As soon as you discarded the hard political patina, pulled back the veil and became a real, and really fatigued, person during ‘The Moment’ the day before the primary in New Hampshire, I knew you had it won. George Stephanopolous is still probably saying that, by rights, you should have blown it beyond recovery and the talking heads are still debating the polls. They should all move on.
First, about those polls. There were eight of them by respected organizations. They all said the same thing, that Obama was going to win handily. The chance that those professionals erred in unison is nonexistent this side of Never Never Land. When the polling closed two days before the election, Hillary was going down.
Neither the polls nor the pundits bargained on Hillary morphing into a real person in front of the cameras a day later, someone doing her best to deal with vulnerability and disappointment, someone who was sincere, misunderstood, sad, and tired. She became everywoman. Her success, viscerally, became theirs and they voted for her in massive numbers, propelling her to a decisive victory and everyone else into a polling nightmare.
See? I do understand. Now let me tell you why I’m containing my own enthusiasm.
In all honesty, your Senate voting record in total has been clearly liberal. You can be counted on to advance positive education initiatives; you have said that free market capitalism should be controlled; you are in favor of improving access to health care; of better protection for the environment; of restrictions on gun sales; of internet neutrality; of stem cell research without government imposed restrictions.
You stand on other issues is cloudy. Prayer in schools, for example. That seems to be both yes and no. And Social Security? You will convene a committee to look at it. That sounds like a cop out at a time when we need specifics.
And then there are those staggering failures. Not only did you effectively vote for a war of choice against a third world country and for continuing to fund that war ad-nauseam, but you defended those votes far beyond any semblance of reason.
You are an ardent supporter of our current, disastrous, Middle East policies.
You want to continue the Cuban embargo – which benefits …. Ok. Who?
You sponsored a flag burning amendment.
You voted for the Kyl-Lieberman resolution, giving the Bush administration another go-ahead for the same insanity in Iran.
You voted to loosen wiretapping restrictions.
You voted in favor of the Patriot Act. Twice.
And you voted in favor of a bankruptcy bill that penalized the poor and gave a bonanza to credit card companies. It was the same bill that your husband had vetoed, at your urging, during his administration.
Can you see why people view you with distrust?
The problem, as I see it, is your fund raising. You are queen of the war chest. None of your opponents has been able to match those tens of millions of dollars that corporations and individuals have handed to your campaign. Those donors really, really, want you elected. In ways that mattered, you performed admirably for them as a senator and they will expect even more from you as chief executive of the nation. You have given neither them nor us reason to believe that their expectations will not be realized.
In short, you have failed to convince many of us that you would be on our side when it counts. And when you’re chief executive, it counts everyday.
Fund raising is a double edged sword when you can’t please your donors and your constituency at the same time. So far, your donors have been unyielding and a large part of your constituent base seems unforgiving.
Unless the aura of your New Hampshire performance carries over until November, it could turn out to be a tough way to win an election.
by Sandy Jewell. For more, go to www.opedinfo.com.
