Obama vs. Clinton: What Tips the Scales

Watching some Democrats kick around Mrs. Clinton has grown into a sad spectacle.

Hillary Clinton would make a fine president and I think all reasonable people know that. She would make a better president, offering more constructive policies protecting more Americans, than McCain could ever hope to. Her problem is that Americans, in any given election cycle, can become inflamed with a true passion for change that can only exist in a country like ours. She does not represent that change as well as Mr. Obama does. In spite of her superior capabilities in many areas, Obama would still move into the White House with more foreign policy experience than George Bush had when Bush and his brother stole the election in 2000.

Americans can put up with a lot. After these past eight years, they have proven that they can put up with more than anyone ever imagined. However, that cannot hold forever.

What Mrs. Clinton has that Mr. Obama does not have, Mr. Obama can get. What Mr. Obama has that Mrs. Clinton does not have, she can never get.

Which one is the best hope at defeating McCain, who sounds more like a Bush brother with every passing day?

Comments

[bowtiejack]

"What Mr. Obama has that Mrs. Clinton does not have, she can never get." Nails it.

It's surprising that people can't see what's going on. Obama is a better politician than the Clintons. End of story. Here's what he did:

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/02/hes-inside-her-ooda-loop.php

Hillary has a campaign, Obama has a movement. (And for the record, I'm an Edwards man.)

Obama's movement may do what Hillary could never have done (sorry, but high negatives are high negatives) and bring off a tsunami in November.

Obama is playing a much deeper game than anyone has realized. For example, the "smart" thing after graduating from Harvard Law would have been to get a Supreme Court clerkship or go with a high-powered big-bucks law firm. It was definitely not doing community organizing in South Chicago. Are any of his classmates who did the "smart" thing now running for President?

[ParacleteofKavorka]

The press gave us Bush. That they are now giving us Obama should be a warning to y'all. Haven't you learned anything?

[shedances]

Alec,

As you say, Hillary may not win the nomination; but I'm not 100% certain that Barack could win the White House over McCain. And this possibility of a McCain presidency really worries me...

K

[Plowboy]

In spite of her endless rants and modifications of truth, Hillary will not

(1) win the nomination legitimately; and

(2) if by some other means she gets nominated, she won't win an election honestly; but

(3) if she got the presidency somehow, she would be a worse presdident than W.

Her rule or ruin behavior has gone beyond the limits.

[LeoMarvin]

Opinions like yours have about as much currency as the notion that Bush planned 9-11, but your nuttiness does more harm to progressive interests. Most Obabam supporters (and I'm one) couldn't disagree with you more. The worst thing you can say about Hillary is that she had the bad luck to run when Barack was destined to capture the imagination and energy of the voters.

[AnninCA]

If Hillary wins Texas and Ohio, I cannot see how Obama is going to make the argument that he's the "chosen one."

He won't reach the delegate count needed.
He won't have won major Democratic strongholds.

He'll be looking like the third-party candidate which is exactly what I think of him.

If he wins Texas, then she'll bow out.

[factcheck2]

What's inflaming this election is not a true passion for change but a Madison Avenue marketing scam to convince people that a virtual unknown before 2005 is the Starbucks equivalent of a maverick politician. Obama recites all the platitudes of the 1980s self-help gurus as part of this change nonsense. His actual record shows him to be no different than any other pandering opportunist. In Illinois, he helped a now indicted slumlord get government contracts for 12 years. In Washington, he watered down legislation requiring nuclear giant Exelon (his 4th largest contributor) to publicly disclose its radiation leaks. He is not the "next JFK" but the weapon of mass deception Karl Rove is using to knock Hillary out of the race. Once that's accomplished, Obama's record will be exposed in the media and we'll be saddled with 4 more years of perpetual war. For more on the rove strategy, see the article I've posted at thecityedition.com. Here's a direct link:
http://www.thecityedition.com/Pages/Archive/Winter08/2008Election.html

[GDAEman]

Hope you're wrong on this, but if you're right, then all of the stary-eyed Obama followers will have to hold his feet to the fire. We shouldn't underestimate the power of that force.

[knixphan]

This Obama supporter has no stars in his eyes.

He does however, have a pitchfork in his hand.

He also has his senators on speed-dial.

If President Obama ever betrayed my trust, he'd get the pitchfork just as easily as he gets my applause now. Simple.

[JWakkaJane]

aye.

The Bush Administration has distorted our perception of the "executive" power in U.S. government in not just obvious but insideous ways as well.

[ParacleteofKavorka]

Are you kidding? They won't hold his feet to the fire for anything. They'll deny, justify, explain, make light of, pooh pooh, and so on. The good news is that if he loses the election this is his only shot per Michelle. We won't see him again.

[tchristin]

I agree with Alec that Obama has something Hillary doesn't have. Before I read his book and heard his first speech, I was reluctant to believe. I was and still am a fan of John Edwards, Bill Richardson, Joe Biden and Christopher Dodd and including Hillary Clinton.

The first time I heard Obama speak, it was in the company of my husband who has a Master's degree, but who has been unemployed for a year now and with no health insurance because my employer will not cover family members. This happened to a proud and honorable man after a lifetime of military and professional experience and there sat my college-aged son who is worried we will not be able to help him with tuition. There on the phone is my elderly father-in-law who has depleted his retirement resources at 86 and keeps falling down at home.
Every time I hear McCain say how great the economy and our health care system is, I want to throw something at the television set.

Obama has something we see in a leader only once in a great while. He has a vision of a better America. Our founding fathers had it too. He is wise enough to know it will require ALL of us to get there and that we have to believe. He has the god-given ability to communicate this vision. Americans WILL sacrifice for the greater good. We will! But we have to have that vision and belief in ourselves.

Desperate for hope, we cling to his every word as if it was the very air we breath.

To diminish this man is to diminish our dreams and hopes of a better future, of saving our planet and becoming better human beings. This man, despite whatever human errors he may have made or will make...is real.

When is the last time a political leader called on us to rise up to a higher place as people and had the ability to lead us there? No one can compete with that.

[Plowboy]

My analysis of the situation" Clinton and Obama say they want almost the same things. They describe their programs and we see that they resimble each other a lot and differ very little. So how do wew choose?

We look at the people and see how they act. One example of different behavior: Hillary Clinton appealed to Black voters by saying that immigrant Latinos were taking away their jobs. When Obama was asked if that were so, he replied, "That is the kind of divisiveness we need to avoid. We can't play one group off against another. We all must work together or we all lose." That reminded me of a saying by one of the signers of the Declatration of Independence, "Now we all hang together -- or we hang separately."

The only way the programs these candidates describe will ever get acted upon is for us to unite and fight for them. Old style divisive politics will not work.

We don't want a "Black" president. We don't want a "Latino" president. We don't want a "White" president or an "Asian" president. We don't want a "woman" president. Or a "man" president. We want an AMERICAN PRESIDENT. I agree weith much Hillary Clinton says. I voted for Bill twice, I was pleased as punch when Hillary became a Senator. But she still plays old style. Obama won me when he spoke in Downstate Illinois exactly as he did in Chicago. He will tell people in Simpson County, MJississippi the same thing he tells those in Westchester County, New York. He is to be believed. And he can unite this country!

[knixphan]

Ditto to Plowboy! Well said.

[neoconcriminals]

Did Ditto and Plowboy ever hear the speech where
Monkey Boy declared himself a "compassionate conservative"?

Did you fall for that as well?

Please, no more word ploys from unproven candidates.

[ParacleteofKavorka]

Obama, especially, his followers have divided the Democratic party. Edwards supporters haven't done it.

[soylentgreenleftovers]

Nitwits: he didn't write that HILLARY was sounding more like a Bush bro, he wrote that MCCAIN was.

Who cares if Barack can't 'solve' Kenya's problems? We have a basket of our own problems to fix. We're in the deep kimchi partly because we try to go around & 'fix' other countries problems too damm much.

[EspritDeVoltaire]

Respectfully Alec, I really don't agree that Senator Clinton would make a fine president or even that she would be a better choice than Senator McCain, whom she probably couldn't defeat in the general election. Both of them are insincere, Bush pandering, examples of what is wrong with our current political establishment. They vote the same, they surround themselves with the same corrupt crowd of lobbyists and corporate cronies.

Ms. Clinton sat on the board of WalMart, the most suppressive, anti-labor employer in the nation. Her conduct in this election has shown that she places her own personal ambition as her guiding light, rather than the good of her party or her country. To this day she refuses to state her vote for the Iraq invasion was wrong and IMHO would be as likely as Mr. McCain to inflame the conflict further by bombing Iran. She does not have the presidential qualities required to move us forward out of the morass of the Bush years, only more of the same problems, posing as progress.

[Orikinla]

Michelle Obama was on the board of a major supplier of Wal-Mart.

CNN polls showed that Hillary Clinton would be a better President than John McCain and Barack Obama.

Try to see beyond your feet.
America is larger than what most Americans think.
She has been to more countries promoting America than you, John McCain and your Barack Obama.
Barack Obama was even clueless on how to solve the recent political mayhem in his fatherland, Kenya.

Be reasonable for once!

[EspritDeVoltaire]

RE:"CNN polls showed that Hillary Clinton would be a better President than John McCain and Barack Obama." - Well, I guess that settles it. What could be more authoritative than a poll which can foresee the future? What insightful wisdom to base your life upon.

RE: "She has been to more countries promoting America than you, John McCain and your Barack Obama." - By Jove, an international cheerleader, how novel. I wonder why someone else in these millions of comments on this issue didn't point to this a defining quality of strong leadership? How shortsighted of us toe contemplators.

BTW: I missed the CNN prophecy on "how to solve the recent political mayhem in... Kenya." Would you care to enlighten me? Or was that one in Time magazine's "Unsolved Mysteries" series?

[knixphan]

'CNN polls showed'?

???

[fromthecheapseats]

Why do you think that that Hillary "sounds more like a Bush everyday"? Because McCain will kick Barry's ass and Hillary needs every last one of those independent War for Resources voters who would otherwise opt for RINO McCain.

[NAMI]

BRAVO ALEC......­..........­.YOUR POST IS SO WELL THOUGHT AND WRITTEN.
WHO SAYS HOLLYWOOD IS BAD ?
I SAY THE PEOPLE OF THE WORLD LOVE AMERICA FOR HOLLYWOOD, THE SCIENTISTS and the INVENTORS..
not.......­..........­..WAHSINGT­ON DC.POLICIES

[thatsdebatable]

Alec,

What does a Bush brother sound like?

[thatsdebatable]

Alec,

Please explain your last line.

Clinton has will, strength and strategy.

[DebbieM4]

How refreshing to read something in support of Senator Obama that does not trash Senator Clinton! Thank you for your well-thought-out and respectful words!

As I posted earlier, I strongly feel that Clinton has a better chance of beating McCain. I worry about Middle America, and their perceptions. My first choice is emphatically a Clinton vs. McCain race. But most importantly we need to get a Democrat back in the White House and we have to keep the Republicans - any Republican - as far away from there as possible.

I pray that the right Democratic candidate (be it Clinton or Obama) is the one that we send to face off against McCain. It has to be the right one - There is no time or wiggle room for error. We have to get it right this time.

[raalph]

Clinton clearly has the experience and a plan. This is not the question. Someone said that Obama has more experience than George Bush had when he took office, yeah look where that has gotten us. People also are saying that many Republicans like Obama [ and this would be a good thing?]. Democrats should put aside their petty differences and nominate the candidate who can defeat McCain. Hey, I'm not crazy about either Clinton or Obama. I do think that Obama has a better chance of defeating McCain especially if it's a McCain/Rice ticket, which would essentially be a re-elect George Bush.
I remember in the last election all my friends were convinced that Bush could not get elected again because they did not know anyone who was voting for him. This is the kind of thinking that will put a Republican back in the White House for four more years. Scary.

[knixphan]

"I remember in the last election all my friends were convinced that Bush could not get elected again because they did not know anyone who was voting for him."

That's the difference between then and now.

This election, you find someone who's pro-McCain and TURN him. The candidate can't do it by himself.

We all hang together.

[pdsimdars]

Very well done. Right to the point. And right to THE critical point.

[Chitown95]

Oh my god what choices this country would face if it comes down to McCain vs. Obama. John McCain is without doubt a horrible candidate for President. He has a horrible short temper do we need someone like that as President. John McCain was not endorsed for his senate job by the founder of the Republican Conservative movement the late Barry Goldwater. Goldwater was against McCain because McCain was NUTS and he knew it. McCain dumped his first wife who stood by him when he was a POW so he could marry "Ms. Bud" whose daddy was very well off and helped buy him his congressional seat. I find it funny that people have forgotten McCain was the leading figure in the Keating Savings and Loan scandal!
McCain would be an absolute disaster as President.
Obama is not crazy like McCain! But his experience level is laughable. Obama is a phony. He took $$ from Federal lobbyists when he ran for the United States Senate. Yet he is now calling those people who donated to his campaign EVIL! But he takes $$ from state lobbyists! Give me a break. Obama is two faced! He ducked on important votes when he was an Illinois State senator. The man is a joke and we don't need a joke in the White House. Oh and let’s not forget the little million dollar plus house he purchased in Hyde Park with help from a guy now under federal charges.
Hillary Clinton is ready to be President! Obama is not! And by God John McCain is not even close to being qualified to be President.

[hobe]

I disagree with Alec. We will have so many problems to deal with immediately. The Presidency should not be a training ground as we have learned with bush. The same things were said about bush that mr. baldwin is saying about Hillary. He would make a fine VP or Senator longer to get the experience. Hillary inspires many of us- we are women the group that votes the most. Gore really won and this time Hillary will win in the general election which is not as liberal as the democratic party.

[LollieDotCom]

As we learned with Bush??? Bush was the biggest idiot in our political history. It had nothing to do with his inexperience. He's had eight years of experience and he only gets dumber. The only person who came close to being as amazingly stupid as GW was his father's pick for vp, Dan Quayle. I guess his father wanted to prepare us for what was to come.

Hillary's experience led her to vote for the iraq war from the outset.... and McCain has a 100 year blood lust.... even if he wasn't the greatest presidential contender i've seen in forty years,come on guys, Obama would still win by default.