Up to now I've shared the prevailing concerns about a prospective Hillary nomination—I certainly don't match up with her exactly on the issues, I've doubted her sincerity, and most of all I've doubted her ability to win in a general election. But last night’s debate performance has given me cause to reconsider the depth of my opposition to the likelihood of her nomination, as well as my support for some of her opponents.
First of all, Obama—for whom I've been holding out the greatest hope in this election—has been steadily letting me down as his hazy promises have given way to clear positions on health care and the environment. But just as disappointing is the way he has come off in these two debates. He tries to be "familiar" in his choice of words, but all the while speaks in this lurchy, stentorian voice that's kind of reminiscent of Kerry in his less authoritative moments. (And that's NOT a good thing.) It’s a persona that I find off-putting, and frankly I can’t see it mobilizing the black vote, or much of anybody else. It is also my perception that he says less of substance than anybody else on the stage. (Luckily for him Richardson usually says stupid things of substance.) He's inoffensive but boring, and I found the color of his tie more interesting than what he is saying—which is another way of saying that he is looking more and more like an empty suit. If I try to imagine him on the stage with, say, Rudy Giuliani—the GOP's most dangerous candidate, IMO—well, this Obama is simply going to get blown away.
Edwards is better, but nonetheless not as sharp as I would like. I agree with his health plan, which is as good a plan as we are likely to get passed in the near future, and agree with him on almost all other issues as well. But I don't think his gentle manner is suited to the forthcoming election, and I suspect that Rudy or any other Repug would make a lot of hay off of his flip-flop on Iraq. As much as I sympathize with his concerns regarding poverty, I can't help but fear that he will be successfully labeled a "bleeding-heart liberal that's soft on defense" in a manner that has lost elections for us before. I know this is an unpopular view for some here, but it's based on history, rather than some optimistic speculation about how the electorate has suddenly changed in nature. Wesley Clark can say the same things that Edwards does, but it doesn't sound the same—Edwards lacks the inoculative resume Clark has. It worries me a lot.
But this diary isn’t primarily about the weaknesses of Obama and Edwards--it's about the surprising strengths of Hillary in this last debate. First of all the "cosmetic" changes—Hillary looked great last night, with perfect makeup and hair style, and her speaking voice has improved immensely over the past year. On a strictly superficial level, she has developed a synergistic "package" that comes off as warm and likable enough, yet professional and authoritative. Furthermore her responses to questions were consistently sharp, substantive, and reasoned. In my opinion she was head and shoulders above the rest in conveying a presidential manner that commanded the stage, far and away the largest presence up there. And for all the differences that I have with her on specific issues, in this performance she made forget all my suspicions regarding her convictions; she conveyed a strength and consistency that made me believe in her, if not her positions.
For the first time in this whole election season she looks like someone who could actually make Giuliani look small, or at the very least hold her own. When she dominates a field of eight candidates the way she did last night, it forces me to reconsider my own image of her. For so many years she has been Bill Clinton’s wife—but last night, as she emerged as the strongest candidate (for now) in the 2008 field, I completely forgot who she was married to. And although I continue to hold out hope that Gore will enter the campaign, I’m not sure that even he can beat her, especially given his less than impressive television appearances lately on Olberman and elsewhere.
All this has made me consider the distinct possibility that if a political junkie like me could rediscover Hillary in this fashion, much of the electorate could do so as well in the 2008 general election. As much as I differ with her on positions, I see her as a vast improvement over the current administration, or any other administration the Republican party has to offer. In her persona at least, she is becoming the best kind of woman president we could ever hope for—tough, personable, steady, and Democratic.