a clinton by any other name
by Ian Schuldt
Published: March 15, 2008
Does anyone honestly think Hillary Rodham (minus “Clinton”) would have a shot at the presidency? Or even better yet, does anyone actually think a Hillary Rodham would have beat Rudi Giuliani, a very popular New York mayor, in the New York State Senate race? The answer to both these questions is, “No!”
The reality is that Hillary Clinton isn’t running on her experience, or her judgment, or her policies, or even her ability to lead. She’s running on the last name of Clinton just like Dubbya ran on the name of Bush before her. I’m not saying that she doesn’t have experience, or decent policies, or even that she isn’t qualified for the presidency. But when I look at the field of democratic candidates, I see people like John Edwards, Bill Richardson and Joseph Biden, who all have as much or more experience than she has.
Take Bill Richardson, for example. He has been very successful as the Governor of New Mexico. He’s a man who as a member of the Clinton administration sat down with Saddam Hussein and negotiated the release of hostages. If Democrats were really worried about who would answer the phone at 3 a.m., he should have been your man.
The Clinton campaign has said that Barack Obama would be a fine choice for Vice President. They are essentially claiming that he is the second best candidate for President of the United States. Yet they simultaneously spend millions in advertising trying to convince you that he isn’t qualified at all for the same position.
The Clinton people also want you to believe that Obama is only in this race because of the color of his skin. Even in a state like Mississippi, which has the highest concentration of African-American voters in the country, the population that is black is still only 37%. Meanwhile the population of woman in every state is about 50%.
Obama has handily won states like Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Kansas, Wyoming, Vermont, Maine, Alaska, North Dakota, Idaho, Washington and Utah. These states are anything but African-American strongholds. I would love to see Hillary try and win a single state without the immense support of her female base.
I have some bad news for people like Geraldine Ferraro; Barack Obama isn’t running on Black, and he’s definitely not getting a bump from his last name. I guarantee that no one in any primary has walked into a voting booth and thought to themselves, “Gee I’m not sure who to vote for, but this Obama guy sounds familiar.” Or “Barack Obama?… hmm, that sounds like a good Christian name.” Being black and having a name like Barack Hussein Obama is hindering his campaign more than it helps it.
Hillary says that Obama is winning because he pumps people full of false hopes and dreams - hopes and dreams that he can’t live up to. As if a man that was raised by a single mother, bouncing all over the world from Hawaii to Kenya to Indonesia as a child, who got himself through Harvard Law School, into the Senate and into the lead of a presidential primary doesn’t know what he’s doing.
Barack Obama has built himself up from essentially nothing. The odds of someone like him even having a shot at the presidency are too ridiculous to imagine. If you needed any more vindication of the power of hope and determination, that should do it.
Meanwhile, Hillary probably wouldn’t even have a career in politics if her husband wasn’t the former president. Not to say that she doesn’t have the qualifications to be a good politician, but there is almost nothing that sets her apart from any other candidate in the field - except that name. I’ll take a candidate who is only winning because he has the amazing ability to inspire, motivate and lead people over someone who’s staying afloat due to her husband’s legacy.
The reality is that there are two things, and only two things, that have made Hillary Clinton a viable candidate for the presidency. She’s a woman, and she’s a Clinton. The funny thing is if she would have been a little bit better at both of those things, her husband might not have been impeached.
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