2008 was supposed to be Hillary Clinton's year. It was a coronation in fact. The field was relatively clear. Well, to be honest there were some heavy hitters. Two multi-term Senators with deep relationships and long legislative records, but alas, both from the Eastern seaboard. A bonafide Midwestern moderate, Evan Bayh, a man fit to be President by anyone's standard but without the political machine or the name recognition of Hillary Clinton. An American of Hispanic descent who was the former Governor of a swing state (and lest we forget a member of a very key demographic). And finally, a big eared black guy with a funny name.
But the Clinton political machine was revved up and ready to go. Until Iowa. A crack in the facade of inevitability, a charismatic highly educated highly personable leader and down went Goliath. It was Hilary's year ... to be Secretary of State. No, not a bad consolation prize. But as Nelly said, "Two is not a winner and three nobody remembers."
Well, if John McCain was number two then ... well, you can figure it out.
So here we go again with the march of inevitability. "It's Hilary's Year," women are crying out. But is it?
Hilary's Inevitable says Morning Joe's Mika B. & Kathleen Parker
(Start at 3:30)
The grand pubas have said it so it must be true? Right? Wrong.
The real question is this? Do women want a Madam President or do women want Madam President Clinton?
That's a huge question. African Americans wanted an African American President and since there was no viable alternative to Barack Obama then African Americans wanted an African American President Obama.
It's sort of like Henry Ford said about the Model T. "You're free to have any color you want. So long as it's black." (No pun intended). But with Hilary Clinton, she's not the only plausible Madam President. She may not even be the best most electable candidate.
Amy Klobuchar would seriously knock Hilary Clinton off her game. For starters she's not from the Northeast, a plus in large swaths of the country. North Easterners are cerebral, frosty, exacting, and a bit too sophisticated. There hasn't been a well loved President from the Northeast since JFK. Meanwhile Klobuchar is Wisconsin-Nice (even though she's from Minnesota). In Senate hearings she can disagrees without ever becoming disagreeable.
She has her Ivy League bonafides, doing her undergrad at Yale and her J.D. back in the Midwest in Chicago. She can make a speech and has presence. She has a legislative record, being in the Senate for seven years now, much longer than Clinton or Obama, and she's imminently likable. In an early state like Iowa where face time and a way with people matter, she's just so money. If she won in Iowa or even came close ... I can feel the ice cracking under Clinton again.
On the Republican side Nikki Haley is looking better and better every day. A strong unquestioned conservative (let's face facts) good-looking Governor, and a minority to boot (she's of South East Indian descent), she's the Tesla to Bobby Jindal's Toyota Camry. A great speaker with great stage presence, she isn't yet ready for prime time. Despite the fact that she beat a long serving member of her own party in South Carolina for her first foray into politics she's still half-baked. The local South Carolina media is nothing compared to the 24-7 detail dismantling dirt digging story starving chops of the national media.
These people kill for a living. South Carolinian local media is like a duck hunt compared to an African Safari. She should not go into this fight alone. But it is enough to knock the new penny shine off of Hilary Clinton. I can hear the ice cracking again.
Bottom Line: Hilary Clinton does not need a coronation. She'll go into the general weak and untested, clumsy and unprepared. You don't go into a prize fight without some sparring where you get hit hard a couple times. She needs a fight. And if she doesn't take it seriously she might be the most famous Secretary of State who tried but never made it to the Big Chair.
But the Clinton political machine was revved up and ready to go. Until Iowa. A crack in the facade of inevitability, a charismatic highly educated highly personable leader and down went Goliath. It was Hilary's year ... to be Secretary of State. No, not a bad consolation prize. But as Nelly said, "Two is not a winner and three nobody remembers."
Well, if John McCain was number two then ... well, you can figure it out.
So here we go again with the march of inevitability. "It's Hilary's Year," women are crying out. But is it?
Hilary's Inevitable says Morning Joe's Mika B. & Kathleen Parker
(Start at 3:30)
The grand pubas have said it so it must be true? Right? Wrong.
The real question is this? Do women want a Madam President or do women want Madam President Clinton?
That's a huge question. African Americans wanted an African American President and since there was no viable alternative to Barack Obama then African Americans wanted an African American President Obama.
It's sort of like Henry Ford said about the Model T. "You're free to have any color you want. So long as it's black." (No pun intended). But with Hilary Clinton, she's not the only plausible Madam President. She may not even be the best most electable candidate.
Who Could Throw Hilary Off?
She has her Ivy League bonafides, doing her undergrad at Yale and her J.D. back in the Midwest in Chicago. She can make a speech and has presence. She has a legislative record, being in the Senate for seven years now, much longer than Clinton or Obama, and she's imminently likable. In an early state like Iowa where face time and a way with people matter, she's just so money. If she won in Iowa or even came close ... I can feel the ice cracking under Clinton again.
These people kill for a living. South Carolinian local media is like a duck hunt compared to an African Safari. She should not go into this fight alone. But it is enough to knock the new penny shine off of Hilary Clinton. I can hear the ice cracking again.
Bottom Line: Hilary Clinton does not need a coronation. She'll go into the general weak and untested, clumsy and unprepared. You don't go into a prize fight without some sparring where you get hit hard a couple times. She needs a fight. And if she doesn't take it seriously she might be the most famous Secretary of State who tried but never made it to the Big Chair.
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