MyDD :: Onboard with Obama, but Hillary was impressive!

Onboard with Obama, but Hillary was impressive!

by BrionLutz, Mon Jan 29, 2007 at 03:48:48 PM EST

Watching the video of Clinton's Iowa town meeting. You have to be impressed that she has addressed the issues of her being scripted and speaking in incomprehensible senatorese.

She was really good. Very engaging. Good answers. She came across as a real person and she hasn't always succeeded at that.

It's going to be fascinating to watch the first debate between Clinton, Edwards and Obama.

I'm still thinking Obama will start separating from the pack during the debates but Clinton's demonstrating her ability to speak on her feet with no script makes me rethink her chances.

Tags: Hillary Clinton 2008 (all tags)

Permalink :: 15 Comments :: Post a Comment

Re: Onboard with Obama, but Hillary was impressive (none / 0)

Yes- Hillary is like my 5th choice-- but we should not underestimate her.

Would you hire George W Bush to be YOUR latex salesman?

by jgkojak on Mon Jan 29, 2007 at 04:46:43 PM EST

Re: Onboard with Obama, but Hillary was impressive (none / 0)

I'd say she's my second choice. Mostly because Obama is another Bill Clinton when he speaks, better than Bill even but also because I didn't think Hillary was electable, that her numbers would never get to 50% or ahead of McCain.

But her poll numbers are now the best and her performance in Iowa was excellent. If she comes across like that in her other appearances, she may be hard to beat.

I think there are a lot of folks like myself who like Hillary but dreaded her running because of the poll numbers. A lot of them will rally round her if she is demonstrating she can win and that is likely to boost her primary votes.

by BrionLutz on Mon Jan 29, 2007 at 05:54:38 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Hillary has always thought on her feet (none / 0)

I have seen her hundreds of times. Never a prepared text, never a note, rehearsed no. What most people don't see is her warmth and she is showing that in Iowa.

by debcoop on Tue Jan 30, 2007 at 02:44:47 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Hillary has always thought on her feet (none / 0)

She should stick with that format as she comes across great in it.

by BrionLutz on Tue Jan 30, 2007 at 10:43:55 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Hillary is impressive, for how long? (none / 0)

Are we applying Bushian standards - oh there she is, speaking like a human being. Are we lowering standards for our leaders? She has improved her speakign style and she is actually charming in some appearances. But she is in carefully managed settings now. So that is one level of improvement. The day she can take tough questions from non friendly people and answer fluently like Wes Clark combats O Reilly or Hannity on FOX NEWS is the day I will be confident she can take the next step.

By the way, I saw her webcast #1. She looked lame in that. But she does look much better in the clips of her Iowa appearance I have seen on tv.

If she runs, the Dems can't bash the republicans over Iraq in the general election. She will be responsible for taking the Democratic Party's biggest weapon this election cycle being taken off the table.

P.S.: I cannot believe the press which goes easy on her in terms of Iraq is actually behaving ridiculous in analyzing that "evil men" joke. That kind of stuff does not bother me. Go after her on the real issues, not some harmless joke. All these idiotic press analysis will do is get her more sympathy because of these offbase attacks on her ala the 90s.

by Pravin on Mon Jan 29, 2007 at 07:13:49 PM EST

Re: Hillary is impressive, for how long? (none / 0)

"oh there she is, speaking like a human being. Are we lowering standards for our leaders? She has improved her speaking style and she is actually charming in some appearances. But she is in carefully managed settings now."

I am baffled. You think that English is a foreign language to her, like Bush? She is a brilliant woman. She speaks in articulate, lengthy, insightful sentences with perfect style and grammar.

The only thing her speaking ever lacked, and that was before she ran for office, was that it didn't reveal her warmth and her passion.

And let me tell you she has always been charming. Her staff adores her. She is demanding but thougthful...she doesn't ask more of them than she does herself.

She may not be a classic joke teller in terms of setting up a punchline, but she can be very witty.

Don't accept the right wing's caricature of her.

You want to disagree with her policy, her Iraq stance, where she is on the political spectrum....that's legitimate, not this caricature of some politcal automaton.

by debcoop on Tue Jan 30, 2007 at 02:55:53 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Onboard with Obama, but Hillary was impressive (none / 0)

If well prepared, Hillary will be able to speak in public adequately but, as the campaign goes on her terrible speaking style will hurt
Obama will kill in the debates

by vwcat on Mon Jan 29, 2007 at 08:05:56 PM EST

Re: Onboard with Obama, but Hillary was impressive (none / 0)

"If well prepared, Hillary will be able to speak in public adequately but, as the campaign goes on her terrible speaking style will hurt."

Not if the Iowa town meeting was any example. She gave clear, direct answers, she was very engaging.

"Obama will kill in the debates."

I'm thinking the same thing but after seeing the tape of Hillary's Iowa kick off, she will be formidable.

by BrionLutz on Mon Jan 29, 2007 at 09:13:00 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Cynical Moment (none / 0)

It is nice to see HRC coming up to speed. There has been a lot of negative stuff posted about here lately, I should know I have been posting a bit of it myself. She seems to have addressed quite a few of the issues which have been hurled at her in recent weeks.

On the other hand I have always assumed that Senator Obama, who hasn't formally declared his candidacy, has some work to do and knows it. He has always been up against HRC, and Edwards, from the start. I hope to see some pretty cool stuff from him over the next few months. On the other hand, he hasn't had the opportunity to stumble badly, either.

Personally I prefer the vision he has articulated to that of Edwards and HRC, but then I don't get to choose who is president and I do tend to fall for ideology, poetic vision and mythic heroes. Rarely do those qualities intersect with electoral success; RFK is one example that comes to mind. It really all depends on the voters, in the end, doesn't it? And we have been disappointed before, haven't we? I still believe she is basically an entitled elitist but that is a totally indefensible personal view.

Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.

H L Mencken (1880-1956)

by Shaun Appleby on Mon Jan 29, 2007 at 10:05:07 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Cynical Moment (none / 0)

" I still believe she is basically an entitled elitist but that is a totally indefensible personal view."

Hardly...she came from a middle class background and worked hard and used her brains to succeed at the highest levels.

She's worked hard and made herself the most likely person on the US to be the next president, the first woman president.

She's formidable and impressive.

We'll do OK if she wins.

by BrionLutz on Mon Jan 29, 2007 at 10:49:53 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Cynical Moment (none / 0)

No argument there, it is, as I said, a personal thing. Solid white middle-class hometown origins, as you noted, short stint as president of the College Republians, incidentally, at Wellesley but that surely has been forgiven. The thing that gets me is that her run at the White House, leveraging on some kind of dynastic recognition, has been a long, succesful campaign to contrive the connections and institutional support that she will require, and this speaks to me more of personal ambition than ideology or vision. I know, I know... all the good things she has done along the way.

She kept her powder well and truly dry during the last eight years and I don't see that she used her already impressive political clout to parry the advantage of the Republicans; she has been a senator throughout and Ted Kennedy and others could surely have used her vocal and unwavering support.

I hear the word 'tough' used to describe her alot and she has made some remarks lately about how well she can take on the Republicans; well, where was she and her coalition when we needed her? The Pandora's Box of Iraq has been opened and an ounce of prevention would have been far better than a pound of cure.

Having said that, sure, I will vote for her if she gains the nomination but I feel she is the lowest common denominator among progressives. And I feel the opportunity exists, for once, to do something truly substantive which could further the cause of progressive Democracy in this country for a generation.

by Shaun Appleby on Tue Jan 30, 2007 at 12:19:20 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Cynical Moment (none / 0)

"The thing that gets me is that her run at the White House, leveraging on some kind of dynastic recognition..."

She's not Eva Peron, she's probably even smarter than Bill and after the idiot Bush Jr, we can have one of the best and brightest leading the country.

"Having said that, sure, I will vote for her if she gains the nomination but I feel she is the lowest common denominator among progressives."

She's probably got more credibility than most self proclaimed "progressives".

" The Pandora's Box of Iraq has been opened and an ounce of prevention would have been far better than a pound of cure."

It would have been better if she opposed Iraq but she'll be running against guys who still support the Bush Jr debacle so she manages to get on the right side of Iraq for 2008.

I support Obama but the fact that he got Iraq right is only part of it.

by BrionLutz on Tue Jan 30, 2007 at 12:55:57 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Cynical Moment (none / 0)

Look, as I said it is a very personal thing, call it a distaste for the machine. I support Obama too, for the opposite reason.

by Shaun Appleby on Tue Jan 30, 2007 at 01:29:05 AM EST
[ Parent ]

she is always prepared (none / 0)

by her intellect and herself. I am assuming you think all politicians are as imcapable as Bush. She is not like Bush. She doesn't need to be propped up. She actually knows how to think very well.

Obama will not kill her in the debates. That's one thing that troubles me. No killer instinct...and you need it when fighting the no holds barred Republicans

by debcoop on Tue Jan 30, 2007 at 03:01:50 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: she is always prepared (none / 0)

'Killer instinct', you say. Am I correct in assuming that you are suggesting that this is one of the positive qualities which HRC brings to the contest? As I have noted before I have frequently heard her advocated in posts here with such adjectives as 'tough', 'feisty' and even 'brutal.'

I have rarely heard any of the other candidates described in these adversarial terms, at least not by apparent supporters, why is this?

by Shaun Appleby on Tue Jan 30, 2007 at 06:08:49 AM EST
[ Parent ]

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