Posted on 07/11/2006 7:05:29 AM PDT by presidio9
To her admirers — and there are many — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is everything you would want in a president: brilliant attorney, skilled politician, able lawmaker and devoted mother.
To her detractors — and there seem to be just as many — Clinton is everything you don’t want in a president: vindictive, a social liberal who deviously portrays herself a moderate and an avid proponent of increasing the power of the federal government.
But as the former first lady speaks today in Columbus before a liberal group, those critics and supporters would agree that she is the favorite to be the Democrats’ 2008 presidential nominee.
Though Clinton’s backers concede that she faces formidable obstacles in trying to stitch together a coalition of more than 50 percent of the voters, they argue that she overcame many of the same barriers in 2000 when she persuaded skeptical moderates and conservatives in upstate New York to vote her into the U.S. Senate. They insist that despite eight visible and controversial years as first lady, she is a far more complex and appealing personality than many of her critics believe.
"She is the most recognized person in the world who is often not really known," said Melanne Verveer, Clinton’s chief of staff during her final four years as first lady. "She is a centrist. She is a much more traditional person than made out to be."
Lisa Caputo, Clinton’s press secretary during her years as first lady, said she is "certainly capable of helping people understand who she is and what she’s all about. She’s already done that, as evidenced by the inroads she made in upstate New York."
The polling numbers vividly show Clinton’s strengths and weaknesses. A Dispatch Poll in April showed Clinton easily as the favorite of Ohio Democrats for the 2008 nomination, running far ahead of 2004 nominee John Kerry, of Massachusetts.
But an ABC News-Washington Post Poll in May showed that 42 percent of likely voters nationally definitely would not vote for her in 2008. No Democrat or Republican would start the 2008 campaign with such a large bloc of detractors.
"She has universal name identification, and people are not neutral about her," said Barry Bennett, a House Republican staff member and former political consultant in Ohio. "They hate her or love her. The polling shows nationwide that slightly more people hate her than love her. It will be really hard to reinvent herself to get enough people to love her to win a general election."
Political analysts cite myriad reasons that she is so polarizing. She and her husband, Bill Clinton, in 1993 became the first baby boomers to enter the White House after four decades of presidents who served in World War II.
Unlike past first ladies, Clinton offended some Americans by assuming major policy roles, including designing a plan that would have provided all working Americans with health insurance. Congress rejected it.
During the 1992 campaign, Clinton praised Anita Hill for her testimony a year earlier against Justice Clarence Thomas, whom Hill accused of sexual harassment. But Clinton herself was conspicuously silent when White House advisers assailed Paula Jones, who had charged Bill Clinton with harassing her when he was governor of Arkansas.
No one has gauged the damage to Sen. Clinton because of her husband’s affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. In her 2003 autobiography, Clinton wrote that she "wanted to wring Bill’s neck" because of the affair, yet added, "Bill led America and the world in a way that I continued to support."
"She caught a lot of flak that otherwise would have been directed at her husband," said one former Clinton administration official who spoke only on condition of anonymity. "She is more blunt than he is, so I think a lot of the wrath that really was about him got directed at her. From the day Bill Clinton got elected, millions of Republicans hated him, but somehow because he is so masterful at speaking and communicating . . . and she is more blunt, I felt like it all got pushed her way."
Since her election to the Senate, though, Clinton has assiduously tried to conceal the harder edges and portray herself as a political moderate who can work with Republicans. She is a longtime member of the Democratic Leadership Council, a national organization that champions moderate Democratic candidates.
During the council’s national meeting last year in Columbus, Clinton was named chair of the American Dream Initiative, an effort to find middle ground for Democrats on divisive issues such as national security, health care, international trade and abortion.
She supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq and opposes efforts to set a deadline to withdraw U.S. troops, a stance that provoked boos at a conference of liberals last month. She was the driving force in 1992 when her husband said that abortion should be "safe, legal and rare."
"She wears the Democratic label, but I would not call her a left-wing liberal under any definition," said Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman, an active member of the council.
She might not possess the same folksy charm as her husband, but she has demonstrated a nimble ability to think on her feet. Last month, Clinton held a fundraiser in a posh Boston hotel and was busy thanking guests when an aide handed her a scribbled note: Kerry, one of her likely 2008 primary opponents, had unexpectedly shown up.
One person who attended said that Clinton smiled, announced that Kerry was in the back of the room and invited him to join her at the podium. Kerry finally walked to the front of the ballroom and said, "I don’t know what to say."
Without hesitation, a smiling Clinton responded, "How about, ‘Hello?’ " The crowd loved it.
Although she will speak today to the national convention of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, an organization that is a key part of the Democratic base, she and her top aides say she has not decided whether to run for president.
"She is running for re-election hard," said Ann F. Lewis, director of communications for Friends of Hillary, a politicalaction committee Clinton organized.
Except for New York reporters, she has refrained from many interviews. Her staff declined a Dispatch request.
Former White House chief of staff John Podesta said he is "one of the few people who remain relatively close to her who thinks she might not run. I don’t think she’s made up her mind." But if she does run, he said, she will be a more formidable candidate than Kerry was in 2004.
"There aren’t that many people who voted for Kerry who wouldn’t vote for her," Podesta said. "She has more enthusiasm than Kerry does, particularly among younger voters and especially among younger women, who are really her core strength."
Every time I see her on TV I feel like Bluto when they put Kent Dorfman's picture on the wall in 'Animal House'.
Call her what you want, just don't call her "trustworthy".
Lieberman is a liberal Democrat who agrees with his party on almost every issue, except that he wants Israel to survive. I can't see him doing anything in 2008 that would make a Republican victory more likely.
"Hillary? The only first lady to appear before a grand jury.
The only first lady to demand a larger office than the Vice President. The only first lady that hired an overwieght bouncer to work in the whitehouse and then deny it. The only first lady that had 1200 FBI files brought to the west wing so she and her staff could go through them for political ammunition. Trusting Hillary is not smart. The first lady that used vulgar language on her secret service protectors. Good luck to anyone voting to put her in charge. God Almighty what a mess we would have."
Ah, that's old news, doncha know? We've already been through that, it's just the VRWC trying to bring down a good woman, etc., etc.
-- talking points for Serpenthead and his buddies.
I don't think it will be Lieberman who runs 3rd party; My big worry is that Senator John McCain (R-Liberal Media) will run as an independent 3rd party candidate if he loses the GOP nomination. THAT is evil Hilary's best chance at winning the Presidency...
"With Guilliani announcing his candidacy for President, not my choice, he'd mop up the floor with her."
Oh, easily. It would be delicious to watch him flay her alive during a debate...as if she'd ever agree to that, LOL!
I would rather vote for Guilliani than McPain or the slime one....she is sooooo disgusting....
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