Race to the Nomination - Part 2

Okay, let me state now before I go any further that I voted for Hillary Clinton when she ran for the Senate. Now that I have that out of the way let me opine about Hillary and her race to the nomination. First, let me say that I believe that she will get the Democratic nomination. Why do I believe this? I believe it because she has talked, walked and dressed the part of commander in chief. She is extremely polished, intelligent and articulate. She is also standing on principle by not apologizing for her vote on sending soldiers to Iraq.

Second, people either love or hate the Clinton's. There is no middle ground when it comes to Bill and Hillary. But when you ask the people who hate her why they do they usually start hiccuping or hemming and hawing. A usual retort is, "she's married to Bill." Now if we all were hated because of the people we marry, live with, associate with etc., there would be a lot of hating going on. But lets be realistic. Hillary Clinton has proven herself as a Senator since she took office several years ago. She has gained respect and garnered positive observations from the unlikeliest of places. William Kristol, editor of the conservative Weekly Standard, stated this about Clinton in the Washington Post, "Obama is becoming the antiwar candidate, and Hillary Clinton is becoming the responsible Democrat who could become the commander in chief in a post-9/11 world." Agree or disagree with him, Kristol has a point which may come to fruition. And then we have former House Speaker Newt Gingrich who said, "those who think the New York senator can't run the White House are just wrong. Hillary Clinton is a very formidable professional. She works very hard. The suggestion that she would not be capable of this is just wrong."

Third, she is keeping a short leash on Bill which is necessary if she is going to get the nomination. While people love to see Bill on the campaign trail it is obvious that he has been told to keep a low profile and show up when she needed to raise money. And it doesn't hurt that he takes pictures with her supporters which always helps ticket sales. Fourth, she has been tacking to the middle since her announcement to run for the presidency. Fifth, she is a hard worker. She does her homework and shows up to work for the people of New York. Sixth, she has more experience at being a senator with her hand writing on more bills than her opponents and she won her re-election by 67%. All these things say something serious about Clinton's candidacy. A recent poll shows that she has jumped ahead of Obama by 20 points. Lastly, she has experience in the White House.

Unfortunately Hillary is not very good on gay rights and said she would vote for DOMA. So there is work to be done there. But then again she continues to get a pass by a significant crowd in the gay community. Go figure. Now I know it sounds like I may just vote for Hillary but she's not my horse in the race. The bottom line is that she will be hard to beat for the Democratic nomination unless of course she does something really stupid between now and February.