Politics

[tikiera]

Obama is looking better.

But I was listening to NPR  - and someone pointed out that Obama is carrying the primary votes in states that will not be giving their electoral votes to a democrat.

Now I need to track down a breakdown and see if that's right.  Gah. 

Comments

[diabhol.livejournal.com]

Sadly, I think a large part of the reason they hate her is simple sexism. After that, most Democrats can be tarred with the same "social liberal/tax & spend" brush (neverminding the fact that we all know Republicans spend just as much, if not more).

In any event, our part in the decision is over, so we'll see how it rolls out. California is not Florida and we're going blue no matter what, so I feel more than comfortable going with my feelings on this score.

[jamesofengland.livejournal.com]

The Clinton Presidency left a few serious legacies. Kosovo, AEDPA, the Iraq Regime Change Act & Desert Fox, Somalia, Welfare Reform, Don't Ask, Don't Tell, the NAFTA & WTO, the balanced budget, the DMCA, Tax Cuts... Republicans are somewhat divided on this stuff, but it's hard to really hate.

The Brady bill had the worst chunks either blasted away by the SCOTUS or by Congress in '98.

There's the minimum wage, sure, but that's kind of a symbolic issue to most.

Then there's Hillarycare. It's the one big liberal assault on America that got people's blood up. Well, until Lewinsky. It's the first thing that the vast bulk of Republicans talk about when I defend Clinton to them (which I do fairly regularly, as he is a hero of mine and I spend a fair amount of time talking to Republicans). Well, the first thing after the sham marriage.

There's good bits to Bill and bad bits, but the bad bits (the corruption, homicide slurs, sex harrasment, Hillarycare, blue dress stains) all involve Hillary, and none of the good bits do. There's no "but remember..." about hating Hillary, no defenses to be offered, except on a "the media were too hard on her/ Chelsea" type arguments.

Maine's a great example of a swing state which went for Obama with zero black population. Maine's two female Senators don't appear to be people who'd be voted in by misogynist throwbacks. Heck, in '06, both parties chose women in their primaries.

It's not just the substance, and the horror over her marriage, though. Even her platitudes seem calculated to inspire rage. "As adults, we have to start thinking and believing that there isn't really any such thing as someone else's child"? I don't think there's another national politician who comes out with this stuff with the kind of regularity that Clinton does. There's also few people with the unambiguously negative record (she has had a few successes in the Senate that republicans can get behind, but those are somewhat lower profile than her time in the White House).