You've Come a Long Way, Maybe

Here is an interesting discussion about the role of women in
American politics. I know I will be putting this book on my
"to read" list.

Will Universal Health Care Pass?

Apparently President-elect Obama has in mind the failed attempts of the
Clinton administration to pass universal health care when he tries to tackle
the issue very soon. From the AP

WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama and his aides are
determined not to repeat the mistakes the Clinton administration
made 15 years ago in trying to revamp the nation's health care
system. That means applying some of the lessons learned — moving
fast, seizing momentum and not letting it go.

Tom Daschle, Obama's point man on the issue, discussed the early
strategy, although details of Obama's proposals won't be finalized
for a while. Already, however, the political and public relations
parts are coming into place.

The strategy begins with giving people the chance to highlight their
concerns and experiences. Daschle invited people around the nation
to hold what amounts to house parties from Dec. 15-31. Obama's
transition team will gather the information from those meetings and
post the material on its Web site, http://change.gov.

I think one difference between the 1990s and now is there is more public support
for universal health care. I've found conflicting polls, some say Americans favor
universal health care and others not so much. So I'm not exactly sure where the
majority of people stand. But my guess is that we've an increase support for health
care reform since the 1990s. Look at this video of people protesting Hillary Clinton
during a rally on health care in Seattle:



Can you imagine this happening today? Actually, I live in Texas and went to
both a Hillary and Obama rally and heard many people in line saying that want
universal health care passed. No one booed when the Democratic candidates
talked about universal health care. Also, Hillary and Obama went all over the
country during the Democratic primary (north, south, west, and east) and universal
health care was the major topic during the Democratic debates. Did anyone hear
of a protest about universal health care? I didn't. So my guess is the Democrats
are probably going to pass universal health care and we are going to have little
(probably some) public outcry about it. What do you think? Will Congress pass
universal health care and will there be public support or dissent?

Hillary Still Trying to Pay Off Campaign Debt

Geez, it's December and her campaign still hasn't paid off their debt. We're
lucky she didn't make into the Oval Office aren't we? Will she be asking for
a government bailout?

Screen shot of HillaryClinton.com:

Politico.com: Clinton Told To Portray Obama as Foreign

Is this really a surprise to anyone that watched the primary?

Would Hillary Clinton Been the Better Fall Candidate?

With Sen. Barack Obama leveling off on the polls, I think it's a good question
to ask: Would Hillary Clinton been the better choice to lead the Democrats
to a win in November? Victor Davis Hanson thinks she would have been the
winning candidate:

Barack Obama and John McCain are running neck and neck.

Impossible?

It would seem so. Republican President Bush still has less
than a 30 percent approval rating. Headlines blare that
unemployment and inflation are up -- even if we aren't,
technically, in a recession. Gas is around $4 a gallon. Housing
prices have nosedived. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, has been
indicted -- another in a line of congressional Republicans
caught in financial or sexual scandal.

Meanwhile, the GOP's presumptive candidate, John McCain,
is 71 years old. The Republican base thinks he's lackluster
and too liberal.

So, everyone is puzzled why the Democratic candidate isn't
at least 10 points ahead. It seems the more Americans get
used to Barack Obama, the less they want him as president --
and the more Democrats will soon regret not nominating
Hillary Clinton.

After such a tightly contested primary the question was likely to present itself. I
think it's very possible she would have been the stronger candidate. During the
primaries polls showed that she beat Sen. Obama on the Commander in Chief question.
I also think the American people associate good economic times (perhaps unjustly or
justly) with the Clintons. So that might issue might have given her a commanding lead
on that issue. I also think she would have been much better talking off-the-cuff than
Sen. Obama.


Of course, the Clintons have their setbacks as Ed Morrissey points out:

Well, maybe. After a season of Barack Obama as the nominee
and his serial gaffes and contortionist flip-flops, it’s easy to forget
that Hillary could have been even worse for the Democrats. Early
on, Republicans salivated at the thought of having Hillary as a
fundraiser, tapping into the palpable hatred of the Clintons to
fire up the base regardless of who the GOP nominated to run
against her. Thanks to the long track record of the Clintons,
they had plenty of ammunition to remind people just how
tawdry their first occupancy of the White House turned out to
be.

Yes, the Clintons have a long history of scandals. The one that immediately comes
to mind is the Monica Lewinsky scandal. However, Hillary is not at fault for that;
that was Bill Clinton's affair. Also, I'm curious how much that issue will resonate
today. We've just spent the past seven years fighting terrorism, we're engaging in
two wars and other important issues. I wonder how many people look back to the
whole impeachment trials with such triviality. In fact, it might even remind people
the vicious way the GOP can go after someone.

I think the main issue Hillary Clinton would have had to fight against is the whole
family dynasty conundrum. And, yes, that would have been a big problem to overcome.
Also, let's face it she ran a poor campaign in the beginning. After a couple of staff
changes her campaign went into full gear but it was too late by then.

If Sen. Obama loses (although I think his chances of winning are good), the Democratic
Party might have second thoughts about how their primary played out. I also believe
if the Democrats suffer another lose they will tell the MoveOn.org's of their Party to
take a hike and that would be a good thing for them and America. I say this because
I think one reason why Hillary Clinton is not the nominee right now is because
MoveOn.org did not want her to win.

I think at the end end of the day both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton proved not
be the strong candidates we once thought they were. Perhaps, the question shouldn't
be 'Who would've been the stronger candidate in the fall?' but 'Why after being kept
out of the White House for years they still couldn't come up with a home run candidate?'

Will the Democratic Primary End Tomorrow?

Finally, it there seems to an end in sight. Obama is looking to win
over the number of superdelegates needed to put him over the top.
Bill Clinton told supporters, "I want to say also that this may be the
last day I'm ever involved in a campaign of this kind." However,
tomorrow's speech will not likely be a concession speech, blogger
Marc Ambinder reports, but a suspension, according to Thomas B.
Edsall.

So, we will see tomorrow exactly what she will do.

Update: Let's remember she's given us some lovely moments during
this election so far. I can think of these two so far:

Clinton wins Puerto Rico

Just two more primaries to go. Finally!

Hey, Have Seen Hillary?

Hillary who?:

While Senator Barack Obama gingerly commended his rival's
"perseverance," the shrinking candidacy of Senator Hillary
Rodham Clinton has all but vanished from the television set,
sidelined by bigger news.

Even her victory speech in Kentucky on Tuesday, shown live
on cable news, was given perfunctory attention - a footnote
to someone else's page in history. When MSNBC called the
Kentucky primary early in the evening, Tim Russert, host of
"Meet the Press," said her success with women and blue-collar
voters "means Senator Obama has a lot of work to do" and
sketched a rehabilitation plan. He did not mention Clinton by
name in that disquisition.

Political analysts on cable news have been saying for weeks
that the delegate math did not add up for Clinton. But those
warnings were belied by a constant stream of images of her
in Easter-egg-colored pantsuits vigorously shaking hands and
rousing crowds along the campaign trail. Her numerical odds
may have dimmed quite a while ago, but her star power - and
sheer tenacity - kept her on screen.

Oh, that Hillary. Leave it to the Joy Behar from "The View" to say something
profound in her impending departure. Continued from the International Herald
Edition:

That serenity is not yet shared by women who identify with Clinton.
Whoopi Goldberg asked her co-hosts on "The View" how they would
describe Clinton's historic battle for the Democratic nomination.

"A man took it away from a woman," Joy Behar replied. "Then they
yelled at her for complaining about it."

I couldn't have said it better, Joy. Oh wait, I probably could have.

Hillary Goes After TV Punditry

She's not letting them tell her when to get out:

LORETTO, Kentucky (CNN) — Wrapping up a rally at the
Maker's Mark bourbon distillery on Saturday, Hillary Clinton
again argued that she leads Barack Obama in the popular vote
and attacked the television "punditry" that has suggested the
race is over.

"All those people on TV who are telling you and everybody else
that this race is over and I should just be graceful and say, 'Oh
it's over' even though I've won more votes - those are all people
who have a job," Clinton told supporters picnicking in the gardens
of the distillery.

"Those are all people who have health care. Those are all people
who can afford to send their kids to college. Those are all people
who can pay whatever is charged at the gas pump. They're not the
people I'm running to be a champion for."

"They keep telling me to quit," said Clinton. "I don't know, maybe
I was just raised with the kind of values you were raised [with]. You
don't quit on people and you don't quit until you finish what you
started and you don't quit on America."

She is right. Yes, she has less of a chance to get the nomination then Sen. Obama.
However, neither has clinched the delegates needed and there are people still
left to vote. So tell me again why these television personalities should be telling
her when to leave? Plus, she has public opinion on her side.

Hillary Clinton wins West Virginia

Looks like a large win.

Hey, Did You Know Hillary is Like Bush?

It appears my continued series, "Hey, Did You Know McCain is Like Bush,"
has turned into "Hey, Did You Know Hillary is Like Bush." Last night The
Daily Show turned a photo of Hillary Clinton into George Bush and then put
demon eyes on him:



Never mind that they are at the opposite ends of the political spectrum, to an
ultra-liberal like Jon Stewart that doesn't matter. She talks tough so she must
be a war-loving Republican. But remember this show has no agenda.

Exit question: Has anyone seen an episode of The Daily Show where they put
demon eyes on Bin Laden? Just wondering.

Too Much Like Bush: The Hillary Clinton Edition

My readers know I'm running a segment on my blog called "Hey, Did you Know
McCain is Like Bush?" The funny thing is McCain is not the only presidential
candidate who's too much like Bush, according Sen. Obama:

Barack Obama likened Hillary Rodham Clinton to President Bush
for threatening to "totally obliterate" Iran if it attacks Israel and
called her gas-tax holiday a gimmick as he tried to fend off her
challenge ahead of two pivotal Democratic primaries.

Clinton, in turn, stood by both her comment on Iran and her tax
proposal as she gave chase to the front-runner in Indiana and
North Carolina.

Actually, I don't think I've read about any modern U.S. president threatening to
"totally obliterate" another country.

Some Girl Talk

Perhaps Sen. Clinton's campaign bus should be renamed The Girl Talk Express?:

Forget about policy speeches and wooing superdelegates. For Hillary
Rodham Clinton, Saturday morning was devoted to chick chat — a
panel discussion with a group of working moms on topics ranging from
girl-on-girl violence to her daughter's early dating years.

"Chelsea was a teenager in White House, which meant that the Secret
Service went on her dates," the Democratic presidential contender said
on a panel hosted by the Web site momlogic.com. "A lot of her girlfriends'
mothers loved it when they double dated because there was a guy with
a gun in the front seat."

Clinton also acknowledged that for Chelsea's boyfriends, "It was really
intimidating to talk to her father. And, I guess, to me."

Clinton joined the panel from North Carolina, where she was campaigning
before the state's primary Tuesday. She took questions from a
largely-female audience in a high school auditorium here.

The mostly lighthearted discussion focused mainly on how Clinton had
balanced work and family when Chelsea, now 28, was growing
up. But it also produced a few revelations.

Be my best friend:

Sen. Clinton Appears on the "Factor"

The extreme left wing of the Democratic Party think Fox News and
O'Reilly are pure evil, so I'm glad she sat down and did an interview
with someone who doesn't agree with her ideologically :



And dare I say it: Her laugh was not as annoying this time.

Clinton to Obama: Let's Have A Lincoln-Douglas Style Debate

Never mind that their positions on the issues are relatively similar. She's trying
to capitalize on his weak performance in the last debate. So of course she challenges
him:

Democratic rivals Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton
turned up the rhetoric Saturday in their increasingly heated
primary battle as she issued a new debate challenge and he
complained of a race that's largely been reduced to trivia while
working families feel economic pain.

Clinton took the debate dispute to a new level, challenging Obama
to face off with her in a debate without a moderator, Lincoln-Douglas
style.

"Just the two of us, going for 90 minutes, asking and answering
questions, we'll set whatever rules seem fair," Clinton said while
campaigning in South Bend.

Her campaign made the offer formal with a letter to the Obama
campaign. Obama aides said they were studying the letter.

Is it just me or does she play the role of the underdog extremely well?

The Hillary "Bitter" Ad

Here we go.

The Candidate of Hope is.... Hillary?

At first Sen. Obama was too full of hope. Well, now it appears he's not hopeful
enough:

VALPARAISO, Ind. - Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton managed to
co-opt Mr. Obama’s message of hope and optimism, beginning a
speech in Valparaiso, Ind., by talking about how positive and
“fundamentally optimistic” Americans are.

“We don’t get bogged down and looking back – we’re always looking
forward,” she said, as heavy applause nearly drowned out her words.
“Whatever obstacle we see, we get over it. Whatever challenge we
have, we meet it. We’re the problem-solvers, we’re the innovators,
we’re the people who make the better future.”

Well, Bill is from Hope (Arkansas), didn't you know?

Hillary Takes a Whiskey Shot

"I'm not driving."

Hillary: "I Have Nothing Against Rich People"

Good to know Hillary. Especially since, you know, you're one of them:

in Grand Forks, N.D., last night, Clinton said, "Don't get me
wrong. I have absolutely nothing against rich people. As a
matter of fact my husband, much to my surprise, has made
a lot of money since he left the White House doing what he
loves doing most –- talking to people. But we didn't ask for
George Bush's tax cuts. We didn't want them. We didn't need
them."

Like President Bush said in the State of the Union, the IRS accepts
checks and money orders:



No one is stopping you, Mrs. Clinton, from paying more taxes.

Hillary Clinton's Appearance on The Tonight Show

I had a lapse.