after concluding that Al Gore is not going to enter the race, I used the same criteria to determine whom I will be supporting in 2008. I’ve thought about which of the Top Three candidates can:
·Most capably deal with the biases of the corporate media;
·Most capably fight the right wing smear machine;
·Ruthlessly battle the GOP’s likely 2008 campaign tactics;
·Obtain the nomination and,
·Most importantly, step into the job in January 2009.
After looking at these factors and knowing that the problems any Democrat will face in January 2009 are even more challenging than those faced in January 2005, I will be supporting Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination in 2008.
As evidenced by her demeanor on the campaign trail, and the debate performances, she is an extremely capable campaigner and debater, possessing a command of the facts and a sober, realistic assessment of the world as it is now. It is not a world many of us like, and she and other Democrats have made some of the decisions that have led us to where we are now, thereby legitimately making her judgment an issue. These concerns to me are valid, even more so than other concerns about Mark Penn, and the meritocracy argument of the Bush/Clinton/Bush/Clinton progression, which was more relevant in 2000 than it is now given the wholly derelict Bush 43 presidency.
When I move beyond the not-to-be-discounted feelings and emotion against Hillary amongst the base and netroots community stemming largely from her 2002 vote on the use of force authorization and her unwillingness to apologize for it, I find myself back where I was at a similar point in 2003: Among the Top Three, Hillary is 1) electable; 2) the most capable in national security and foreign policy; 3) the most able to address the GOP negligence and abdication of responsibility here at home; and 4) the most able to do the job from the first day in office in January 2009. And she is surrounded with an A-List campaign team that has already demonstrated they will avoid some of the same problems that afflicted the Kerry effort in 2004. She and her team have already demonstrated that they will take no prisoners in dealing with the GOP, will hold the media accountable, and have the requisite toughness and yes, ruthlessness for what is ahead. After 2004, this is critical for me.
http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/010713.php