Hillary Clinton made an excellent show of her support for Senator Obama and the Democrats at the DNC party. But now is her moment to show that she is more than just motions for the Democratic nominee for president. She is, in fact, the perfect answer to Sarah Palin, John McCain's VP choice.
Why? Because Hillary Clinton can f$%# you up. Clinton is best suited for the gritty work of attacking Palin, who the GOP is casting as the affable yet hot hockey mom, doing her best by her family. Senator Obama and his VP choice, Joe Biden are already treading carefully in their positioning against Palin because almost any move they make can play negatively for them for one simple reason: no one likes to see a woman attacked by a man. Obama faced this in his primary fight with Clinton; he could not throw the same punches as she could. She used it to her advantage, he withdrew. She cast herself as a fighter, he refused to fight this way and held his ground. The Democrats made their choice about which they preferred, but there's no question that Clinton established her credentials as an attack dog. Bona fides in hand, Clinton can show how Palin's stance against abortion, for example, is not in the interest of women and how Palin's position is exactly indicative of the kind of compliant, caged woman Palin is, and 'you, American woman' are not. In a sense, Clinton needs to create a distinction between herself and the kind of woman who becomes like an advocate for the oppression of all women. And, Clinton can portray Palin as an opportunistic naif, who does not understand the needs or issues of those 18 million voters Palin so breathlessly appealed to, as if they might be so changeably bought by one speech.
Hillary and Palin occupy the same social caste -- white, professional women of faith, with families and they, in this way, are 'allowed' to attack each other, without the danger of it being too unseemly. Except Clinton's done better than Palin. I'm a former first lady. Who exactly, are you again? Do you really think the people who voted for me, would vote for you?
This should not be an impossible sell, as one wire reported:
Obama, Biden and Clinton oppose Palin on every major social issue. She is against abortion for rape and incest, for the death penalty, against same-sex marriage, for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, against gun control, and she famously sued the federal government to delist polar bears as an endangered species. But as an avid outdoorswoman, a self-proclaimed hockey mom, and a reformer who openly criticized the notoriously corrupt politics of Alaska, she will be hard to patronize when Biden debates her on Oct. 2...
Democrats have a way of making even an easy job hard, and they could underestimate the obstacles ahead. Palin will be cast as an excellent mirror of the American family -- a working mom, her family is broken in ways similar to that of the many American families (teen pregnancy, a relative's marital conflict, a child with disability). Clinton alone can show how Palin is not the answer for all the American women who are looking for an equal voice at home, in healthcare, in politics, and in their professional lives. Clinton is best suited to question how someone with such a loose hold on the management of a teen and embroiled in a personal scandal at home in Alaska, is not the best candidate to be second in command of the United States.
Here's what's on the table:
Clinton has a chance to be a hero. She can put herself or she can put the Democratic party ahead for November. Unfortunately, if this is an indication of the pussy-footing ahead, this might be it, as the NYT noted:
Clinton advisers said they expected that a bloc of her female supporters would give Mr. McCain a second look because of Ms. Palin, and that Mrs. Clinton was probably Mr. Obama's best weapon in response. But asked if the Palin pick would lead to a new political marriage between Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton, a senior Clinton adviser, Ann Lewis, said: "Not a political marriage. She is not on the ticket. Senator Obama chose Joe Biden as his running mate. Hillary will do what she can to help."
So, if Senators Obama and Biden aren't brilliant about this and if Clinton doesn't show up, I'm afraid the Dems may only have the loose hope that McCain will decompose in some way. Perhaps McCain might go Manchurian candidate-like, driveling on about something erratic and wacky, the bombs, Iran, my room, 5x7, Fridays, I love ice cream, boobs, t-shirts and polka dots. My first marriage, Vietnam, they're all miracles. Something like that, something to make even the Patriots frightened. Short of that, Dems will really need to work out how to show and tell why they're better.