Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Hillary is a Clinton, but I think I need to add

that she probably does have an extra level of popularity from the previous Clinton. This has relatively little to do with the name itself, but more about recognition in the media. This, however, is still not the big thing she has going for her:
by default, the GOP has allowed the Democrats to co-opt the women's vote in the coming Presidential election. Had they touted a big name, such as, say, Condi Rice, by now, there might have been a real horse race for the 2016 Presidential victory, based on a division of the women's vote.

As it is, women are where blacks and other minorities were in 2008: having witnessed a long history of white male dominance of the White House, they can easily assume that Hillary, being the first woman with this real potential to win, may also be the last for a long time--as Obama supporters could reasonably have viewed his candidacy in 2008.

This is the phenomenon that would create the Hillary victory, that common issue that women--of all political ideologies, actually--may share. Just as Obama got the Republican "Colin Powell vote" in 2008 and somewhat still in 2012 (again, the re-election being based on the idea that, having been the first to be able to win, give him one more term, on the grounds it'll be the last time for a long, long time), so Hillary will get the women's vote.

It's powerful stuff, all right. There is a great deal of not only voting numbers involved, but political and even physical energy ignited.




No comments:

Post a Comment