Comments on: gentlemen, er… candidates, start your engines!

By: gigi

gigi — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 22:47:04 +0000

on second thought, i should use his last name instead of his first if I’m not using them together. so, Obama it is.

By: gigi

gigi — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 22:45:43 +0000

i actually think barak is a strong contender for the democratic nomination. as you said, “you can’t grow charisma” and he happens to have A LOT of it.

By: Jen

Jen — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 23:44:41 +0000

I dunno – I like your scenario lots better, but I don’t have as much faith as you!

I would say that her “unlikeability” (is that even a word?) didn’t hurt her in *new york* – a place not exactly known for electing cuddly types (pataki, giuliani, cuomo and bloomberg are hardly touchy-feely!) sadly, I believe most of the rest of america has very different electoral criteria.

women *are* the numerical majority – but if you’re a majority without most of the power, it’s just semantics, isn’t it?

however i fully agree that it would be wonderful if hillary were a rallying point for mobilisation! i just think too many women in the u.s. are non-commital towards politics in general, and therefore are not terribly motivated. (gross generalisations, but you get my drift – i think too many women don’t find much to relate to in our overwhelmingly patriarchal system, and don’t have the passion to try to change that.)

I do think people may vote for her out of nostalgia for the Clinton administration and a vague hope that somehow being the “first husband” will allow him to exert influence. God I miss that administration…

By: Anglofille

Anglofille — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 23:00:50 +0000

Hmmm, I have to disagree. I think Obama is looking for the VP slot. And I think if the Clinton political machine wants him out of the presidential race, he’ll bow out.

As for being likable, I agree that Hillary isn’t very likable. People thought this would hurt her in her first senate run. It didn’t. Women came out to vote for her in droves. And her husband is still extremely likable, which will help. And if she gets Obama as VP, even better.

While I agree that women shouldn’t vote for her just because she’s a woman, I do think that her femaleness and the vicious attacks she will suffer from the right-wing (which may be sexist in nature) will mobilize women voters, perhaps prompting women to vote who otherwise wouldn’t. And I think it’s good if women use our political power as a block. Women aren’t a minority group — we’re the majority. We just don’t take advantage of the power that we have. There’s nothing wrong with using that power.