Dear Hillary: Don't Run

The Tampa Tribune ^ | 02/25/06 | Lead Editorial

[shortstop]

Dear Hillary:

We'd like to welcome you to Tampa for your fundraiser today, and thank you for your long service to our country and your party.

We expect that after your re-election this fall as junior senator from New York, you will dedicate yourself to seeking a higher office. But you're a pragmatist, Hillary, so we urge you to be satisfied with the Senate.

If you run for president, chances are good that you'll secure your party's nomination. But realistically, how do you think you can win the White House? You are the most polarizing figure in the Democratic Party, and your negatives among likely voters are prohibitively high. Many people simply don't trust you. You may share your husband's name, but what people liked about him is not transferable to you. You are not the person to help define a party that needs to convince voters it can govern from the vital center.

Even yellow dog Florida Democrats express profound reservations about your presidential ambitions. They worry that you cannot attract moderate and independent voters and that your presence will hurt the election chances of other Democratic candidates up and down the ballot.

They fear, Hillary, that you would doom Democrats to impotence for decades. Republicans might relish that prospect, but on reflection, they would acknowledge the importance of a strong two-party political system. Should the Democratic Party be crippled, the Republican Party is likely to become complacent, uninspired and unaccountable.

Fair or not, you are identified with the far left, and you are not the person to convince voters that Democrats have ideas for keeping families safe and the country secure.

You are not the one who can assure Americans they will have a chance to get ahead.

You may be a champion for women's rights and a strong advocate for children, but you are too much the Washington insider to convince voters you would fix a political system that seems remote from everyday life.

If you run, you'll position yourself from the center, knowing full well that even if you alienate your base, they'll support you, because they have no one else to turn to.

But even if you moderate your positions, you do so at some political risk. When you suddenly support a constitutional amendment to ban flag-burning, your changing position seems superficial and self-serving. Hillary the "moderate progressive" candidate would be a hard sell.

Although you apparently work well with your Senate colleagues, your candidacy would remind voters that you are not a consensus builder. Your health care plan failed during your husband's first term because you were largely tone-deaf. You shut people out, and when things went awry, you blamed the media.

By the time George Bush leaves office in 2009, this country will have had 20 years with either a Bush or Clinton at the helm. Citizens want a break from that White House tradition.

Think, Hillary, not about what you want, but what's best for your party and country.

Please, don't run.

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By the time George Bush leaves office in 2009, this country will have had 20 years with either a Bush or Clinton at the helm. Citizens want a break from that White House tradition.

I'll make an exception if Jeb wants to run.

[digger48]

I'll make an exception if Jeb wants to run.

That'd be one way to get the DUmmies rioting in the streets

[Cicero]

I would LOVE to see Jeb run. He woud be a splendid candidate. But I don't know if it's possible to overcome the propaganda campaign the MSM and the DNC would bring against the Bush dynasty angle.

[popdonnelly]

"Dear Hillary: Don't Run"

And so say all of us,
and so say all of us.
She's not a jolly good fellow...

[babaloo]

If Hillary runs and wins the first thing she will do is shut down the Tampa Tribune. Gutsy of them to write that.

[ErnBatavia]

That'd be one way to get the DUmmies rioting in the streets

What'd really blindside 'em is to run Lynn Cheney.

[engrpat]

I for one would like to see her run as it will be best chance the Republicans have for holding the WH and Congress. She can't help herself and will implode along the way.

[Ocracoke Island]

Do run, Hillary. Comic relief is always welcome.

[ncountylee]

what's best for your party and country

Never was or ever will be a Clinton consideration.

[jimbo123]

I think the editorial board just made Hillery's "list."

[Bob Dobalina]

You counter that by pointing out that this is AMERICA. This is not a dynastic government, and its leaders are determined by fair and free elections. Actually, I think that would be a fairly easy meme to break. Just call it the smear tactic that it is.

[Old Sarge]

Oh, I love this one, let's see what an appeal to She Who Must Not Be Named looks like:

You may share your husband's name, but what people liked about him is not transferable to you.

Change to read, "You share your husband's name, and what he did is directly transferable to you."

Republicans might relish that prospect, but on reflection, they would acknowledge the importance of a strong two-party political system. Should the Democratic Party be crippled, the Republican Party is likely to become complacent, uninspired and unaccountable.

Incorrect. With the Socialists exposed for what they truly are, the multiple-party system originally envisioned by the Founding Fathers - the TRUE democracy, and not a two-party oligarchy - will finally be resuscitated. And, if the DNC is crippled, the 40-year Leftist stranglehold on America will be broken for generations to come, and this country's future, indeed the world's, will be made brighter thereby.

you are not the person to convince voters that Democrats have ideas for keeping families safe and the country secure.

No current Socialist, with the possible exceptions of Zell and Joe, could ever sell me that bill of goods.

You may be a champion for women's rights and a strong advocate for children

::sounds of retching::

even if you alienate your base, they'll support you, because they have no one else to turn to.

Grudgingly agree - because that's how the GOP has treated us for years.

Your health care plan failed during your husband's first term because you were largely tone-deaf. You shut people out, and when things went awry, you blamed the media.

By the time George Bush leaves office in 2009, this country will have had 20 years with either a Bush or Clinton at the helm. Citizens want a break from that White House tradition.

To use a Leftist mantra: Prove It.

Think, Hillary, not about what you want, but what's best for your party and country. Please, don't run.

This, an appeal to The Smartest Woman On Earth, not to bestow her vast wisdom upon this misbegotten nation???

She Watches You...

[TheForceOfOne]

I think the Dem's should run Howard Dean with Cindy Sheehan as VP. That would seal the deal for us. :)

[Old Sarge]

Proofreading is my FRiend. Change to read:

Your health care plan failed during your husband's first term because you were largely tone-deaf. You shut people out, and when things went awry, you blamed the media.

Even the MSM, your useful idiots, recall HillaryCare, and the first failed attempt at AmSoc. And they will turn on you.

[Bob Dobalina]

And if my grandmother had wheels, she'd be a wagon. If we wanted to lose the White House to Hillary, we'd have to make a concerted effort to do so, like float a Taft/DeLay ticket.

[operation clinton cleanup]

What'd really blindside 'em is to run Lynn Cheney.

Hmmmm.. Jeb and Lynn.. Bush/Cheney 08!

[Crawdad]

I agree. If the Democrat party is broken up, the Republican party will break up 15 minutes later.

[Hildy]

Apropos to absolutely nothing....every single time I see Howard Dean I think of something that happened during the 2004 election. There was a little kid, he had gone on Leno's show because of his knowledge of Presidents. A very smart, precocious kid. He couldn't be more than 8 years old. His political bent was obviously Conservative, he was proud to admit it to Leno. ANYWAY, the tonight show sent him to some political event and had him compete against some politicians with history questions...of course the 8-year old blew them away. But that wasn't the best....he sees Howard Dean, and he says to him, "It's an honor to meet you, Mr. Dean...we REALLY, REALLY want you to get the nomination! (This was when conservatives were giving money to Dean HOPING he'd be the nominee.) The kid was so sarcastic, but Dean thought he was being sincere. I lol everytime I even think about it. Does anyone remember that???

[Landry Fan]

LOL

[daviddennis]

Actually what that first line means is that Bill Clinton, for good or for ill, had genuine charisma and likability. He wasn't a good person but he sure was good at persuading the public.

Hillary has none of that, which in my view dooms her candidacy. The candidate best at self-expression generally wins the election. Think that's wrong because of George W Bush? Wrong; you know that when W says something, he means it. Against incredibly weak opposition - Gore and Kerry were both inept orators - that was enough.

D