The Hillary Trap

Barring some unforeseen miracle Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York will be the next presidential nominee of the Democratic Party. She has been pegged as the party's inevitable nominee since her election to the Senate in 2000, and she is currently running circles around every other Democratic hopeful in every poll I've seen. Her grassroots support within the party is tremendous, and her ability to garner support, publicity, and money will likely suffocate any poor chap who is unfortunate enough to run against her for the nomination.

But equal to or greater than that support for her within the Democratic Party is the opposition to her from within the Republican Party. Republicans can't stand her, and ever since "Hillarycare" in the early nineties she and her husband have been public enemy number one within the GOP. Just as Democratic money flows to her, so too does Republican money in opposition to her. The thought of another Clinton presidency terrifies the right, and one need only look at all the conservative organizations out there that exist for the sole purpose of opposing Sen. Clinton, STOP Hillary for example.

If you thought this most recent election was polarized, than just fasten down the hatches and lock the doors come '08, for if she does receive the nomination feverish armies in support and opposition to her will immediately mobilize. Sen. Clinton is one of those rare politicians where there really is no middle ground, you either love her or you hate her. A Clinton candidacy will bring out probably more money, more 520 and independent group action, and at least as much of a turnout, probably more than the last election.

A Clinton campaign on the face of it doesn't worry me a whole lot, for I believe she will be hardpressed to convince enough moderate to conservative voters to cast their ballot for her on election day. The fact that so much attention is being paid to her so early in the process doesn't help either, for the scrutiny on her attempts to move to the middle, Rasmussen Reports is currently running a "Hillary Meter" for example, will make it tough on her to casually temper her views or perceptions without swarms of pundits musing over how she is trying to move to the middle for political gain.

My main concern however, is that we Republicans will come off as anti-Hillary, instead of for our candidate and the agenda in which we want to move the country forward with. President Nixon once said that "those who hate you don't win unless you hate them, and then you destroy yourself." By becoming so motivated by our strong distaste for Sen. Clinton we run the risk of becoming unhinged and unattractive to those whose votes we will try to be winning. We need to learn from our Democratic counterparts that coming out as only against something diminishes our appeal and turns off more voters than it turns on. In the last election Democrats had nothing to offer the country except opposition to President Bush, and that opposition often came off as blind hatred. The relentless attacks from Michael Moore, the MSM, and many within the party's own leadership left a bad taste in many American's mouths, and as a result the president won the first majority since his father back in '88.

We Republicans run the same risk if we become to absorbed in our dislike of Sen. Clinton. I by no means plan to support her should she be a candidate, but the person I will support will be someone who I believe is the best person to lead this country for the next four years. I will support that person, not oppose Sen. Clinton. My hope is that my Republican friends will take the same approach.

If election history has taught us anything, it is that to be successful you have to stand for what you support, not against what you oppose.

UPDATE (5/7/05 6:01 P.M.): Joe Klein of TIME Magazine addresses a possible Clinton candidacy. Though he makes some good points about why Sen. Clinton probably won't be successful, his description of the hate-filled right was a little amusing. How anyone on the left can decry the "free-range haters" on the right with a straight face is absurd, considering their own outright hatred and vitriol they have directed at President Bush.

UPDATE (7/3/05 1:19 P.M.): This post was featured in a blog roundup at Slate.