Geraldine Ferraro tells us What Hillary's Women Want, but with respect, she's not quite right. Certainly, many voters saw Clinton's candidacy in purely feminist terms. But for others, Clinton was simply the only acceptable Democratic choice in a party that has moved to the left over the past few years.
For some percentage of the Democrats who aren't supporting Obama (let's say more than two and less than 20 million), unity is impossible, no matter how “detailed” or “grounded” a pitch Obama delivers. Ideology and specific plans are important voting considerations, of course. But a presidential candidate has to have a baseline history of achievement before ideology can enter the picture. The prospective candidate should demonstrate a willingness to put his or her ideas on the line (in any venue), work for them, show an ability to survive the tough fight (whether it's won or lost), show some level of accomplishment or success before we hand over the keys to the White House. The baseline for this consideration is, and should be, extremely low. Otherwise weak Democratic candidates Dukakis and Kerry both met it. Obama manifestly has not. There's no policy position he can flip, no endorsements he can offer up, no gravitas Biden can add that will offset the fact that Obama’s only significant life achievements have involved lopsided elections and reading speeches he didn't write off of a teleprompter.
How many people agree with these sentiments? Beats me. That's what makes the election so exciting. Stay tuned.
Aug 28, 08 11:22 PM