Top 10 Reasons Hillary Clinton Will Win the Presidency in 2008
1) There’s no more dirt to dish about her. Over a dozen years in public life, every nasty rumor has been amplified and exhausted. So Hillary can’t be swift-boated a la John Kerry.
2) She’ll have the best campaign strategist in the business behind her (her husband). Bob Shrum, with his awe-inspiring 0-8 win/loss record, will be banished to Talking Head status.
3) By 2008, the country will be SO tired of the Bush madness. If America doesn’t go bankrupt before then – a distinct possibility – the dispirited electorate will drag its war-weary self to the ballot box and say “Enough – please, please make it stop.”
4) Her likely opponent, John McCain, is not a favorite of the Christian right. And without the Christian right it’s difficult if not impossible for a Republican to win the presidency. McCain will court the Evangelicals, but deep down they understand he’s not one of them.
5) She’s a pragmatist – not an idealist. Hillary can dance to the center when need be (heck, she lives there). As Howard Dean proved, idealists get to be on magazine covers, then they’re told to go home. Idealists get “important” jobs like head of the DNC. Pragmatists get power.
6) Hillary Clinton is the country’s biggest political rock star. In a culture that worships celebrity, she’s reached that rarefied status: her first name alone identifies her. Who doesn’t know who Hillary is?
7) The youth vote grew in 2004, and it trended Democratic. This trend line will continue in ‘08, and the youth vote certainly won’t choose oldster John McCain – a senator who supports the tragic troop surge – over exciting possible-first-woman-president Hillary Clinton.
8) The “girl rule.” The girl rule says that, in a man’s world, for a woman to achieve success in a “man’s job” – like the US Senate – she has to be so much more talented than a man. True to the dictum, Hillary Clinton is tougher and cannier than any opponent she’ll face.
9) Hillary’s lopsided victory in her ‘06 Senate race displays her ability to romance a demographically diverse audience. (Or at least diverse enough to win a narrow ‘08 victory.)
10) It’s time. Of all the ‘-isms’ of the 20th century – communism, commercialism, atheism – the most powerful was – is – feminism. There are now more female than male college undergraduates. Note the trend line. The era of Boys in Charge is ending. But not everyone has caught on. Have you noticed that most of the pundits who posit that “she can’t win” are male?
11) (A bonus reason!) (What – there’s another reason? Yes, they just keep coming!) Hillary will make a brilliant and strategic vice presidential pick. Unlike Kerry’s choice of John Edwards – hey, he’s cute but he couldn’t even win his home state – Clinton will choose someone who helps the ticket, like Evan Bayh, who will tip Indiana into the blue state column.
12) (No, not another reason! Please! I have to save time to read all the “Hillary Is a Devil” articles put out by frothing-at-the-mouth conservatives, and all the “Hillary Is a Sell Out” articles by impotent, power-fearing liberals. Plus, Chris Matthews on Hard Ball is running another “John McCain is My Hero” segment, and I need to set my Tivo. Can’t we stop with the reasons already? Okay, this is the last I’ll list, but there are many more…) As a popular Senator, Clinton has sponsored many initiatives like the Gold Star Parent Annuity Act, which grants a $125 monthly annuity to parents who’ve lost a son or daughter in battle. And the Grandrally, dedicated to “grandparents and other family caregivers who are raising children.” When her massively-funded publicity machine informs the country of these emotionally touching, populist measures, John McCain’s poll numbers will sink like an Arizona sunset.
Comments
I'm leaving the country, I can not handle Hillary.
Posted by: Christopher Leiss | January 20, 2007 03:37 PM
Hillary will have problems with liberals, given her enthusiastic support until last week (?) of the war in Iraq. . . . And she will have problems with men: (1) as a feminist, Hillary thinks that men are pigs, and (2) she reminds too many men of their ex-wives.
Posted by: midvanisle | January 20, 2007 08:05 PM
To Chirstopher (whose comment is previous): If you leave the country when Hillary wins, do you think you'll be in the same immaginary one as all of those who left when Bush was appointed (not elected, not that a detail like that matters) POTUS? Does it ever get crowded there?
Posted by: Anonymous | January 21, 2007 08:50 AM
NEW YOUR TIMES headline on a cold november wednesday..."Clinton - Bayh...a landslide."
Posted by: Mark | January 22, 2007 07:30 PM
I hope and pray that Hillary Clinton will win in 2008. We need a change and I am certainly tired of voting for white old men. The time is now and we need a change. Go Hillary!!
Posted by: annav | January 24, 2007 12:21 AM