Forget about President George Bush being “a uniter, not a divider.” The real uniter may be Senator Hillary Clinton — among conservative Republicans.
As The Politico notes, she’s proving useful to GOPers running for the 2008 Republican Presidential nomination in what seems to be a dry run of the campaign to come if she’s the Democratic nominee:
Sen. Hillary Clinton’s chief rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Sen. Barack Obama, often tiptoes in his attacks on her, sometimes criticizing her record without using her name.
But the leading Republicans are running as if Clinton were their opponent, constantly invoking her as a way to pep up disconsolate conservatives and as a reminder of the stakes in an election for which the rank-and-file GOP has no enthusiasm.
“Did you hear what Hillary Clinton said about the economy, by the way?†former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney asked at an event Friday night, doing his best Jay Leno.
“She said, you know, America has always been an on-your-own society. … But she said it’s time to change that. [Audience laughter.] She said we need to become a shared-responsibility society, a we’re-all-in-it-together society. So for her, it’s out with Adam Smith and in with Karl Marx!â€
Even though the bar on the quality of discourse in American political debate has been lowered so far that it’s now four feet below ground level, it would have hard to imagine several years ago that an ostensibly major candidate for one party would all but openly call another candidate a Marxist. But there you have it.
And as The Politico that piece notes, paraphrasing the great late comedian Jimmy Durante, when it comes to Hillary C, Romney (and other Republicans) “have a million of them.”
And there is a method to the demonization:
Therein lies the reason Clinton — often invoked simply by her first name — provides such a handy foil for beleaguered Republicans. It gives them a target at a time when their own party is widely blamed for mismanaging the Iraq war, the federal budget and the levers of government.
In other words: talking about what they perceive as the accomplishments of Bush administration and Republican Congressional dominance for most of the past seven years is too problematical. So the issue becomes the threat of Ms. Clinton. And there’s more:
It allows the hopefuls to abide nominally by President Ronald Reagan’s “11th commandment†against speaking ill of a fellow Republican.
And perhaps most importantly, it helps Republican candidates make the case that they are not afraid to take on Clinton in a year when the party is desperate to win and campaigns are making their candidate’s electability a central argument.
The last two are more standard political goals. But the key thrust of The Politico piece is that Republicans are now doing a dry run of a campaign that will be centered on the threat posed to the nation by Hillary Clinton.
The phrase “But under Clinton….” that has been uttered frequently by the White House, Republicans and talk show hosts any time criticism comes up of Bush or Republican policies will now apparently be morphed into a campaign that will once again likely be a How We Can Save The Nation campaign versus a How We Can Serve The Nation (and have served the nation).
Question: is Clinton — and are the Democrats — geared up for what most assuredly is to come if the prevailing conventional wisdom (and polls) are correct and she winds up her party’s nominee?
SOME OTHER RELATED READING:
—The Los Angeles Times chronicles how Ms. Clinton has built her lead in a piece that should be a sign to GOPers that she will not be a pushover. It talks about how Carol Levesque used to not like HC but now does:
Levesque’s conversion offers a window into how Clinton has emerged as the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination: One of the most demonized politicians in America has begun to win a second look from skeptics. And among women and seniors, such as Levesque, she has built big leads over her rivals.
That underscores one of Clinton’s most important assets in the turbulent few months ahead of the balloting set for early January. She has built a political base — reflected in polls — of voters who dominate the Democratic nominating process: seniors, women and blue-collar voters.
That’s a troublesome trend for Obama, who has drawn his support mainly from the young and the affluent. He had been considered the candidate most likely to slow the Clinton juggernaut. But her lead in national polls has widened. Nationally, Clinton leads Obama 38% to 22%, according to the latest Pollster.com aggregation of surveys. Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards is under 14%. The latest campaign reports showed that in the last three months, Clinton for the first time raised more money than Obama.
—She is now ahead in an Iowa poll.
–But she stumbled badly (the clip of this will be used against her by rival Democrats, Republican talk show hosts and Republicans) by suggesting a voter with a tough question was a plant. He will not wind up voting for her.
–She has generally extended her lead for the Democratic nomination.
–Is there a Hillary Clinton “bubble?” John Fout says no.
—The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that Clinton is growing on Iowans….in a state previously seen as tough sell.
–GOP Presidential wannabe Rudy Giuliani is now predicting a “formidable” Clinton-Obama ticket.
–Clinton nemesis and not-always-a-great-predictor Dick Morris insists Giuliani’s attacks on Clinton have “hit home” and will help Giuliani win in the primaries.
—A Bloomberg report says Ms. Clinton reigns as “queen of federal pork.” (My own info from friends in New York state for years — including some who do not like her politically — is that she has proven to be a Senator who quickly responds to constituents and has not forgotten that “all politics is local.”)
–She may face skepticism from her party’s left wing, but a liberal icon has now endorsed her: former Senator George McGovern.
—PR Web contends that political bloggers’ “obsession” with Hillary Clinton means the race is still wide open:
Texas representative and Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul lived up to his Internet fame in September. Wonkosphere.com has reported that Paul finished in first place amongst Republican candidates for buzz share from conservative bloggers. Buzz share measures how much the political blogosphere is talking about a particular candidate, and Paul’s 16% beat out Senator Fred Thompson (13%) and Mayor Rudy Giuliani (10%). The real untold story however of Internet politics in September is bloggers’ obsession with New York Senator Hillary Clinton.
In September, approximately one out of every four blog posts that talked about a presidential candidate talked about Senator Clinton. “Clinton (22%) barely beat out John Edwards (20%) for buzz share amongst liberal bloggers,” said Wonkosphere’s Kevin Dooley, “but she was all conservative bloggers could talk about — she had more conservative buzz share than Fred Thompson and Rudy Giuliani combined.”
“Senator Clinton’s dominance in the political blogosphere is important for three reasons,” added Wonkosphere’s Steve Corman. “First, it means she is succeeding in driving the discussion, which can be powerful. Second, because the race is being defined as Clinton versus Not-Clinton, it means that anyone on either side can potentially fill the contender role; the narrative is ‘Who will beat Hillary?’ Third, because conservative bloggers have concentrated on Clinton, their own Republican candidates have gone largely un-vetted by the blogging community.”
–The Sunday (UK) Times says Bush is already working on a transition to a Hillary takeover.
–But is America ready for a woman President? James Clark writing in the Houston Chronicle says no. (FOOTNOTE: A look at many countries suggests that the United States is way behind the erasure of gender barriers in top political posts.)
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.