"It profits me but little that a vigilant authority always protects the tranquillity of my pleasures and constantly averts all dangers from my path, without my care or concern, if this same authority is the absolute master of my liberty and my life."

--Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America

Friday, August 16, 2013

Hillary Clinton?

The Democrats are about to make the same mistake the Republicans made in 1996, 2008 and 2012.   They are about to have a preemptive coronation as their Presidential candidate of the person who is "next in line," the person who people say has "earned" the nod through long service, the candidate with the most "name recognition," the candidate with the most big money donors, the Establishment candidate, the candidate who finished second the prior primary season, etc., etc.  

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Hillary Clinton!



























Republicans should be salivating at the idea of running against Hillary Clinton.   Consider:
  • Hillary had no record of accomplishments as a lawyer.
  • The only big initiative she has as First Lady (health care) was a flop and will look like even more of a flop once Obamacare has kicked in.
  • Her record as a Senator was... well, can you name anything she's known for? Any piece of legislation? Any important policy initiative?
  • She lost her last Presidential bid to an unproven nobody named Barack Obama.
  • She was a terrible Secretary of State and her tenure will look even worse as the Obama Administration's foreign policy implodes.
  • She'll be 73 on election day... four years older than Reagan was when he was first elected.
  • She's not charismatic and, in fact, is humorless and shrewish.
  • She has incredible baggage from the Clinton Era.
  • I suspect that the Clinton Global Initiative story in the NYT is just the first in many about the shady financial deals the Clintons have been into since 2000, things that will give Republicans the opportunity to say "Whitewater" a few thousand times.
Etc., etc., etc.
 
Oh, and did I mention her abject lying about the murders of four Americans, including the Ambassador to Libya, in Benghazi?    "What difference does it make?"    Hard to imagine that the GOP can't make a lot of commercials out of that sound bite... even if they are generally politically tone-deaf.
 
In short, where Jeb Bush would be a great candidate if he weren't named Bush, Hillary Clinton would be a rotten candidate if she weren't named Clinton.

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