hillary in the White House) for the past several years.
The good news is they have dredged that woman through all the mud they could find back during Clinton’s first and second administrations, so they are kind of hard pressed to find new dirt. Not that that will stop them from trying - the Republican forte’ is to imply guilt to others by innuendo “we’re not saying she actually ate dead babies when she was in college, we just want to be sure…”.
I think Hillary has a good chance, and it doesn’t hurt to have hubby doing some (ahem) stumping during the election. Bill is still very popular with the voting public and I think a lot of people would look at Hillary as part of a “two-fer” Clinton White House.
The other problem for the Republicans is they have to walk that fine line of insinuating that Hillary is bad, but at the same time, not piss off every woman in America. That won’t be easy and could easily backfire on them when one drunk-ass high-ranking 'Pubbie makes a public slur about a woman running the country.
I don’t think I could vote for her either. Again, it’s not something I can really pin down, and that bothers me. I don’t know who I’d like in her place, though.
I personally want a Dem in the White House too much to risk it on whether or not the country is ready for a woman president, hence I do not support her for the nomination.
If she were to get the nomination, she would almost certainly get my vote in the general election though. So far I’ve agreed with the Dem positions by a wide margin over the Repub, I’d be surprised if that changes.
I don’t care for her personally - I find her abrasive. And I believe there are too many people in this country who would not vote for a woman if her opponent was Satan.
I’m a conservative Democrat, and I’d vote for Hillary in a heartbeat, though I think I’m in the minority.
I think the “thing” that makes Hillary “unlikeable” and that some of you are trying to put your finger on is that she is a strong, assertive, intelligent, outspoken woman and, sadly, that puts a lot of people off. They typically are male characteristics, and many people of BOTH genders–either consciously or subconsciously–think that kind of behavior is inappropriate for a woman.
Also, some of you have said that this country isn’t ready for a female president. I’m not sure what that means. What does her gender have to do with it, exactly?
In 2008, the U.S. will have had 20 years of the presidency being Bush, Clinton, Bush. This country was never meant to have a royal family, or even two of them.
My nightmare ballot in '08 is Hillary Clinton vs. Jeb Bush.
I don’t have a problem with her specifically, but a lot of people do, apparently. I don’t like that she ran for Senate in a state where she didn’t live previously. That’s just carpetbagging, IMHO.
I also think she’s just too much of a lightning rod for the the right-wing hate machine for the Democratic Party to win, and we really need to win.
Personally, I would like, for the first time in 20 years, for a country with a population of around 300 million people to be led by someone other than a Bush or a Clinton. 300 million people and we only have two families to choose from? Doesn’t anyone think that’s unseemly?
America really, really needs someone that half the country doesn’t hate. Call me silly, but I honestly believe there are candidates out there that would fit the bill, they just aren’t being sought after for some strange reason.
And on a personal note, I’d really prefer not to have to endure the glurge/spam/idiot mass emails a Hillary candidacy would surely engender.
It just means that a woman would have a hard time getting elected. That’s all. Gender has everything to do with it because being a female candidate will be a negative in terms of overall votes based on that criterion alone. That doesn’t mean that no woman could do it but she would really have to stand out. She probably needs to be a conservative or moderate Republican too. That would give her Republican votes as well as crossover Democrats that will vote for her just because she is a female.
Condoleezza Rice could beat Hillary in a showdown despite being black too. Hillary has too many strikes against and too many people hate her. Having her on the ballot is a Republican wet dream.
I have no problem with strong, assertive, intelligent, outspoken women. On my good days, I manage to be one myself. There’s just something about Hillary. Maybe if I do a little research on her, I’ll figure it out, or it will go away.
I don’t think there are many Dems who would vote for a candidate simply because she’s female. I also don’t think that just because a candidate is a woman that that automatically counts as a negative. As long as we continue to feed that notion and accept it as a truth, it will continue to thrive.
I think Condie could have beaten Hillary five years ago, just as Colin had a good shot at it then, too, but their time in this administration has changed them and others’ opinions of them.
No,
whenever I talk to other Democrats in large Democrat-y settings (Washington has caucuses. None of that easy primary balloting here - you want to be heard, you have to sit through a weird meeting with your neighbors and follow an obscure process with bizarre rules), everyone knows she’s un-electable. And these aren’t the moderate Democrats, either. This is the, as elucidator put it, government-sponsored-marijuana-for-gay-whales crowd.
We don’t understand why people hate her so much, but it’s very, very, very clear that they do. I like her; I’d vote for her, were she the candidate. But, I don’t want her to be the candidate. She’d lose.