Saturday, April 01, 2006

2008 Countdown: Hillary-Obama


Luntz Report For 2008

What works in Hillary's favor?
  1. She is brilliant, both intellectually and politically. She has proven leadership skills as US Senator, and number one advisor to the most talented politician of his generation, Bill Clinton, before that. She is qualified. Bill Clinton thinks Hillary is smarter than him, and he is right, like on so many other things.
  2. More than a hundred years after Freud famously asked "What do women want?" we might finally have the answer: The White House. It is time to break the glass ceiling at the top. If Hillary doesn't do it in 2008, it will be a long wait before some other woman does.
  3. Nothing beats getting Bill Clinton for Campaign Manager.
What works in Obama's favor?
  1. He is old enough. John Kennedy was 42 when he became president. Bill Clinton was 46. Obama will be 47 in 2008. And we are talking of Vice President.
  2. He will not be in the primaries. Al Gore was not either in 1992. Obama will help Hillary move beyond the Primary mud, to bring some sunshine onto the campaign.
  3. Obama is half white, half black. Mothers count. Barack has become a verb like Google. You barack the glass walls and ceilings. He has cross-racial appeal. More whites in Illinois voted for him than for Bush.
  4. The guy is supremely qualified.
  5. 2008 is as crucial for Obama as it is for Hillary. Obama does not want to miss the 2008 train either, for that would be the best way to ensure an Obama 2016, to break the glass ceiling a second time. It is about time.
They will probably face McCain. McCain has early momentum. McCain has sung the right tunes on many crucial issues like campaign finance reform, on broadband, on immigration, on lobbying reform. Being right on the issues will not be enough to counter McCain who might literally pull a rabbit out of his hat: he might invite Feingold to be his running mate, he just might. You never know with these maverick politicians.

And so you will need the clear social progressive symbolism that a Hillary-Obama ticket will provide to counter a McCain juggernaut.

Other prospects look dim.

John Kerry tried and failed in 2004, so did Dukakis in 1988. He got his shot, he did not make it, his time is up.

John Edwards. The sunshine boy is otherwise too shallow. Obama can cover the South much better.

Al Gore. I don't think he is running, but he had his chance in 2000. People like Edwards and Gore need to stick around on the speaking circuit. But they no longer belong in the ring.

Feingold. He has the guts, sure, but his platform is so very incomplete. He specializes in too few issues. And he does not have good political instincts. His reflexes are slow, although he is principled.

Obama Votes Nay
Russ Feingold And 2008
Obama, Ethics Reform, And White Dems
Karl Rove, Hands Off Hillary
Nancy Pelosi, Speaker
Hillary In Person
Primitive Liberals Need To Stop Attacking Hillary
Race, Gender, Progressive, Conservative Divides
The Spectrum On Gender
Michelle Bachelet: Yet Another Woman
The Israeli Wall Is Wrong, Hillary
Obama Was In Town And I Missed It
Bill Clinton Had Icecream For Lunch
Bill Clinton Has Left The Building
U2, Me Too
Dean 2008
Dean-Hillary-Obama Ticket
Eric Cesnik For City Council
Hillary Speaks Up For NYC

On The Web

Hillary Rodham Clinton, Senator from New York
Biography of Hillary Clinton
Hillary Clinton For President
HillaryClinton.com - Hillary Rodham Clinton for Senate
Hillary Rodham Clinton - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hillary Web

Obama for Illinois
Barack Obama - US Senator for Illinois
Barack Obama - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Transcript: Illinois Senate Candidate Barack Obama (washingtonpost ...


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

"McCain has sung the right tunes on many crucial issues like campaign finance reform, on broadband, on immigration, on lobbying reform."

It is his position on issues such as this that are precisely why McCain will not be the Republican nominee.

Plus who the heck cares about a pres. candidate's views on broadband?

Hillary is not a lock, and the long knives may be from the Democratic side, out of fear over her fitness as a candidate.

Hillary is always touted as being a political genius, but her slow lurch to the right has not been all grace and style. When she starts to attract enemies like Cindy Sheehan and Susan Sarandon, you have to wonder about the solidity of her liberal base. Her support for the Iraq war is a major sticking point- how can a true liberal reconcile it?

bernie said...

Just FYI, I linked to your article from: No Black can be Vice-President