Prelude to the Presidency?
Hillary is now officially the Democratic Party front-runner for the presidential nomination in 2004, according to the latest Time/CNN poll. Sen. Clinton is backed by an impressive 30% of Democrats, beating out second-place Sen. Joe Lieberman (Conn.) and Sen. John Kerry (Mass.), who tied at 13% each. In addition to the Time/CNN poll, a recent Gallup Poll revealed that Hillary has support for the White House in 2004 from 40% of registered Democratic voters. Sen. Clinton insists that she has no plans to run in two years. She told a reporter that "I’m grateful that people are kind enough to be positive about what I’m trying to do," but that she has "no intentions" right now of challenging President Bush in 2004. Hillary explained, "What I’m going to do is to do my very best to represent the people of New York, who I’m so proud to represent." However, if she does choose to run for President in 2004, a Quinnipiac survey shows that President Bush would beat her in her "home" state of New York. The poll estimated that Bush would defeat Mrs. Clinton in the state, 48% to 45%, despite the presence of 2 million more Democrats than Republicans in New York, and despite poll numbers that show that Hillary actually has a higher job approval rating among New Yorkers, 57%, compared to 51% for the President. Finally, Hillary also was recently named as the nation’s "most admired" woman of 2002, edging first lady Laura Bush 7% to 6%.
Radio Ga-Ga.
The Democratic powers-that-be chose Sen. Clinton to give the party’s response to President Bush’s weekly radio address Saturday, December 28. It was Hillary’s first national radio address as senator, although as First Lady, she helped her husband deliver a radio address on the importance of mammograms. Political pundits believe that the Democrats, sensing an opportunity to blame President Bush and Republicans for the loss of unemployment benefits for nearly a million Americans that same day, December 28, chose Hillary to deliver the first body blow in what is sure to be a political season full of pandering and demagoguery because she resonates with the party’s liberal base. In her response to the President’s address, Hillary said House Republicans are to blame for their refusal to consider the Senate plan. "They ran out the clock and went home for the holidays without even allowing a simple vote," she claimed. She was careful to point out that the then-Democratic controlled Senate "passed a bipartisan bill. . . which would have continued to allow individuals to qualify for a one-time 13-week extension, providing more than two million Americans with the help they needed to pay rent, buy food and purchase clothes for their children." What she didn’t mention was that the House passed a five-week extension, which the Democrat leadership refused to let the Senate consider. Then, after saying in passing that she was pleased President Bush had earlier announced his support for an extension of unemployment insurance, she couldn’t resist getting in a dig by saying, "I only wish that he could have made that statement several weeks earlier, in time for the holidays. That delay meant that, this month, millions of Americans are without the money they need to get by-money that would’ve gone right back into our economy when spending is at its highest rate all year." Now that Hillary has completed this high-profile appearance, is it possible that she may be chosen to respond to the President’s State of the Union in January?
Back in Black.
Never afraid to play the race card, Hillary is now calling for hearings into what she says were Republican attempts to suppress the black vote in recent elections in states such as Louisiana, Arkansas and South Carolina. She recently sent a letter to incoming Senate Judiciary Chairman Sen. Orrin Hatch (Utah) demanding a congressional investigation into what she called "recent incidents of voter suppression and intimidation." She cited allegations that the GOP had deliberately tried to confuse black voters about the date of the runoff between Louisiana’s incumbent Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu and Republican challenger Suzie Terrell. The flyer, which Sen. Clinton said had been distributed exclusively in black neighborhoods, read, "Bad Weather? No Problem. If the weather is uncomfortable on Election Day (Dec. 7), remember you can wait and cast your ballot on Tuesday December 10th," when, in fact, there was no rain date on December 10. Hillary also charged President Bush with using racist tactics during his South Carolina primary fight against Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), and echoed her husband’s outrageous charge that what outgoing Majority Leader Trent Lott (Miss.) "did was state publicly what many of them [the GOP] have stated privately over many years." Hillary even said that the resignation of Sen. Lott would not "cleanse the Republican Party of their constant exploitation of race." Sen. Hatch responded to Hillary’s statements by saying that "I happen to like Hillary Clinton. . . but that was as race-baiting as anything I know." The question is, will Hillary repudiate her Senate parliamentary mentor Robert Byrd, who was once a KKK member and who as recently as last year used the "N-word" on national television?
