February 6, 2008
It is Super Tuesday in America. The illusion of course is that we the people are voting for candidates we have chosen somehow. The unfortunate truth is that the machine has chosen the four candidates that remain and do not truly care which of the four actually wins. They may have their preference, but the four left are all pretty much bought and owned already. That said, it is important to analyze what is left and who would be the better machine candidate. Now that the silly cries of “Kucinich” have faded into the woodwork, only reality is left. Short of an independent Ron Paul candidacy, it is time to decide who is truly the lesser of two evils in the democratic race.
I dismiss the GOP because their candidates are simply not embraceable. John McCain lost whatever credibility he had early in the first Bush administration when he sold out for him after the horrendous push-polling Bush did to McCain in South Carolina during the primary fight. The John McCain of today no longer resembles the heroic “maverick” from 2000. Instead he often sounds like an angry old man, who is barely embraced by his own party. He talks about out of control spending after he has spent with Congress for the past seven years. He brags about the surge working, something that will haunt him in the general election. He brags about being a foot soldier in the Reagan revolution, which will haunt him in the general election. There is footage of him mockingly singing about bombing Iran and his quote about not caring if we are in Iraq for another 100 years. The only thing he has to run on is his war hero status but he just doesn’t seem like the guy you want at the button. His primary opponent is Mitt Romney, who is less electable. The pure definition of flip-flopper, Romney is beyond a political chameleon, he is simply a liar and an empty suit. He changes his opinion to suit who he is speaking to. These facts will down him in the general election, should he somehow get there.
That said, it is not impossible for the GOP to win the general election. The Democratic Party has delivered defeat from the jaws of victory before; heck they just did it in 2004! There is also the Diebold factor, which can still deliver 4-5% of crucial swing states votes because the dems have done little to correct the voting theft that still exists in this country. The other factor that could help the GOP continue to blow the world up for another four years is who their opponent is. In 2004 the Democratic Party bypassed far more electable candidates such as John Edwards and allowed the media to torpedo Howard Dean and eventually settled on a truly blah John Kerry. Now, I know that Kerry actually won but to not be able to overcome the voter fraud after four years of the worst presidency ever speaks volumes to the ineptness of Kerry and the refusal of the party to challenge the results. With all of this as the backdrop, we must realize that choosing the democratic candidate is a critical part of who will win in November.
It was a year ago that I wrote an article called “The Hillary Illusion”, which can be found here:
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_anthony__070210_the_hillary_illusion.htm
The basic premise was that Hillary is simply not electable. She was being pimped hard by many factions on the right, which I surmised was because they actually want Hillary as the democratic candidate. They want her for two reasons. First, should she win, they knew that she is basically Bush Lite and clearly the most war-hawkish democrat running. Secondly, they know how flawed she is as a candidate and want to run against her because she is so unelectable. One year has passed and nothing has essentially changed. Hillary remains an illusion and it is too important an election to trust to an unelectable candidate.
While there is precious little “progressive” about Obama, he clearly has to be considered more progressive than Hillary. Clinton has tried desperately to paint herself as “ready on day one”, inferring somehow that Obama is less prepared. Hogwash. What has prepared Clinton for day one? Voting wrong on the war? This nonsense needs to be dismissed out of hand. Both candidates are ready to lead on day one. Both will be far superior to who has been leading for the past seven years! The most important issue for primary voters on the democratic side this season is not who is ready, but who is more electable, PERIOD. On that issue the answer has to be a resounding OBAMA. Here are the real reasons we need to remember as we decide on the democratic candidate.
Hillary is not electable because of her war-hawk stance. The number one issue in November will be the war. America has loudly stated that they want us out of Iraq. There is little doubt about it. The GOP is locked into their pro-war position and have been driven there brilliantly by the democrats. Assuming McCain is the GOP man, he will get buried by a democratic candidate that is anti-war. Unfortunately for Hillary, she voted for the war. Her attempts to wiggle out of that vote have only served to make her more vulnerable. She cannot escape that vote and it will rob the democrats in November of an important weapon they need to wield. Clinton also did not vote for the Levin amendment and her answer in the last debate as to why, were debunked by the media as nothing short of a lie. Only Obama can talk the talk of anti-war. Only Obama can run as a polar opposite to McCain on the single most important issue this November. If the candidate is Hillary, then the democrats essentially throw away the war as a topic. Hillary would be stuck arguing about the surge and the management of the war where Obama could sidestep anything about the surge by correctly arguing against the decision to go to war, which America wholeheartedly agrees with.
Lastly, Hillary is not electable because of who she is. Simply said, Hillary is one of the most polarizing figures in America today. Most people will either like her or hate her. This presents several problems for the democrats. First of all, there is a lot of apathy in this country on the GOP side. The neocon abduction of the party is not lost on true republicans. The essential Christian vote will be equally apathetic after seven years of being lied to by George Bush. Quite frankly, you will see record turnout on the democratic and independent sides and lower turnout on the GOP side. UNLESS, the democratic candidate is Hillary. There will be plenty of GOP voters who would stay home in November but could be convinced to come to the polls to vote AGAINST Hillary. The hate factor cannot be overlooked folks. There are a lot of people who simply cannot stand Hillary Clinton. They would relish the chance to vote against her. That hate would not exist against Obama. Secondly, Hillary provides too much material for the GOP to attack. Besides the war vote, they can go back and dredge up a lot of the anti-Clinton sentiment from the 1990s. They can talk about her “socialized medicine” attempts and label it “Hillary-Care.” You will hear the flip-flopper nonsense again. You will see Hillary portrayed correctly as just another Washington insider. Granted Obama may be in Congress, but he is still new. He is still fresh. He is charismatic. His intellect will comfort people unlike Kerry’s, who intellect made him appear snooty. There is little the GOP can use to attack Obama because he has not been around long enough. Sure they will attack his experience but LET THEM. They will play it up all on the military side and the country has already decided they want out of the wars. As long as that is what the talking points are for the GOP, they cannot win. Obama-McCain would be a brilliant young voice, speaking change for all America, against the crusty old politician, who still is pushing for war. Hillary-McCain would be one calculated political voice against another and war would be virtually off the table. It really does not even appear close. Lastly, 99% of people have made their minds up on Hillary Clinton. There would be virtually nothing she could say between now and November that will radically change anyone’s mind. Obama on the other hand could sway independents who have not had enough of a chance to hear what he has to say. Do not underestimate this. Once the primaries are over, we will have an election season where the democratic candidate has to revitalize the electorate and inspire them to vote. Everyone already knows all about Hillary (and McCain for that matter) but Obama could sway a lot of hearts and minds before November.
As I stated last year, Hillary Clinton is an illusion as a candidate. The GOP is salivating at the opportunity to have John McCain, decorated war hero, run against a woman that 48% of the electorate already cannot stand. Her negative numbers are staggering folks. Sure a lot of people like her, but a lot also cannot stand her and there are very few who have not already made their minds up. The GOP does not want to spend the election season debating whether we should have gone to war. They would rather debate if the surge is working. With Hillary you would have the Democratic Party arguing the surge and the administration of the war with a man who spent years as a prisoner of war. With Obama, you would be able to argue that we never should have been in war to begin with. With Hillary you run the risk of negatively inspiring the apathetic GOP electorate. Do you think that the GOP wants to come out en masse to vote for John McCain? He is already being brutalized by some of the top GOP media mouthpieces such as Rush “Pills” Limbaugh. He is viewed as not being conservative enough. But those same people who might stay home will gladly come out to vote AGAINST Hillary. There is too much at stake this year to trust the election to such a flawed candidate.
