Would Hillary Clinton as prez have avoided Obama defeats in mid-term elections? Yes
By: Niall O'Dowd | Published Monday, November 1, 2010, 10:40 PM | Updated Friday, September 9, 2011, 9:53 PM
Would it have been different if
Hillary was president during these mid-term elections?
I believe so, but we will never know.
The critical difference is that the Tea Party types could never have been able to paint her as an alien outsider whose birthplace was even in doubt.
The fact is that
Obama came to office as one of the most unknown presidents of all time.
His political carer was remarkably short and the passionate tide that brought him to the
White House meant there was little examination of his pre-national politics career.
Tea Party folk cleverly began filling in the gaps when he assumed power.
The notion that he was not born in
Hawaii-- which many Americans barely believe is in the union anyway -- began the argument very cleverly that he was not a true American.
Then the onslaught on his 'socialist' policies began.
Rush Limbaugh began referring to him as' Imam Obama' further darkening his image as a socialist Muslim for God's sake.
Such nonsense would never have worked with Hillary.
Whatever else she and her husband are, every single aspect of their past lives have been dragged up and examined in great detail.
There would simply not have been any 'secrets' in her past to drag up.
Sure there would have been attacks. there is a lot of revisionism going on now that
Republicans and Hillary actually liked each other.
No they didn't and the aggression on both sides would have been there.
But I don't think the Tea Parties would have been able to demonize Hillary in the same way. She is too well known.
And this mid term election might have turned out very differently.
26 Comments
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.Madeleine | Nov 27, 2010, 04:16 AM EST
Hillary is a marxist and along with Obama she turned us in to the UN , of all people, for crimes against humanity. We are being bashed on a weekly basis by countires like Communist china, Sudan, Korea Libya etc. evidently they don't think very highly of us. we gave the UN 6 billion last year and this is what we get. I'm surprised they are not hauling the whole lot of us off to the Hague or worse. Has anyone noticed how all of our lives are freefalling since globalization? I'm not crazy about being hooked up with communists and despots and dictators. our banks are being closed on a daily basis too, this way the power elite can have their one world bank. I'm not feeling too secure.
John G. Hogan | Nov 08, 2010, 01:37 PM EST
There might be a really good reason she does not want to run in '12 and or '16. Remember, other skeletons could appear from the past, present, and future.
Celtica43 | Nov 03, 2010, 08:39 PM EDT
Totally agree: very good points!
maloney | Nov 03, 2010, 08:22 PM EDT
Look how bad Palin was treated, Hillary deserves 100 fold. She deserves to be run out of town with her slick willie husband, if she can pry him off who ever he's after this time.
ArdeeOne | Nov 03, 2010, 07:29 PM EDT
Hillary put in the time (and the humiliation), had the education and brains, and deserved to be the Democratic nominee. Sadly, the Teddy Kennedy Machine had issues with Bill Clinton and so set their sites on Obama who, as Teddy knew and loved, had no history (or experience) and nothing anyone could condemn. Obama may have been a fine leader in another 8 years, but he clearly was given preferential treatment. Hillary was screwed out of a job for which she would have been superb. And so goes the story of many women throughout the ages.
Kerryman1 | Nov 03, 2010, 02:05 PM EDT
The result is perfect for Hillary. She`s 8,000 milea away, having a well-deserved gloat, and Bubba didn`t campaign for the Democratic Party, but only for those that backed her in `08. Won`t be too surprised when she resigns as Sec of S in the next twelve months, that`ll give her time to mobilise. Hey, Iowa, lock up your daughters.
haikued2 | Nov 03, 2010, 12:08 PM EDT
Too many pints, Niall. Hillary is/was the kind of insider the majority of Americans HATE. While she is very smart, her ideology and personality just don't make her a person most folks want to follow.
Monsoonman | Nov 03, 2010, 12:00 PM EDT
So you think that any criticism of Hillary is/was/would be unfounded & sexist? Just because she is a woman? The list of lies/felonies/suicides/untimely deaths/corruption and manipulation goes way back. In a sane society, instead of her being appointed our Secretary of State, she should be in prison. This has nothing to do with her being a woman, it has everything to do with her being an immoral and corrupt human being....That crosses all lines.
actor47 | Nov 03, 2010, 09:30 AM EDT
Do you seriously think that had Hilary become the first woman president that there would not have been a campaign of demonization mounted by the far right? It's not like it was gloves off when she was First Lady. Why would it be any different were she president?
newcanaan | Nov 03, 2010, 07:17 AM EDT
Niall tis a great morning for America. ps thank you for backing Tom Foley
seamusmoore | Nov 02, 2010, 11:12 PM EDT
Today results happened because the Republican party nominated candidates who learned the lesson of 2006: when Republicans spend money like Democrats, what reason is there to vote for Republicans? The 2003-6 Congress spent money like mad and Bush didn't veto one spending bill. The spending is what gave birth to the tea partiers. STRONGBOW is right when he states Hillary would have purusued the same policies and wound up in the same position. Let's not forget the '94 election and what happened when they tried to jam their healthcare plan down the throats of America; to quote Yogi Berra: "it's deja vu all over again". The "foreign birth" and "Muslim" attacks are sideshow acts. As for the socialism charge, it depends if you consider Europe socialist (I do). Ronald Reagan said in the 1980 campaign that "most Europe nations are a govt with a country, America is a country with a government". Niall, are you joking with your comment on Hawaii: "which many Americans barely believe is in the union anyway" or are you trying to be a windup artist. Perhaps if your knowledge of America extended back before 1979, you would know that a famous actor born and raise in Queens to Irish- American parents starred in the longest running crime show (1968-1980)till Law & Order. That show was Hawaii 5-0 and the actor was Jack Lord, the stage name of John Joseph Patrick Ryan.
antoman | Nov 02, 2010, 08:26 PM EDT
Maloney..No,,LOL..ok I'll just stop now :)
Strongbow | Nov 02, 2010, 07:49 PM EDT
The writer's continuing infatuation with Clinton is a little unseemly for a professional pundit. Clinton would be in the exact same position as Obama is now. Obama's ethnicity and questions about his origins are, at most, side issues. Hillary would have pursued the same policies as Obama and pursued them in an even more partisan and fractious manner.
maloney | Nov 02, 2010, 07:40 PM EDT
antoman...Hillary being easy on the eyes? You been behind bars for the last 20 years? Or what.
maloney | Nov 02, 2010, 07:37 PM EDT
obama could have avoided speculation about his background had he not spent millions in keeping his history a secret. Who hides your past unless there is something to hide. The government taking ownership of banks, the auto industry & AIG didn't help his cause in being called a socialist. The trillion dollar stimulus that did nothing other than fatten the bank accounts of his cronies was not impressive in his standing with the electorate. Him calling all who do not agree with him, enemies who need punished, was a big selling point in his popularity. No, I don't see his color as a factor in his approval rating. The beer summit was another loser. His socialist/commie Czars tends to tell you something about his beliefs. I could go on but I hear the election results calling.
McNamara31 | Nov 02, 2010, 05:41 PM EDT
In the past two years the Obama administration has “done nothing” but fight for the everyday man. Passing Wall St. reform, the equal pay amendment, children’s healthcare, credit card regulations, eliminating the selfish power of insurance companies to refuse to insure people with pre existing conditions, and making it illegal to drop those who had the misfortune to become sick while insured and further,forcing them to allow your children to stay on your policy till age 26. But holy hell, for this he was cursed by those with “social security card in hand” as a socialist, or a Muslim, or many other fears or smears that the GOP would disseminate rather than fight with facts. It was a more achievable political objective to demean Obama and make him seem foreign or un- American, than to factually tear into his policies. So, the same people who mismanaged America to the brink of financial collapse are coming back. Voted in by all those people with their “social security” and “Medicare" cards proudly in hand, voting against the Dem’s and their "so called" socialist agenda, driving away from the polls with their new bumper stickers that says, “ 2010, I’ve got mine screw you.”
mhichil | Nov 02, 2010, 05:41 PM EDT
Tea Party are not bad people, they are just misinformed and easily led from years of disinformation, eight years of terror and mainstreaming education. Its about time we let the kids run the show, how else are they going to learn to run the worlds resources? The war babies need to step aside now!.. and let the chips fly
DonnyHL | Nov 02, 2010, 02:20 PM EDT
Stop drinking all that haterade playas!
DonnyHL | Nov 02, 2010, 02:19 PM EDT
You just don't like him 'cause he black.
Kerryman1 | Nov 02, 2010, 02:01 PM EDT
Niall, I totally agree with you. How a great country like America got suckered into putting the professor in the White House defies all logic; anyone that opened their gob against him was an enemy of freedom, and had issues. Well, I live in Ireland now, and I don`t want this president visiting here so as he can cosy up the Irish-American electorate with his lofty words and olive oil charm. Send him back to Chicago or Harvard, where he can`t do too much damage.
Monsoonman | Nov 02, 2010, 11:11 AM EDT
The American people are rejecting obama and this democrat congress because obama ran on being a sort of moderate healing, uniter. He and the pelosi- reed congress have been anything but that. The great majority of the American people reject what has gone on the past 2 years. It has NOTHING to do with obamas skin color, or perceived place of birth, it has to do with his politics. Hillary wouldn't have been as radically left and would have chosen more carefully the people she appointed to positions of power....
MalcomAC | Nov 02, 2010, 10:59 AM EDT
Clinton would not have alienated the Democratic Party base by ceding the presidency to Olympia Snowe and Max Baucus.
DrTrelawney | Nov 02, 2010, 10:58 AM EDT
The attacks on Hillary would have been even more fierce. The driving force behind the pathetic Tea Party "movement" is a supposed objection to the Washington establishment. Clinton is much more deeply embedded in that establishment than Obama has ever been.
antoman | Nov 02, 2010, 10:12 AM EDT
A minor political figure in Chicago became the President of the United States.That seems very American to me..the American dream and all that.His election was inevitable as surely as at some stage in time there will be the first female president of America.And who came up with the name Tea Party? The police,the NSA,the CIA?It cracks me up every time,,maybe thats the intention,so that the tea party and its members are never taken seriously,,just one of them short lived fads,,the tea party LOL!.Between Hillary Clinton and Palin I'd certainly vote for Clinton.She would use radar or some sort of technology to spot russian bombers encrouching on American airspace,whereas Palin as she said herself would stand on her porch and spy them on the horizon.And for an old broad Hillary is easy on the eye too.Lot of fixing up still to be done since Bush left office..goodluck with that.
antoman | Nov 02, 2010, 08:38 AM EDT
DennisQ said everything I was going to say.
DennisQ | Nov 02, 2010, 05:50 AM EDT
The attacks on Hillary would have been just as unfair as the attacks on Obama, just different. Obama's a Black guy with a funny name, so it was easy for right wing extremists to develop a narrative that there's something unAmerican about him. They would have had to work harder to develop a similar narrative against Hillary, but they would have used a different sent of facts.
There never was anything to the Whitewater "scandal" - Republicans invented it. They might have updated it, or used something equally fictional. We were hearing reports during the presidential campaign that Hillary is a Lesbian. If Hillary had been elected president, we would certainly have heard a continuation of those stories.
Hillary would have inherited the same set of national problems on January 20th of last year as Obama did, and the same people would have attempted to destroy her. We can't know how she would have handled these more substantive aspects of the job. Would she have tackled health care reform? Brought troops home from Iraq? Spent big money on an economic stimulus program? Your guess is as good as mine.