A repeat thread....what do you think about Hilary Clinton?

[cally]

I have to admit that I'm thrilled that a woman may be President. I'm torn between my wish for a female to break through, a minority to do so, or a progressive. At this point I'm holding out for Gore and I think I support Edwards. Still, I'm bothered that I can't get behind the folks who are challenging our idea of what a President can be.

[Warpy]

1. Not much, she's a conservative waffler on too many issues

As much as I've wanted to see a woman in the highest office, I sincerely hope it isn't Sen. Clinton.

Well, if she has some sort of epiphany and realizes she's a servant of the people and not the corporations, maybe she'd be worthy of consideration. If she realizes and admits she made a mistake in voting for the IWR without giving it real teeth, making sure Stupid lived up to all the conditions we know he simply ignored, it might make another big difference.

As of now, though, no thanks. I think we can do better. I think we must do better.

[cally]

2. I'm still hoping for a savior

Yeah, I meant that. At this point I'm supporting Edwards but my heart is with Gore. I like both Clinton and Obama but I'm willing to let it play out.

[Warpy]

3. Anyone who declares this early is likely

to make mistakes and be fatally wounded by the time primary season rolls around next year.

I'm hoping for some obscure governor who realizes corporatism as just about run its course and if we want to have a country, we'd better abandon it.

[politicat]

4. In the primaries, she won't be my candidate.

Though I would love a feminist, female president, I am far more opposed to this imperial-dual monarchy that people are trying to build and I will not support her in the Colorado caucus/primary (not that it will matter much since we aren't early in the cycle.)

I do not believe in American royal families. The Bushes have proved to my utter disgust how awfully we Americans handle monarchy and why we should not be allowed anywhere near it. It is a bad drug for us, rather like alcohol on the Japanese constitution. We cannot handle monarchy and must abstain from it. (Monarchy has its uses and places and there are some really good arguments for it, for other places. But not for us.)

And for good or ill, we have had a Clinton presidency. I realize that HRC would be a different type of president than WJC, would have different views and different abilities to bring to the job, but oh, well. Too bad. No royal families. I do not want the next twenty years to be an alternation between two families... HRC in the job through 2016, then Jeb rigging the election for eight years, then Chelsea taking over because she'll be of age.... I see HUGE problems with this and I don't want to go there. (I somewhat favor a constitutional amendment forbidding members of the same family within 2 degrees of relationship holding the same office within 30 years.)

HRC wouldn't be horrible, but she's let herself be buffaloed by the DLC, and they are not my friends. She's bought into the safe, legal and rare jargon that is really code for safe and legal for those who can afford it; unsafe and quasilegal for everyone else. She's not enough of a feminist to make me happy.

But come the general, I can't think of anyone I would support over her if she's the candidate. In the primaries, I vote to change the world. Come November, I vote to make the safety nets a little stronger, the communal pot a little richer and the big bad world a little less cold, cruel and sharp.

In the primaries, I think I'm for Vilsack right now. But that can change on a dime.

[Morgana LaFey]

5. She hasn't let herself be buffaloed by the DLC

She IS the DLC, or close enough.

If you're anti-DLC, then you better take another look at Vilsack, who is every bit as DLC as Hillary. Or Carville.

[politicat]

7. Big difference between HRC and Vilsack is that I've seen Vilsack

in action and live; Nebraska being the neighbors and all... Being resident of one of the big, square fly-over states, I only get to see a mediated HRC through journalistic lenses and therefore I cannot have as strong an opinion upon her actions because I can't see and experience them as directly. Water rights are a big deal out here, and Vilsack has been better at negotiating and managing compromise than others in the Arkansas and Platte watersheds have been.

As for the DLC... not entirely anti... ambivalent. The DLC has their place; they're not completely hare-brained and they have contributed some decent ideas, but they're not my ideal form of government, either. I like having their point of view at the table, and I wish that the Party as a whole was better at compromise and discussion and less territorial when it comes to ideas. The DLC understands and has good ideas when it comes to national industrial capitalism, and if they'd stick with that, I'd be happy (ier) with them. They are miserable on agricultural economics (which are not industrial capitalism) and they are abyssal on international economic policy. If the Party could be convinced to listen to the DLC on what they do understand and ignore them on what they don't, (and do that with all of the subfactions) I'd be happier with the party in general rather than marveling most days at how we turned into the party of laissez faire utopians.

Where the HRC DLC connection bothers me is HRC's very DLC stance on agricultural economics and international free trade. The former hurts our own ability as a nation to feed, clothe and fuel ourselves in a sustainable and economically sound manner, and the latter hurts everyone who has to either buy consumer products or manufacture them.

[Morgana LaFey]

8. Well, here's a bit of information that may be valuable in

weighing what your thoughts are on the DLC:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x173238

[efhmc]

6. Because you care more about those who are actually promoting the

progressive cause? I am not happy with many things about Hillary but I do think she would be good at the job and surely she would be better than anything the repukes can scrounge up.