Hillary Clinton is running for president:
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s entry into the 2008 presidential contest this morning set off rounds of e-mail and conference calls among both her allies and opponents, some of whom were shaking their heads that a major political event was happening at 9:30 on a Saturday morning.
Advisers to some of her top 2008 rivals – Senators John McCain and Barack Obama, and former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts – replied within minutes to requests for comment, and signaled that the Clinton announcement meant that the 2008 race was truly underway.
“She’s tough enough, smart enough, and experienced enough to overcome a decidedly liberal philosophy,†said John Weaver, a senior adviser to Senator John McCain, who is preparing to seek the Republican presidential nomination.
I cannot imagine circumstances under which I’d vote for Ms. Clinton for the presidency. I could round up a list of links to reasons to oppose her candidacy but, fortunately, Hilzoy of Obsidian Wings (who’s more favorably disposed to a Clinton candidacy than I am) has already done a magisterial job of doing so. She begins:
The real problem is that she’d be a disaster for the Democrats if she were nominated, and, I suspect, not that great a President in the unlikely event that she won.
and follows with a good series of links. Bottom line: the woman does not have the background, instincts, or temperament to be president.
Interesting commentary there. There seem to be echoes of the current presisdent (without the suspicion of outright stupidity).
Well, now that you have plumbed the depths, anything would be a step up in terms of competence.
Lounsbury, I opposed Bush’s candidacy in 2000 and did not vote for him on the grounds that I didn’t believe that he had the instincts or skills to be president (although I thought that his experience as governor of Texas was a good credential for the job).
It’s nice to see a case against Clinton that does not begin and end with her as some sort of hobgoblin. I’m not a big fan, either, but I often felt pressed to defend her against a lot of the more ridiculous (and sadly, common) attacks floating around the web.
I don’t think she’s a hobgoblin (or some kind of left-wing extremist—she’s center-left, if anything). I merely disagree with her political positions and not merely at a detail level but at its foundations—she’s far too Fordist for my liking.