In today’s OpinionJournal.com, Peggy Noonan writes about what I fear: Hilary Clinton will be very difficult to beat in 2008. Hilary has become a sophisticated campaigner and a lot of people, especially women, simply think that is time for a woman President.
As always, Noonan writes beautifully, but she does seem to get sappier and sappier as time goes by.
Peggy has indeed become a little bit of a flake. But her political analysis still tends to be good. She is absolutely right that Hillary is a HUGE threat in 2008. I hope that in future columns, Peggy will savage this dangerous woman as she deserves to be.
Senator Clinton has also found a large vulnerability in the Republican leadership - the illegal immigration issue. By showing herself as hard on illegals, she can get a lot of support from moderates and even some conservatives.
"By showing herself as hard on illegals, she can get a lot of support from moderates and even some conservatives." Note those first three words, by showing herself, especially the showing part. It seems that people more and more these days do not endorse their own personal opinions, but rather what might be popular enough to get the vote. The exception to this rule, of course, is "zealous" religious fundamentalists. These people’s passions are too deeply set for them to simply ’give up’ on their convictions.
I wonder how Mrs. Clinton actually feels about illegal immigration. Or any other issue for that matter. Is it possible that too-high a percentage of politicians nowadays simply embraces an opinion because they want to get the vote? That they actually do not believe whole-heartedly what they are endorsing?
The above-stated is another reason why I love President Bush so much. His convictions are his own. Not those of his party, or moderates, or anyone whose vote he might need. This is because he is a man of deep-seated religious passions. One may disagree with his positions on issues, but one can hardly question his convictions.
But alas, that’s politics these days. Say what you will to get elected. However, then politicians might actually get into a bind once they do get elected in this manner. For once they are elected, they are seemingly obligated to attempt to put into action their words which won them the election. So, they might think that now that they have been elected, that they have a free ticket to act as they actually believe. However, then the people might find out that the ticket they ran on might be different than their actual opinions on matters.
I hope I was able to say all this in a way which makes sense. I hope my thoughts didn’t get jumbled together in such a way that the reader would get confused.
~CS