Hillary for Prez

The race for President in 2008 just got a little bigger; Hillary Clinton says she's "in to win": http://www.hillaryclinton.com/

While I'm happy that a major contender for President is a female, I'm a little hesitant to throw my support behind her. It's not because of her views or her abilities - I'm sure she would make a great President, and would make a lot of good decisions to get this country on the right track.

What I'm worried about are nasty campaign attacks by the other side if she does receive the party's nomination. If the last two presidential elections are any indication, Karl Rove and the conservatives are really, really good at character attacks. So good, in fact, that they were able to raise doubts about the legitimacy of war hero John Kerry (remember the bogus Swift Boat campaign?) and painted Al Gore as an arrogant exaggerator. And let's not forget the rumor that spread in 2000 about John McCain's adopted Bangledeshi daughter being his illegitimate child with a black woman.

All indications point to Rove and his goons doing the same for the next election, ESPECIALLY with someone whose last name is Clinton. There is way too much dirt that can be dug up on Hillary, and even if most of it is false, that doesn't mean they can't use it to create the PERCEPTION that she's a horrible person. And there's already a strong base of people who are completely anti-Hillary.

Which brings me to the other "candidates" in the Democratic field. And I use quotes, because no one these days seems to want to actually commit to running for president (which is one bold move that I applaud Hillary on). Barak Obama is certainly another good choice: he's certainly got the right mentality for the job, he's got name recognition, and he has a sort of aura of optimism that no other candidate has. I believe he's the type of person that can bring about a more positive tone in an election, and he doesn't really have anything (at least that I can see) character-wise that can be used against him.

However, I know people will say he's not experienced enough, which is always counteracted by the fact that Abe Lincoln only had a few years of experience when he took the office. My main concern is that there's still a segment of this population that's not ready for a black president, and that's a little sad. Maybe his candidacy can bring a real dialogue about race in this country.

My pick right now is New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, who's expected to announce that he'll file the papers for an exploratory committee tomorrow. He's got the experience: he's a former senator, ambassador to the UN, and Energy Department Secretary. I think the latter two jobs are appealing to me, especially because this current administration has done a lot to screw up foreign policy and has done very little to slow down our energy consumption. Plus, governors typically do better in presidential elections, because they have the look of an outsider.

And, if elected, Richardson would be the first Hispanic person to be president, which I don't think many people realize. I also don't know at this point what can be used against him. But, I wouldn't put it past Karl Rove to somehow use Richardson's strengths against him.

The Democrats have a very diverse field, which is encouraging. And if John McCain ends up being the front-runner for the Republican side, we may be able to get rid of some of the nastiness that's plagued the last two presidential elections.