As regular readers of this space know--all 12.82 of you--I've been a confident, enthusiastic supporter of Hillary Clinton for years. I admit it, I want Bill back, but also I want my daughter to know that a woman can be president. And I think that in many ways Clinton would be a more effective leader than Barack Obama.
In a contest against John McCain, I felt that she would run a stronger race. I bought her "strength and experience" argument and still think that against McCain, Obama will look like a freshman Senator without much of a legislative record.
But...every time I see Barack on TV I like what he says and the way he says it. He makes me feel good about myself in a way that Hillary doesn't (but Bill did). And as a graduate of a "women's" college (Sarah Lawrence) I found myself alone among my classmates in supporting the woman running for president. Plus some leading feminists I know who have supported Hillary all along are ready to make the switch. They say, and I agree, that Clinton ran on the wrong message, took the "inevitability" factor too seriously, relied too much on her husband's poll ratings, and failed to retool her campaign in Iowa in time to make a difference (which would have changed everything).
I still think she's thought through policy solutions more completely than he has and that she would be ,as she somewhat inelegantly puts it, "ready from Day One" to confront the nation's problems. But I've decided I'd be just as excited as my friends are to see Obama in the White House. So while I voted for Hillary yesterday, I can do the math that Chuck Todd was doing on MSNBC last night too, and I don't see how she can win this thing.
However...the always lively and intelligent Maureen Dowd makes a good case today about how women have rallied behind Hillary before when she's been on the ropes, despite whatever ambivalence they have about her husband. And if she wins big in Ohio and Texas, she'll be another comeback kid.
Yay!
The rally at TC Williams last Sunday was a blast, you would have loved it. We were lucky to be able to walk from home to see Barack with an audience of 4,000 instead of waiting 4 hours in the cold to see him is a 20,000 seat arena.
Perhaps the best part though, was when Barack was talking about the odious bankruptcy bill of recent vintage (I won't bother explaining why he was discussing it, in the interest of comity and in the spirit of the post to which this is appended) and Jim Moran, whom I believe may have been a co-sponsor of the bankruptcy bill but certainly voted for it, was seated right there ON THE STAGE. He turned bright red and hung his head in his hands. I love my congressman, but that bankruptcy bill was far from his finest hour (insert obligatory Jim Moran joke here) and it was good to see him confronted with it. I wonder how many folks in the room even noticed the little drama playing out before their eyes. True political junkie moment.
Glad you like the kool-aid after all!
PS: Another hilarious moment the other day. Kwesi Mfume was on MSNBC and said "Obock Barama" I mean geez, if anyone shoud be sensitive to getting their name butchered. I mean really.
Posted by: Bill | Thursday, 14 February 2024 at 10:59 AM