Reply #65: Hillary Clinton is well down on my list of presidential candidates for these reasons [View All]

[bklyncowgirl]

First of all, I don't hate the woman. She is not, however, one of the candidates I am considering supporting in the primaries.

Iraq:
Senator Clinton voted for the IWR. She not only voted for it, she was a strong supporter of the war, criticizing Bush only from the right, urging him to put in more troops. To the best of my knowledge she has never admitted that her vote was a mistake. Until last week she never really put forward a plan to solve the mess in Iraq, preferring to remain silent on the most important issue of our time. She is currently where most Democrats were a year ago. This to me shows both poor judgment and a lack of political courage.

Experience:
Hillary Clinton has been a good Senator--a workhorse really--taking on the sort of local issues that earned her predecessor the nickname of "Senator Pothole". Can anyone name some major initiative that Senator Clinton has championed? Has she introduced legislation for health care except for when she bungled her husband's attempt at universal health insurance? Has she led on environmental issues. Yes, she's outspoken on women's rights but where's the legislation? Where is she on free trade vs. fair trade? As first lady she was her husband's closest adviser but he's the one who made the decisions and used his great political skills to push them through.

Political Ability:
Hillary Clinton will bring a tough hard fighting team to the race--that's a point in her favor--the Clintons know how to fight dirty. She has won both of her Senate races albeit against weak competition, Rick Lazio and what's his face, give me a break. Watching her operate sans Bill has not always been pretty. Remember how she tried to block Howard Dean's election to the DNC? She tried to push first one, then another unwilling candidate into the race. It was klutzy to say the least--and what about Carville's attack on Dean after the Democrats won the 2004 election--talk about tin eared! I'm pretty sure that was all Hillary. Bill would have stuck a shiv in Dean's back and had him saying thank you for the favor.

The woman thing:
As a woman I want to vote for a woman for president, however I want to vote for a woman who has made it on her own. Nancy Pelosi, for example, if she does a great job as speaker and chooses to run for president has my vote. A former First Lady does not.

Hillary Clinton can still win my support in the primaries but she's going to have to work very hard to do it. Right now she's very far down on my list. If she wins the nomination I will vote for her in the general election but without a great deal of enthusiasm.