The big buzz now in the political world is how Sen. Barack Obama didn't show Sen. Hillary Clinton enough respect by not vetting her, or picking her, or even asking her advice on possible VP candidates. Several prominent conservatives are on TV talking about how glad they are that Hillary is not on the ticket. That attitude from conservatives makes sense... think about it, of all the candidates Obama could have picked, only Al Gore MIGHT have had a better chance of bringing more voters to the polls than Clinton. Technically, Hillary beat Obama in the popular vote... ( http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/did_clinton_win_the_popular_vote.html) With that being the case, she literally has more potential voters than any primary candidate in history to bring to the table. She also kicked Obama's butt when it came to hispanic voters. They could end up key in this election, because many hispanic voters may feel comfortable voting for Sen. John McCain since he was instrumental in the Illegal Immigration bill (although it didn't pass... yet.) Hispanics could indeed decide who wins in November. Another block Hillary would shore up is women. Women who voted for Hillary might not vote for McCain, but many of them may just decide to sit the whole thing out alltogether. In a close race, those votes could make the difference. Then there are probably friends of the Clintons who aren't very happy that Bill and Hillary are not being given the respect they think they deserve. Some of those voters might consider a moderate conservative like McCain someone they can vote for. If you think about it, for all that Biden brings to the ticket (foreign policy, experience, age,) Hillary does seem (politically at least,) to have been a better VP candidate than Biden. If anyone takes an honest look at the current campaign, you have to admit, for Obama to NOT BE beating McCain in a big way right now is really incredible. I mean, he just came back to the country after traveling the world with the main anchors of each network in tow... He had that huge rally in Berlin... he just selected his VP, and he is a day away from his convention... yet the latest Gallup tracking poll shows the race is tied(http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/us/general_election_mccain_vs_obama-225.html.) The irony of all this is, Hillary herself predicted Obama could not win in the general election months ago.... (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/02/hillary-clinton-barack-ob_n_94770.html) "Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and former President Bill Clinton are making very direct arguments to Democratic superdelegates, starkly insisting Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., cannot win a general election against presumptive Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz." It will be interesting to see if he gets a big bump in the polls after this week. Looking at the facts as they are (polls and events that should be giving Obama a big lead) I have to say I see what Hillary and Bill were talking about, Obama is going to have a tough time in November.
Raymond
Let me know what you think! Post a comment now... and sign up for my twitter at www.twitter.com/raymondonline
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
2 comments:
You touched on something very important. The power of Obama comes when he opens his mouth. He has been very camera shy for past few weeks.
After the convention and he addresses the masses with the stage all his, we'll see where the numbers fall. He speaks and people swoon. The man has a way with words.
If he is still neck and neck with McCain after that, November could get tricky for him.
It is a shame though, that Hillary Clinton was not his choice. If you really wanted to united the party, that would have been the best move. That is assuming Sen. Clinton was game for it.
I can't IMAGINE she was not game for it... I think there are only TWO reasons he didn't pick Hillary... number ONE... Bill Clinton... I don't know that he wanted to deal with Bill during his presidency. Number TWO, I think he doubts whether Hillary would be a "Traditional" support VP, or someone who would demand an active role day-to-day, especially considering how active she was day-to-day in her husband's presidency. Other than those two issues though, there is no other reason he WOULDN'T have selected her. I agree speaking is what he does best. If he didn't have the ability to speak, he wouldn't be the nominee today. We'll see if he gets the bump... I agree with you, we might have a good idea of who will win in November just by looking at the post-convention poll numbers for Obama...
Post a Comment