2. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
Republicans up and down the field and in the media attack Hillary Clinton at least once in every sentence they speak or write. It's almost funny to watch them go through semantic contortions to try to obey this "guideline" whatever the topic might be that they are trying to address. A lot of people think that this is because they presume that Hillary will be our nominee and they're just getting their licks in early.
I am no fan of Hillary Clinton, but for the opposite reason that the Republicans try to claim as the justification for their hatred, that she's a "liberal." She may be the LEAST liberal among our candidates. Although I shall certainly support her enthusiastically if she becomes our nominee, I find her to be far too much of a corporate feudalist -- nearly a Republican in that regard. It was her adherence to conservative, corporatist ideals that caused her health plan to fail as she thrashed around to find some way to preserve the insurance industry's cut of the health care money pie, and this cost health care reform its political support. But..
I believe that Republicans are so over-the-top in their bashing of Hillary chiefly because they prefer, GREATLY prefer, to face Barack Obama next November. They know that Hillary has some advantages that will make their row a lot tougher to hoe. But for the purposes of their slander machine, Barack Obama is the proverbial fish in a barrel. His race will ensure that Democrats will win no state between the Potomac and the Mississippi, or Texas either. He will lose us our chances in Ohio, in Indiana, and possibly even in Pennsylvania. His name's Arabic origins will be used to point out the fact that the Democrats are running someone whose heritage lies among the very people who brought down the World Trade Center and who our courageous soldiers are fighting against and dying by the thousands, our brave troops who are the subject of all those ribbons that people stick on their trunklids to mitigate their media-induced guilt for not doing more to "Support the Troops."
I believe, sadly, that there is no possible way that Barack Obama can defeat his Republican opponent next November (and I don't think that the odds are very good for Hillary, either). Obama is the candidate the Republicans would have designed from scratch if they could construct their ideal opponent.
Why oh why can't we nominate someone like Joe Biden? He'd mop the floor with their sorry butts. Sure, he has flaws, but he's REAL smart, REAL feisty and blunt about Republican predations and, except where credit cards are concerned, he's nice and liberal otherwise and has a long history as a real good guy on the right side of very nearly every issue. And in addition, he has the best plan for getting out of Iraq.
Whether Barack Obama is aware of it or not, he's a ringer for the Republicans.
