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Clinton

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The premise here is just too subjective for a logical answer. Obviously, if either of these two candidates becomes President, it will be a first in U.S. history. However, who could predict at this moment which person would become more historically important? The winner, if it is to be one of these two candidates, would have to serve in office for awhile before any intelligent judgment could be made. Because I can't offer a "neither of the above" vote here, I have to believe Mrs. Clinton's ascendency to the Presidency would be more meaningful.

First of all, is there any significance to the fact of each candidate's basic representation among the American citizenry. Barack Obama, who is of combined White and African-American ancestry, is a member of the Black minority group that constitutes no more than 20 percent of the population. Mrs. Clinton, as a woman, represents more than 50 percent of the population. At this point, she wins the numbers game.

Both candidates are conducting vigorous, at times bitter, campaigns. The longer the contest goes on, American voters will hear and see more and more of the strengths and weaknesses of the candidates. And it seems the weaknesses are being exploited in the usual mud-slinging manner, as each maneuvers to win primaries and the most delegates to the Democratic National Convention.

As the campaign heads for a showdown at the Convention, Barack Obama's past and basic weaknesseseem to be catching up to him. Despite all the coaching to make him into a John F. Kennedy clone, his speeches and gestures are getting more and more mechanical. He also stumbled badly when he was confronted with revelations about Rev. Wright.

Although Obama was a loyal member of Wright's church for 20 years, at first he denied that he heard any of Wright's hateful anti-White speeches. Then, when confronted with the truth, Obama made some lame excuses that the most virulent of Wright's words were merely taken out of context. Whether because of his youth, his inexperience or some hidden racial agenda, I doubt if Barack Obama would make a better President than Hillary Clinton. I have strong doubts that he has the experience and temperament to become President at all.

Mrs. Clinton, a crafty and experienced politician, carries a heavy burden, her husband, Bill. She can't escape the rumors that the only reason she has attained such a high place in politics is because of him, and that she is out to prove she is better suited to be President than he was. Although Mrs. Clinton never says it directly, as the wife who had a cheating husband who was impeached, her run to return to the White House may be based on the strange combination of revenge and sentimental appeal to the woman voter.

This certainly doesn't disqualify her from becoming Commander in Chief, but the stigma is always there, along with historic male voter bias against any woman candidate. However, because of her considerable experience in national politics, including her performance as First Lady, I reluctantly vote that Mrs. Clinton would probably make a better President than Barack Obama.

Oh, by the way, where do I go to vote for neither of the above? Unless some highly-qualified Democrat or Republican emerges from the current campaign mess, I'll vote for John McCain.

Learn more about this author, Ted Sherman.
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