Obama indicated that he did not believe a sufficient number of Republican Senators would break with the White House to prevent the nuclear option being either used or a sufficiently viable threat to allow the President to put on the [Supreme] court whomever he wanted. He went further to say that while various parliamentary maneuvers could slow down the appointment of ultra conservatives onto the bench, ultimately the way for Democrats to influence the courts is to win elections.
That lead naturally to a discussion about '08, and Obama was asked who he thought the likely candidate of the Democrats would be. He indicated that one would have to make Hillary Clinton the odds on favorite, but he went further in saying that he thought what the Democratic Party needed to do was to "stop looking for a Mesiah" and to focus our energies on creating thoughtful positions and compelling messages on the critical issues of our time which he defined as education, globalization, and national security.
If Clinton does run (and especially if she is nominated) it will be fun to watch the wingnuts go into complete conniptions over it during the general election campaign. It might be just enough to finally send a few over the edge (those that aren't already there, that is).
2 comments:
Eric Zorn made a pretty interesting case on why the time might be in Obama's best interest to run in 2008. Among his points were that he won't have to face an incumbant or a vice president, he doesn't have a long Senatorial voting record to provide ammo to the opposition (see Kerry, John), and his popularity as the hottest young politician is likely to wane by 2012 no matter how well he perform.
Your comments on Hillary are spot on. She lacks Bill's charisma while retaining some of less desirable traits.
ohhh, i once was like you two -- not that impressed with hillary. then i started in on what obama's talking about: looking at the issues. hillary's got it. she's already started to heal the giant wound in america that's abortion, by talking about it where the majority of americans can see eye to eye. she wants smart national security, not showy. she wants health care and good jobs, like most americans. what hillary may lack in "charisma," she's got in spare brains. she'd be at least as good a president as bill.
republicans have their work cut out for them if they want to prove they're more than just the rich and religious extremists' yes-men by 2008. oh, and neocon dupes.
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