Lincoln Mitchell: Clinton is too conservative for a Democratic primary electorate

[portlander23]

For the Clintons It Is Always 1992

Even Ms. Clinton’s supporters have their explanations for why her campaign is stumbling. These tend to revolve around the media treating her unfairly or gender bias because she is a woman. The media has not been very nice to Ms. Clinton; and she has rarely been a media favorite like, for example, John McCain was in his 2000 campaign or Barack Obama was in 2008, but Ms. Clinton is not experiencing treatment by the media that is significantly nastier that that confronted by many presidential candidates. Ms. Clinton’s gender may be the source of some of the media and other animus she has confronted, but it is also the source of her most enduring base of support.

The most likely reason for Ms. Clinton’s struggles may be the most obvious one. She is too conservative for a Democratic primary electorate that has moved leftward over the last decades. This problem is exacerbated because in Clintonland, a universe of which Hllaryland is only a subset, the 1992 primary and election remains the seminal event-the Ur campaign. In that primary, Bill Clinton won by being a conservative Democrat at a time when Democrat officials had finally recognized that nominating good northern liberals was a losing strategy. Even as President, Mr. Clinton was essentially a centrist. During his Presidency, Mr. Clinton’s most impressive progressive credential was not any legislation he passed, but simply the extreme rancor he drew from the right, something that Ms. Clinton in one of her most memorable turns of phrase referred to as a “vast right wing conspiracy.”

If the Democratic primary electorate were the same today as it was in 1992, Ms. Clinton would easily drub Mr. Sanders despite any scandals or awkwardness as a candidate. Back then, white southerners, more socially conservative labor union members and others who propelled Bill Clinton to the nomination were more important blocks of Democratic primary voters. Today, white liberals and non-whites represent ever larger segments of the Democratic primary electorate. It would be understandable, somewhat, if Ms. Clinton were running for the first time and had been unable to adjust to the new reality of Democratic primaries, but she ran eight years ago and, although starting out as the frontrunner, was defeated from the left. Allowing that to happen again would be a mistake largely of her own making.

[upaloopa]

1. News flash! Bill Clinton isn't running for president!

[HooptieWagon]

2. Yep. His former republican wife is.

And she's doubling down on the same mistakes she made in '08...try reading the article.

[in_cog_ni_to]

3. OWS and the Millennials! You know, the kids who were pepper sprayed, beaten and

corralled like cattle during OWS protests? The people who were mocked through the windows of Wall St. offices by the assholes who destroyed our economy. Hillary supports what was done to them by supporting the BIG BANKS and the Wall St. Thieves. Most of them, if any, would ever support her. I suppose a few young women, here and there, will vote for her just because they want a female president, but most Millennials and OWS supporters will not. She's waaaay too conservative and supports most of what Millennials are against.

77million

The size of the Millennial generation is about equal to the size of the Boomer generation.

That's a bunch of lost voters.

One would think she would have been paying attention to the direction the country has gone <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< LEFT.