I don’t care what you think of politics or even what you think of her personally, you have got to feel at least a little bit sorry for Hillary Rodham Clinton.
There she is, the first serious, office-holding politician to take a shot at the presidency. History-making stuff!
But who is she running against? The first serious, office-holding black presidential candidate in American history. And the first serious, office-holding Hispanic candidate.
With a black senator and a Hispanic governor running, a senator woman is a lot less newsworthy. She’ll probably win so I guess we shouldn’t feel too sorry.
Of course the ironic thing is that the black guy “isn’t really black“, the Hispanic guy is named Richardson, and the feminist owes her senate seat in large part to her husband. All that’s required to make the joke complete is if the white guy ends up winning the nomination.
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7 Responses to The Rainbow Racetrack
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Is Hilary really a woman?
To tell you the truth, being only partially black makes you black. Must of the mixed people I have met are always judged by the minority on their ancestry.
Now I like Obama, but I would be happy to vote for Hilary for sure.
The issue with Obama (in the eyes of the linked article’s author and Stanley Crouch) is not so much that he is only half-black, it’s that he doesn’t have slave ancestry.
The question of whether Obama is “really black” is a question usually reserved for people who can’t see past the color of their own noses; I’m reminded of when Tiger Woods got tired of people saying how great it was he was “black” and reminded them that he had white and asian ancestry too.
Then again, I wouldn’t vote for any of them – not based on race or gender, but based on major disagreement with their political campaign planks.
Hillary wants to institute nationalized health care, but has no idea how to pay for it; she’s made statements that increased taxation is “we’re going to take things away from you for your own good”, and I for one don’t think she knows what my own good is.
Bill Richardson has simultaneously declared a state of emergency on the New Mexico border due to decimation of the cattle crop (killed by drug smugglers and illegal immigrants) and drug/gang violence, signed on to Bush’s plan to put the National Guard on the border (but with marching orders that tie their hands), and yet has made public statements denouncing security reforms that Congress passed and supporting an amnesty program. I don’t care which side of the debate he is on, I just wish he’d pick.
Obama’s got his own skeletons in the closet, such as connections to one Antoin Rezko, questions about his early schooling as raised by the Clinton camp (age from 2 to 10 apparently spent in Indonesia). His relatively short political career also leaves a lot of questions; I’m of the opinion a lot of people are seeing a relative lack of depth and history him as a way to hope that he *might* have the qualities they want, much in the same way Edwards had that appeal (for a while until the debates began) last time around.
As for Edwards, well, he’s run his “son of a mill worker” story into the ground last time (his dad was actually a white-collar manager, and had an outside consultancy business too). And the luster of the candidate who nobody knew much about, but who had a lot of charisma, has gone downhill with the history of his last Presidential run.
Would any of them make good Presidents? I don’t know. There are serious misgivings I have about each. Do they have a chance of convincing me to vote for them? Maybe, perhaps?
Obama? I want to know more about him. A LOT more, and I want concrete platform planks; I suspect a lot of his support will evaporate the more people learn about him (especially the “I guess I can support him” middle). If he turns out to be a “new democrat” type, perhaps possible.
Richardson? His ability, and tendency, to doublespeak already makes me leery. Probably not possible.
Edwards? Been there, done that. I really don’t think he did himself any favors in 2004; association with John Kerry from 2004 won’t help either, as Kerry is currently making what are near-treasonous statements about the US from overseas again. Highly unlikely but plausible if he can show he’s changed or grown since last time.
Hillary? Don’t trust her on healthcare, and I don’t know that I’d want her to be Commander in Chief of the military either. Not possible.
Despite all I just said on Hillary, there is another side to her – her stance on consumer privacy rights (especially in the digital realm) has gradually gotten stronger in the past few years.
If another politician were espousing those beliefs, that would go a long way towards getting my vote.
Hillary? Don’t trust her on healthcare,
We in the Truman household are vociferously opposed to any single-payer/NHS/TennCare style of healthcare system both in the matter of our personal interests and public policy*. But honestly, next to Richardson I think that Hillary is probably the “safest” on the issue. She’s been there and done that and the public is naturally suspicious of her on the issue. Edwards and Obama, on the other hand, are “think big” kind of people that make me uneasy on that particular issue (though I like “think big” on other issues).
* – we’re a bit split on the concept of universal coverage as a whole. I view it as an inevitability and am more concerned with how it’s implemented. My wife is holding out hope that it won’t happen.
Will,
looking at how other nations’ “single payer” systems have gone, it’s scary how badly they really work. We have the same problem today since the dawn of the “Health Management Organization”, which did much more damage to the ability of people to get the care they need and see the doctor they needed in a timely fashion than it did any form of good for anyone except bean counters and executives.
To me – having dealt with HMO’s and such all my life pretty much – the idea of a “single payer” system is that everyone gets lumped into a gigantic HMO. Anything that increases the paperwork like that is a Bad Thing.
I’m not convinced Hilary can win at this point. Too many people don’t like her and will vote against her rather than for the other person.