Liberals Piling Onto Hillary
Al Hunt is the latest in a growing list of liberals criticizing Hillary. Here’s a portion of his article for Bloomberg:
When Hart pushed the group during a two-hour conversation about the strengths and weaknesses of the two candidates, a different picture emerged.
Obama, they worried, can’t win the nomination; voters aren’t ready for an African-American president (a point expressed most directly by the two black women participants), and he may not be sufficiently experienced.
A couple of victories in Iowa and New Hampshire would cure most of those problems.
The concerns about Clinton, 60, a New York senator, are that she is devious, calculating and, fairly or not, a divisive figure in American politics.
Those are a lot tougher to overcome.
It was revealing, too, when Hart pushed them to envision these senators as leaders of the country or, as he put it, their “boss.” Obama, they say, would be inspirational, motivating, charismatic and compassionate. After praising Clinton’s experience and intelligence, they say she would be demanding, difficult, maybe even a little scary.
Hillary’s running as the establishment candidate, touting her experience as a reason to vote for her. These days, Democrats are saying that change is more important to them than experience. That favors Obama in a big way.
It doesn’t help that she’s seen as divisive. I’ve said for a very long time that Hillary’s personality will prevent her from reaching large segments of potential voters. I don’t think she can afford that.
Candor and authenticity were repeatedly cited. “I don’t feel like I look at her and see someone who’s telling me the whole truth,” says Allison Lowrey, a 30-year-old human resources consultant. “I’d like to see her approach a problem without the polls” helping her make her decision, says Andrew Alebergo, a 39-year-old tanning-salon operator.
Even strong Hillary supporters acknowledge the electorate’s deep-seated concerns. “She is walking a fine tightrope now, because she is such a divisive personality,” says Lynda Connelly, a thoughtful 58-year-old Red Cross manager. She plans to vote for Clinton while fearing that, if elected, “the right- wing noise machine is going to do everything it can to derail her.”
Allison Lowrey’s opinion is an emerging concern voters have about Hillary. Hillary’s troubles started with her evasive answer on granting drivers licenses to illegal immigrants. Ever since then, she’s been criticized from all different directions on that. If Hillary wins the nomination, expect her to get a dialy dose of not being forthcoming, about her being mmore evasive than any candidate in recent history, etc.
Lynda Connelly’s statement that “she’s walking a fine tightrope” right now is telling in the sense that it says Hillary isn’t telling us what she really plans on doing if elected. If I were a GOP consultant, I’d focus on that like a laser beam. I’d even tell my candidate to start asking why Hillary can’t give a straight answer on the biggest subjects of the day, followed by questions of whether we want to elect people who are that secretive and evasive.
In essence, it’s asking if we want a bill of goods or the real deal.
Technorati Tags: Hillary, Obama, Eliot Spitzer, Polling, Leadership, Election 2008
Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog