Republicans pound sand
by Tom Sullivan
It is unlikely that Eugene Robinson wrote the online headline for his column today: “Republicans might as well pound sand.” But that is the gist of it. Their progress in weakening Hillary Clinton so far is “pretty close to zero.”
The Democrats have the most admired woman in the country 17 out of the last 18 years. The Republicans have contenders bent on taking away health care from
over 6 million neighbors and throwing the weak to the wolves. Can’t imagine why they’re having trouble getting traction.
And while Republican presidential hopefuls are still emerging — the party seems to think it is still a couple bozos short of a clown car — Robinson believes Hillary Clinton is hitting all the right notes:
Her fiery speech last week in defense of voting rights was her campaign’s best moment so far. Clinton slammed several of the leading Republican candidates — by name — for their roles in GOP-led efforts to restrict the franchise through voter-ID laws and other means. And she called for automatic voter registration of all citizens upon reaching age 18.
Talk about hitting the right buttons. The big question about Clinton’s candidacy is whether she can inspire the coalition that twice elected President Obama — young people, minorities, women. Voting rights is an issue that reliably sends African Americans to the polls in large numbers. I’ll be surprised if Clinton doesn’t soon have major messages for Latinos on immigration policy and women on issues of reproductive rights.
How cynical, Republicans complain. Translation: How effective.
Meanwhile, says Robinson, the swelling Republican field is fighting over who gets to sit at the “adult table” when it comes time for televised debates. Squeezing them all onto one stage being as impractical as fitting them into that rhetorical car.
The Washington Spectator’s John Stoehr argues at Al Jazeera that it is not just stage space Republican candidates are fighting over. Those trying to out-conservative each other to satisfy activist primary voters will find that “the percentage of Republicans who identify as conservative has dropped 15 points since 2012,” according to Gallup. “There’s only so much GOP candidates should expect from a quickly contracting base.” Stoehr writes:
Meanwhile, the Democrats are enjoying the strong, diverse and growing support of the Obama electorate comprised of nonwhites and white liberals (educated, professionals living in urban centers). Those under 40 will see in Hillary Clinton a major candidate running on a platform of economic populism for the first time in their lives.
As for that, well, watch this space. But the voting rights speech got me where I live. As Michael Douglas once
said, I ain’t cheap, but I can be had.
Update: Speaking of throwing the weak to the wolves, “If you don’t want to pay for other people’s health insurance, you can’t live in a first world nation.“