The Unelectable Clinton

I still submit that Hillary Clinton is unelectable in the general election. The GOP will have none of it, and the mainstream media, talk radio and the Sunday morning talk shows will continue to pillory her just as they did John Kerry, and we'll have another eight Republican years to contend with, mark my words. However, two noteworthy op-eds appeared in the Times this week that gave me pause, so I felt compelled to share. Ponder and enjoy.

Nicholas D. Kristof When Women Rule
The article begins declaring women victorious over men in the all-time rulers' hall of fame:
"[T]he world does have several thousand years’ worth of experience with female leaders....Their historical record puts men’s to shame. Scholars find that women, compared with men, tend to excel in consensus-building and certain other skills useful in leadership."

But it goes on to distinguish the autocrats from the democrats:
"In monarchies, women who rose to the top dealt mostly with a narrow elite, so they could prove themselves and get on with governing. But in democracies in the television age, female leaders also have to navigate public prejudices — and these make democratic politics far more challenging for a woman than for a man.

In one common experiment, the “Goldberg paradigm,” people are asked to evaluate a particular article or speech, supposedly by a man. Others are asked to evaluate the identical presentation, but from a woman. Typically, in countries all over the world, the very same words are rated higher coming from a man."

I actually don't believe that it's a problem for a woman to be elected, but I think it has to be the right woman. And I don't think that Hillary would be a bad president, I just don't think she can get there with the baggage she's carrying.

Paul Krugman Hate Springs Eternal
Krugman talks about vitriol in politics and the need to be cautious in how candidates are treated in this stage, given the ultimate goal of getting the party's candidate elected.

"What’s particularly saddening is the way many Obama supporters seem happy with the application of “Clinton rules” — the term a number of observers use for the way pundits and some news organizations treat any action or statement by the Clintons, no matter how innocuous, as proof of evil intent.

For now, Clinton rules are working in Mr. Obama’s favor. But his supporters should not take comfort in that fact.

For one thing, Mrs. Clinton may yet be the nominee — and if Obama supporters care about anything beyond hero worship, they should want to see her win in November.

For another, if history is any guide, if Mr. Obama wins the nomination, he will quickly find himself being subjected to Clinton rules. Democrats always do."