Originally posted by kro32
reply to post by samcrow
Good points. It all depends on what her plans are and how she can present it. She would take the base of course and if she presents a solid anti-war
platform I think alot of those left leaning people may make the switch. If she isn't preparing this as part of her platfor already i'd be very
suprised.
Obama is by no means safe though. People are very frustrated with him at the moment and you can debate all day on whether that is valid or not but it
still is the truth. If she can tap into that frustration, or any candidate for that matter, Obama could be in for a tough re-election.
Her interventionist stance on gay marriage and abortion, I think, would sway most left-leaning people away from her rather quickly, regardless of how
she comes down on overseas conflict. That coupled with her heavy association with the Tea Party, and I think you have too many negatives to be
overcome by one or two 'liberal' issues, and that's assuming she went 'liberal' on those things in the first place.
What fascinates me about her is that, by all accounts, she shouldn't even be a contender. She has virtually no record, and what record she has
(bolstered by comments to the press) is fairly fringe right and often self-contradictory. But, it's difficult to argue with success and, even though
it's really early in the race, running at a statistical tie with a guy like Romney says something.
Also, what I've yet to figure out is why the GOP doesn't get serious about shoring up the middle. It'll never happen with the social conservatives
as mouthpieces....they need to find a pre-Reagan, socially liberal, small government, true fiscal conservative that doesn't come off like a nut. I
think the public on both sides of the aisle is desperately looking for somebody like that (look at where Ron Paul's numbers are, for example...he's
getting a lot of traction among even fairly middle of the road, politically disinterested people) and if the GOP could produce one, they'd have it in
a bag. Why they continue down this road of extremist social policy is beyond me, especially in a country where those winds began to shift left two
decades ago or better.
As far as Obama, I often wondered if Hillary would come out of nowhere and challenge him for the nomination...she's almost too old by 2016, and if we
keep going the way we're going, it'll be a tough race for dems AND republicans by then. Her chance is now, but it's not looking like she's going
to do it. There are plenty of dems that are dissatisfied with Obama, both in the legislature and in the general public, so it's a viable scenario
for the right person....but it seems that, like the republicans, the dems are set on staying the course with a bad candidate.
This election is going to be very interesting....and potentially incredibly divisive.