The Corner on National Review Online
Please allow me a dose of hardened market realism concerning Obama’s landslide victory in Wisconsin. The race is over. Hillary is finished. The Clinton Restoration is over. President Bill Clinton’s political invincibility is over. Hillary’s electability is over.
Hillary’s paid flacks are out in force recently, yapping the meme that, while the HillBilly may be having a bit of a problem with actual, you know, votes, their massive clout will allow them to heist the nomination no matter what the primaries do.
That’s even a favorite trope on the conservative talkers. But it’s wrong. I predicted an Obama victory some time ago, based on the simplest of reasons: He’s a likeable guy, and Hillary is a repulsive woman. And the more Dem voters got to know each of them, the more they liked Obama, and the less they liked Hillary.
See, observing over here from the right side, we can mutter that we don’t see much likeable about Obama, he’s a commie, a socialist, a statist, he’ll destroy America, whatever. But that’s not the view from the Dem side. Policy-wise, the Dems don’t see much difference between the two, and so it comes down to a matter of who do you like the best?
As is now becoming obvious, the overwhelming answer is, “We luv Obama!”
Exactly as I predicted.
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Can anyone give me a good reason why Republicans shouldn’t vote for Hillary in the Texas/Ohio primaries?
The Republican primary is over, so wouldn’t setting up a Democrat convention brawl be in their best interest?
So long as he can play down the elitism part (Harvard Law School, etc.) and move to the center somewhat, he’ll ride his likeability all the way to White House.
Reminds me of a couple recent two term Presidents.
Any particular reason Clinton can’t grab the SDs and win at the convention? Humprhey’s did it in ‘68 and won 0 primaries. The Dems are as insider as anyone, and the machine doesn’t like to get upset.
Steven’s logic governed my voting choice in California. Even then it seemed clear that Obama was riding a rising trend line and Clinton was on a falling trend line, and the only question was when they would cross. I wanted the Donk primary to be as contentious and drawn-out as possible, so I voted for Hillary in an attempt to push that line-crossing point as far into the future as possible.
It seems that we have now reached it, and the main question is how scorched-earth Hillary is going to be as she goes down to defeat.
(Then again, only a few months ago we were saying “Stick a fork in McCain, he’s done” and we know how well that worked out for us. And wasn’t Bill saying that in response to Obama getting the Democratic nomination, the GOP would nominate Huckabee?)
I like to think of Bill as the logical complement of Pangloss. It fuels his longed-for optimism when things turn out differently. ;-)
Bottom line– she never did anything on her own, and she, in the end, is not likable.
Without Bill having been President, she’d still be on the Board at Walmart, investing in some land deals, a few cattle future contracts, etc–just another liberal boomer cashing in.
Without Bill having been Governor, she wouldn’t even have been that.
And tho the Democrats felt an obligation to defend his nonsense while he was “their” President, many have made it clear they don’t want his baggage back–and when he went out of control in South Carolina, he reminded them even more.
Stick a fork is right–as we saw with the TV pre-emption last night, the Clintons have met their match–they look ragged, tired and now more than a little pathetic. Good riddance.
I find myself wondering exactly how much thought went into Tony’s selection of the word “baggage.” Deliberate? Serendipitous? Either way…
I have remarked numerous times over the past two+ years (though perhaps not ’round these particular parts) that, while the U.S. may be ready to have a woman as President, it’s not ready to have that particular woman.
Although I’m not in favor of either a Presisdent Obama or a President McCain as the alternative, it’s still useful that, at this point, that judgment seems highly likely to be vindicated.
Now, if the people in New York can somehow be convinced to send her all the way back to Arkansas…
Yes. I was wrong. The GOP, having been even more stupid than I expected and deciding McCain was their guy, they’ll make Huckabee the veep for exactly the same reasons I thought they’d make him the nominee. They’ll hope he’ll be able to roll out the socons and to some extent mitigate conservative base loathing of McCain. The end result with still be as I originally predicted: Obama in a landslide.
ahh, from your lips to the voters ears.. Actually, since they have pretty much alienated the black vote to the point they may stay home when she runs for re-election, there is HOPE ™.