Hillary

Ok, I admit it, the idea of Hillary running for President in 2008 has been growing on me. I had been opposed to the idea she run this year. However, 2008 will be different. The Republicans, again under Rove's leadership, will rally quickly around a candidate - they always do. Most likely it will be Frist or Giuliani, unless McCain can really build the necessary infrastructure in the next four years to support an insurgent bid. The Democrats, leaderless right now, will need a strong, nationally tested candidate to quickly fill the void to prevent the Republicans from framing the issues, as they did so early and so effectively in the 2000 and 2004 campaigns.

At this point, and things could change, only Hillary looks to have the clout to do this. I know...I know...Most liberal bloggers will cry that a long, drawn out primary helps and that we would have been better off had we come up with a more anti-establishment nominee this last time around, or at least put Kerry through his paces for another month. But, I think that's bullshit. We need to emulate the Republican machine as much as possible. Drawn out primary campaigns and long shot candidates propelled to the nomination are a thing of the past in a two party system where one of the parties is vastly better funded and supported by its own media machine.

Also, if you think of the names mentioned for 2008, Hillary is about the most solid Democrat of the lot. She is good on all the Democratic "kitchen-table" issues (a term she coined, I believe) because she truly cares about people. Going back to law school, she has worked primarily to better children's lives. She worked for the Children's Defense Fund and was involved, beginning with her days at Yale Law School, in helping defend children against abusive parents and working to get them quality health care. She's perhaps most maligned for her work on the ill-fated Clinton health care plan. But how can you disparage someone who at least tried to get every American health care coverage. It may have failed in Congress, but it should at least be clear that Hillary genuinely cares about the issue and how can that be a bad thing?

Despite her staid speaking style and complicated relationship with the press, Hillary is an incredibly capable woman and equally capable of being under-estimated. There should be no doubt, that if/when she runs, she may very likely win both the nomination and the Presidency despite the Hillary-haters. However, a lot could still happen to affect the outlines of the 2008 campaign and we aren't endorsing anyone just yet.