The Case for Hillary Clinton’s Candidacy

One Interview and her stock rose significantly

Hillary Clinton appeared on Fox’s Bill O’Reilly “No Spin Zone” in a two-part interview which began last night. In a word, she was brilliant. Almost Maggie Thatcher like. This fact was not lost on the pundits who spent a total of 5 minutes discussing her performance before they turned to the typical Obama rant. A quick check of conservative points of view immediately following the interview resulted in one question: Why do both conservatives and the left hate Hillary Clinton?

The possible answer is that, despite her playing to a hard-core base (nothing more or less than John McCain has done), she appeared to be the strongest moderate candidate out of a field of three. Bill O’Reilly asked policy questions, and she more than held her ground with her answers. Of particular interest were her responses to questions on taxation, her vision of universal health care and the energy question, all important issues to that middle of the economic scale, working class Americans who are paying both at the pump and through payroll deductions. She came across as sincere in her beliefs and additionally, from an historical standpoint, did not move an inch on her perspective of each issue. Although one might not agree, in totality, with her perspective, she made a credible case. From this point of view, she has moved from 2nd choice to first choice at the voting both. Both parties, Republican and Democrat should take notice, along with an overly obsessed, agenda driven media. It is difficult to comprehend how an Obama candidacy could possibly beat a McCain ticket; however, it is not difficult to imagine Clinton winning in November over McCain. A Clinton candidacy gives the RNC and the 501’s little ammunition, besides the same old baggage that, as Clinton made a point, they have already rummaged through. The same cannot be said of an Obama candidacy. Should Clinton succeed, and it is not impossible at this point, in securing her party’s nomination, the focus will be on running mates. In order to overcome his lackluster personality, McCain must choose someone who can appeal to those on the right that have suspicions about McCain’s conservative credentials (myself included), choosing someone like Mitt Romney, would not serve the senator. Should Clinton, as the CNN and MSNBC pundits have been proposing, choose Obama as a running mate, it would spell disaster for her campaign. Although the argument has been made that the VP slot is not all that important, one can counter-argue this election cycle that it would be critical to choose the right running mate for both aforementioned candidates. With McCain, the age factor will be a focus, and the running mate will be vetted, perhaps more intensely than the candidate. With Clinton, the overtly left-leaning Obama would drag her down - the RNC has already run ads attacking DNC candidates for their association with Obama, a Joe Biden would make for a measured ticket that would appeal to those of us sitting firmly in the middle of the road. From this perspective, the only way a McCain vote would sit well, would be if he chose a man of character as his running mate, a Mike Huckabee would bring the more conservative values voters to the polls, while McCain would appeal to those on the left and independents.


On the media's coverage of the interview, the focus was all about Obama. The one clip that was played incessantly was Clinton’s response to questions regarding Rev. Jeremiah Wright. CNN used this clip as an opportunity to show that Clinton had moved past the controversy and was ready to talk about policy, as was Obama. Michelle Obama, on CNN, made her plea to move past the Wright issues and focus on her husbands policy. Fox also shifted gears to focus on Obama and the Wright controversy, from Hannity and Colms through “On the Record, the same clip was played, the same questions asked. To this moderate, enough is enough. Obama is responsible for his own mistakes, and misstatements, not his association with some crack pot, egotistical, left-wing lunatic. The press - they get that. It has therefore, come down to a question of who is most electable and who is most credible. One question that value voters are now pondering is this: “How does Hillary Clinton personally feel about the all important issue of abortion?” Should she answer that question, again from a personal perspective that notes she personally does not agree, it would go towards character, and play well with those of us who are more conservative when it comes to values issues. It should be noted that in discussions, her advocacy and love of children, has been discussed as an admirable attribute in a presidential candidate.

The balance of the interview will be broadcast tonight at 8:00.

Articles on the Web:

From ABC: Hillary's Dream Date

From CNN: Michelle Obama, Let's Move Past Wright

From Fox News: Clinton Say Obama Made the Right Move by Codemming Wright

From Boston Globe: Obama walks fine line in quest for white votes (note: 1 Clinton article to three Obama articles

From New York Times A Strained Wright-Obama Bond Finally Snaps