All jokes aside, Hillary Clinton was the candidate who entered the 2008 election with the highest name recognition and heaviest personal baggage. Liberals hail her as an enlightened, patriotic leader who will bring back the prosperity and success of the Clinton years. Conservatives vilify her as a scheming, radical super-feminist who will revisit some of the Clinton Administration's less savory aspects. Everybody has an opinion on Senator Clinton, and her immense fame was the primary reason for the conventional wisdom that the Democratic primaries would be boring-a coronation rather than a street fight. The only interesting aspects of 2008 would be Clinton's choice for vice president (VP), and whom the Republicans would select as their champion in what promised to be an Armageddon-like battle between Left and Right.
Then Barack Obama happened. Senators Obama (D-IL) and Edwards (D-NC) have turned the Democratic primaries into a furious race for the finish nine months before the primaries. Clinton has come under attack for her original support of the Iraq War, her coziness with some Republicans and her "Establishment" status. While she still leads, and still is the odds-on favorite to secure the Democratic nomination, Hillary Clinton will have to fight hard for every vote. She is no longer the inevitable candidate, and will have to scrabble to defend her stands on the issues like every other candidate. That being said, let's breakdown the election chances for ...
Hillary Clinton
Economy
This is arguably Senator Clinton's strongest area. More than any other candidate, she carries on the mantle of the 1990s economic policies that Americans associate with peace and prosperity. Like her husband, Clinton supports free trade, cuts in taxes like the marriage penalty and Alternative Minimum Tax, and the fiscally conservative pay-as-you-go spending that helped the United States attain significant budget surpluses and attract vast investment during the late 1990s. Furthermore, the great fiasco of Clinton's days as First Lady-her failed attempt to universalize health care-now is ideologically in line with a strong proportion of Americans, who have concluded that the current system does not give enough guarantees to the poor and middle class.
Foreign
When Hillary Clinton first set her sights on the presidency (approximately four seconds after George W. Bush took the oath of office), she decided that she needed to toughen her reputation on foreign policy and national security matters. Because, you know, obviously a woman could not handle the pressures of a tense global security situation. So Hillary overcompensated. She was a major war hawk on Iraq. She supported the war longer than almost any Democrat not named Joe Lieberman. In doing so, ironically enough, she has incurred the ire of the powerful, vengefully anti-war nutroots. Hillary's dilemma is the following. Should she cozy up to the radical Left by joining the cacophony of mea culpas on the decision to go to war? Or should she seek the votes of moderates and forward-thinking progressives by touting her experience on the Armed Services committee, her visits to Iraq and her mainstream, prudent positions on extrication from Iraq, dealing with Iran, and homeland security. That decision might determine her presidential fate.
Social
For those of you sinners who have never listened to James Dobson, Rush Limbaugh or Michael Savage, this is what will happen if Hillary Clinton gets elected president. Gays will be getting married while serving openly in the military and pedophiles will be getting civil unions. Depraved mass murderers will be performing mandatory abortions on Christian teenagers who will have learned "the missionary position" in sex education classes that they will have taken in place of school prayer. Oh yeah, and the entire executive board of NARAL will be appointed to the Supreme Court. Then the Rapture will happen, and Jesus will strike down the Democratic Antichrist. So there's a thumbnail sketch. In actuality, Clinton is quite mainstream within the Democratic Party. She wants gay marriage to remain a state issue, is strongly pro-choice, and generally opposed gun rights, teaching intelligent design and other conservative pet issues. Indeed, when she deviates from the standard Democratic positions it is to the right, where she joins Joe Lieberman in the anti-video game violence brigade.
Charisma/Intangibles/Verdict
Hillary Clinton knows that she will never be able to energize a crowd like John Edwards or Barack Obama. She also knows that she was never a war hero or an indomitable mayor in an hour of crisis, like John McCain and Giuliani. Ultimately, she attempts to project an aura of experience and competence, framing herself as the moderate pragmatist who played an instrumental role in one of the most successful administrations in the past half-century. To an extent, it has worked. When I consider the top six candidates (of both parties), the only one whose presidency would give me any level of comfort is undoubtedly Clinton, who seems at least to be a sure thing while the others are mostly wildcards. On the other hand, this may not be a year for quiet ability. It seems that in 2008, Americans may want a larger, more epochal and inspirational figure. In that case, the inevitable Hillary Clinton may become a footnote in the year that the United States elected the black John Kennedy to the highest office in the land.