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| Yes | 25% | 67 votes | Total: 270 votes | |
| No | 75% | 203 votes |
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Add to FavoritesYES: Let's put all partisan politics aside. At least give it a try. OK? Suppose Bill Clinton had not ever been President. Would both Bill and Hillary have stayed in Little Rock obscurity as attorneys or otherwise disappeared from the public eye permanently?
Not likely for Bill, who had won, lost and won again the governorship of Arkansas. A highly-intelligent Rhodes Scholar, shrewd politician and tough campaigner, he had fought his way to become the surprise winner the Democratic nomination in 1992, then went on to beat the incumbent George Bush Sr. in a failed bid for a second term. It is a well-known fact that Bill won because Ross Perot, a billionaire Republican turned Independent, received 19 percent of votes. Most of them certainly would have gone to Bush Sr. Hillary is acutely aware that elections are won and lost on such turns of fate, as well as public opinion and sentimentality.
It follows that if Bush had been reelected for his second term, Bill Clinton would have probably emerged again as the Democratic nominee in 1996. If Bill had won then, it is certainly possible that Hillary, as the politically influential First Lady, could have gained the huge popularity and political influence she has today.
Of course, there's the big question, like the 900-pound gorilla in the corner that everyone chooses to ignore. It depends on your political point of view and some deeper emotions. Part of the original equation about Hillary's current enormous popularity ... and don't start screaming until I pose the question ... if Bill hadn't been involved in the sex scandal and impeachment hearings for lying under oath, would Hillary be so popular today for that alone?
The women's vote, which may be several points above 50 percent in 2008, will be critical in the Presidential election. If Hillary is the Democratic nominee, and the first woman in US history to run on a major party platform for President, how many women will vote for her solely because Hillary is a woman? Further and more deeply emotional, how many will vote for her in sympathy just because Hillary's husband broke his marriage vows?
Those considerations take nothing away from Hillary's personal qualifications. Bill certainly received enormous help from her astute political skills throughout his career, including and especially during their White House years. Hillary is a brilliant attorney, a tireless campaigner and has served with distinction as Senator from New York.
Considering her many attributes when comparing them with some Presidents in past US history ... make that very recent history ... she is certainly better qualified than they were to lead the Nation. Many people have been saying for years that it is time for the US to have a woman President. Because of the growing problems at home and abroad, the Nation certainly needs vital, new leadership, and it could very well be Hillary Clinton.
Although these issues are only a few among the many political, social, economic and international considerations that go into the election, the fact is that Hillary is highly qualified to do the job as President. However, being the first woman to try for the job, and her very well-known problems with Bill, will have major effects on the outcome in November 2008.
Learn more about this author, Ted Sherman.
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No
Hillary Rodham Clinton would be nowhere if she had not been the spouse of the forty-second president of the United States. That conclusion comes very easy when one simply reads her biography and notices some of the curious decisions she has made.
One in a series of those decisions was her 1975 wedding to a fellow law student she met at Yale four years earlier, William Jefferson Clinton. Marriage and politics go together, and the new bride could hardly ask for a better groom: A young brilliant, ambitious young lawyer with a bright future. One will go nowhere without a mate. It would not take long for both political careers to take off. In 1978, Bill Clinton was elected governor of Arkansas, which soon would launch both into the national spotlight.
If it hadn't been for a broken promise by George Bush Sr. to raise taxes, William Clinton may have not have been elected president in 1992. He was, and there was a democrat in the White House again. Hillary proudly served as first lady for eight years. Surely, husband Bill always had the wish to be president, but it is unclear when his wife had the first thoughts about following in his footsteps. Some say it may have been before her White House years, others say it may have been while serving as first lady. Whatever the case may be, as a candidate, Mrs. Clinton has labeled those eight years as political experience on her resume for seeking the highest office in the land in 2008.
From 1993 to 2001, Hillary Clinton did not make any important decisions that impacted the laws of the United States. She only acted as an advisor, probably one with considerable influence, since she was the president's wife. When she did act in that role, her best known proposal, as chairperson of Task Force on National Health Care Reform, was rejected by both the house and the senate. In addition, much of her time was spent dealing with the sexual escapades of her husband, both alleged and real.
America suspected that the first lady had the oval office in mind when she ran for senator from New York in the last year of her husband's term. Why not Arkansas, where the Clinton's lived before? She had never lived in the Empire State. Simply owning a house there was enough to qualify to run for office. New York is an extremely liberal state, which suits Clinton's political philosophy well, and it holds much power, more, than, say, a state like Arkansas? She was easily elected. A question comes to mind as to the stature of a first lady of the United States: Could Hillary be elected, or even run, if she were not in that position? I think not.
New York Senator Hillary Clinton could not have come this far without her husband. Today, her campaign is in trouble due to her lack of political experience. Seven years as a senator seems not to be enough. She will not win the 2008 Democratic Nomination, a prize many thought she would easily get six months ago. The major error she has made is that she is running on her accomplishments when she was in her white house, a place she could not have reached if she was not Bill Clinton's wife. Democratic voters are taking a look and are asking: "What accomplishments?"
Learn more about this author, Michael Harkins.
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