RK ARCHIVE - The "We have two great candidates" perspective

I was a full blown Bill Clinton fan. I was often awed by his ability to speak at length in a captivating, articulate manner. I couldn't understand why he was pesecuted to such a great extent by the other side, even with the problems in his personal life. As the saying goes, he had me at hello.

Then there was Hillary. I have never been captivated by her, the way that I was with Bill. I have become even less so as this primary drags on.

The last eight years have been painful. The political philosophy of the Bush administration has truly dragged our country to the lowest levels of my lifetime. I am concerned that the polarizing figure that is Hillary Clinton, will continue that trend, albeit, with a tilt toward my way of thinking. And while I think that Bill was somewhat of an unwilling participant in his battle with the right (the whole Gingrich "Contract with America" garbage), Hillary seems to be jumping in with both feet as things have not gone her way. This is painful to watch.

Do I think that she would be a bad president? No. Do I agree with her policy positions? For the most part, absolutely. Is she a great candidate? I don't think so. I think that she is a good candidate. Unfortunately, we can't afford "good". We need great.

I believe that Obama is a great candidate. He has challenged us to settle for more than good. In some ways, he restores the pride in our country that I feel has been lost. Will he be a great president? While I think so, I truly don't know.

I often think that while his campaign is difficult, his hardest day will be his first in office. He will have to raise to the very high bar that he has set.

Comments

A Couple More Points (norman swingvoter - 3/7/2008 4:22:00 PM)

I have been a Bill Clinton fan also. I have always said that his impeachment was an outrageous abuse of power. However, I am not pleased with the latest antics of the Clintons. Hillary should not be using this crap that she and mccain are the only ones ready to be commander in chief. If Obama wins, she is giving republicans ammunition that they can use against us. All the republicans have to do is make commercials using Hillary's talking points. This is nuts.

Scorched Earth Policy? (Oakton Dem - 3/8/2008 9:41:52 PM)

Hillary Clinton can't win the nomination, but she's just going to do as much damage to Barack Obama for as long as she can. Who does it benefit? John McCain. And of course, if Obama loses in '08 b/c of the Democratic civil war, this scorched earth policy also helps Hillary in 2012.

Just the Opposite but the same Conclusion! (TMSKI - 3/7/2008 10:08:31 PM)

I've never been a BIG fan of Bill Clinton. From early on I thought he was a little to smooth a talker, for sure a womanizer and in general a good Bull$#!+er. In Bill Clinton's primary race I preferred Paul Tsongas because I thought he was truthful about the economy and sincere in how to fix it.

But way back then I remember being so impressed with Hillary Clinton and how she handled herself and the press. Really she was Bill's best asset in a lot of ways. 8 years of the Clintons however proved to be more than enough. I thought Bill deserved to be impeached for lying to a Grand Jury. However undeservedly he got there .... under oath he Lied ... worse still he Lied bold faced to Jim Lehrer on national television.

Now in this quest for the White House any respect I might have had for Hillary has vanished. Her campaign crew is the same old Washington insider crony crowd that needs to be vanquished .... made an example of. Hillary is their leader and I can only hope that the other voters (next batch) start seeing through her spin. She's got nothing original going for her and is a throw back to the past.

Let's move forward. Go Obama!!