Ellen Goodman: Is Hillary right for polarized times?

[question everything]

ELLEN GOODMAN THE BOSTON GLOBE

Is Hillary right for polarized times?

April 21, 2005

(snip)

This episode began when Newt Gingrich flatly told a meeting of editors that Hillary would be the next Democratic presidential nominee. Then a New York fundraising drive called "Stop Hillary Now" sent out a letter warning darkly: "Stopping Hillary Rodham Clinton is the most important thing you and I can do as Republicans in the next two years." Next we heard about the start-up of a new political action committee dubbed simply, "Stop Her Now," since apparently there is only one "Her." And finally, we got wind of another Hillary-bashing book, "The Truth About Hillary," that the publishers compared (proudly) to the attack of the Swift boat veterans on John Kerry.

(snip)

But what I find intriguing is the common wisdom of the early handicappers that Hillary's biggest hurdle is that she is so polarizing. Those who support Hillary try to counter that fear by saying she's more of a moderate than a liberal. They point to the way she has invoked religion and evoked common ground on the abortion issue.

(snip)

I have my own list of obstacles to President Hillary Rodham Clinton before we even get to fantasizing about opponents. First, there is the Bill thing. Today we may worry more about al-Qaeda than Monica. The ex-president is now an elder statesman who shares photo ops with his new best friend George Herbert Walker Bush. But there are still a lot of folks uneasy about putting the bad boy back in the East Wing. Then too, there is the woman thing. Some 72 percent of Americans said they would vote for "a woman," but when asked if their friends would, that number drops to 49 percent. We still haven't driven a stake in the heart of the double standard.

But the one thing not on my list is the fear that Hillary is disproportionately loved and hated. Too polarizing? Were you around in 2004? Need I remind you that George W. Bush was a polarizing figure? Who won? Need I remind you that John Kerry was picked as a moderate and got demonized anyway?

Like it or not – and I don't – this is a polarized country. If you are not an extremist, you will play one on your opponents' TV ads. In the current political game, the winners just rally a few more voters around their pole. And it's likely to get worse. After all, it's only 2005, and we've already had Terri Schiavo and Tom DeLay, "Justice Sunday" and Bill Frist. And pretty soon we're due for a knock-down, drag-out Supreme Court nomination fight.

(snip)

Goodman can be reached via e-mail at [email protected].


Find this article at:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050421/news_lz7e21goodman.html

[bklyncowgirl]

1. The good thing about Hillary...

She's a known quantity. The dirt's out there hammered away at relentlessly and she's still standing.

I'm not a fan of her politics and I probably won't support her in the primaries but the Democrats could do worse.

[tanyev]

2. My email to Ellen:

Dear Ellen,

It would be helpful if you would clarify that the ONLY people who are saying that Hillary is a sure thing for 2008 are on the far (radical) right. Now what in the world could their motive possibly be for obsessively invoking the name of Hillary Clinton? Hmmm. Could it be that the mere mention of her name brings loads and loads of cash into their coffers? No, I'm sure those highly moral and ethical people would never resort to fear mongering just to raise a lot of money. Maybe you could use your journalistic skills to dig up a few more reasons.

Thank you,
tanyev

[NYCGirl]

3. Actually, there were some recent polls that showed Hillary Clinton

was the "front runner" for the Democratic nomination in 2008. But that's due to the same factor that made Joe Lieberman the front runner in 2003, name recognition. Most of the people surveyed don't pay nearly as much attention as we here on DU to politics, and Clinton is a familiar figure.

[question everything]

4. I thought that the most interesting point of her column

was that polarizing candidates win, while moderate ones lose - as was evident in the last elections.

And I think that this is why so many of us supported Howard Dean to lead the Democratic party. At least, I did. During the primaries he scared me - even before the "yelling" - and I was concerned that moderate, centrist won't vote for him.

But after realizing that such in-your-face tactics do win - starting with Newt Gingrich and through those people from the southwest - who want the death penalty for abortion provides and want to go after judges - hey, that's the ticket.