US senator and former first Lady Hillary Clinton is quietly leading her Democratic rivals in the polls and in fundraising. The infrastructure and logistics for a White House run in 2008 is underway. Friends of Hillary Clinton have been whispering the unthinkable. Despite her status as the frontrunner for the 2008 Democratic nomination for president, some of her closest advisers say she might opt out of the White House race and seek to lead her party in the Senate as the new “Majority Leader.”
If you ask anyone about Hillary Clinton, everyone seems to have an opinion about her and her prospect for president in 2008. Some will say she should run, others will say she should stay in the senate; some even suggested she should become vice president before she takes on the highest office in the land.
Should Hillary run? Could she win? Are the two main questions that a lot of people around the country are debating and wondering about. With that in mind, The Bridge decided to bring those same questions to our little community here at TAMIU. The responses given were in sink with the national feelings about Hillary Clinton. She is no doubt a very polarizing figure, some people love her, and some hate her. The prospect of Hillary for president has put much of the Democratic Party in a bind. The first point is that Hillary would be unstoppable in a Democratic primary, but unelectable in a general election. No one doubts her ability or her intellect; however, there are a lot of questions about her ability to win and capture some of the red states that are necessary for any democrat to win the White House.
Should Hillary run? Could she win? These are the questions asked to some faculty members and some students. Here are some of the responses:
Is she running? “Yes, she should run, she has made a big effort in fund raising, I think she is planning to run,” Dr. William Riggs, chair of the department of Social Sciences said. Riggs also added, “She needs to mobilize outside the democratic base of traditional following, she needs to appeal to new democrats and to moderate republican.”
Dr. Michael Yoder, associate professor of Geography, had a different view about whether Hillary should run and if she could win.
“She should realize she is too polarizing, she has too much negative, she will have limited ability to connect with male voters in red states,” said Yoder. “If the democrats want to win they need to pick up a couple of red states.” Yoder is a also the faculty sponsor of Young Democrats (student organization).
When students were asked about Hillary Clinton there were many opinions. When asked, a group of students, all of the female students were very willing to discuss the prospects of having a female president. They told us they would support ANY female candidate, regardless if she’s Democrat, Republican, Green, or Libertarian. “Its about time America has a women in the White House,” they said.
“Hillary is a good person but not a viable candidate. America is still too backward to jump this hurdle of electing any women president,” another group of students replied.
Dr. Mehnaaz Momen, assistant professor of Public Administration, said “Hillary Clinton is the wrong candidate for the democratic party.” She also added, “Whether she can win or not depends on the Democratic Party’s capacity, strategy, and commitment to win the election.”
From all the people that were asked about a female president in the White House, the majority did not mention having an issue with having a women president; however Hillary Clinton as that first woman president was what got people thinking.
“I am really concerned about her ability to win in the general election,” Kimber J. Palmer, J.D. Instructor in the School of Business said.
Palmer added, “I have nothing against Hillary Clinton, but I really would like to see a Democrat in the White House in 2008.”
If the Democratic Party wants to win the White House, they need to be team players with one goal, get Republicans out of office. The Democratic Party has to run someone that can win, not someone that will be labeled a Liberal. Such a candidate could cause a loss in 2008.
Senator John Kerry, a moderate, was labelled a liberal. President Bush made the label and it stuck.
It does not matter if you think Hillary is moderate. The Republicans will stick the “L” label on her anyway, and people could buy into it again.
Like her or not, Mrs. Clinton has most political minded Americans talking and guessing about her plans in Washington. What are those plans? We will have to wait at least until after these midterm elections are over.