Monday, January 22, 2007

Girl Goalies

Remember in gym class when you had to play in a co-ed soccer team and to keep it fair each team had a girl goalie? Well, sorry, but that's what I was thinking about when Hillary Clinton announced -- online -- her candidacy for president. Who will be the Republicans' choice if Hillary takes the primaries? Elizabeth Dole? Frankly, I always thought the Republicans would be the first to put up a woman candidate. If Hillary takes the nomination, it might be the best firepower they have. Except of course for the I Hate Hillary constituency, which if you believe Fox news, is rather large.

Not that being a woman president is anything new anywhere outside of the U.S. Chile, Germany, Liberia, for crissake. It's only here that we're only slightly behind the times in contemplating our first woman president. Of course, on TV we've got a black president (24) and a woman president (Commander in Chief). It's just real life where we seem to have trouble going beyond anyone with the last name Bush.

As Walter Shapiro writes for Salon today on Clinton’s announcement:

The challenge for both Clinton and Obama is to move beyond the blandness of their announcement videos to create a compelling set of issues to propel their candidacies. Edwards, who may ultimately benefit from Hillary and Barack fatigue, has predicated his campaign on a revitalized concern for poverty and the economically challenged. Colorado-based political consultant Rick Ridder, who was Howard Dean's first campaign manager, highlighted the need for a candidate to combine a formal campaign structure with a grass-roots movement. As he put it, "The question for Obama is at what point does the Barack movement become a candidacy? And the challenge for Hillary is just the opposite, since she is a candidacy looking for a movement."

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