Be careful what you wish

Digby had a recent post in which she hoped that Hillary Clinton wouldn't run for President in 2016, because a) Digby would like the chance to vote for a Progressive female in the primaries, and b) because of the sexist nastiness sure to arise from the republican ranks over another Clinton heading for the White House.

While I share her sentiment for the former (it'd be nice to vote for a real Progessive, period, male or female), the latter seems a bit silly.  I'm sure that they could call her an atheist, a lesbian, and compare her to Eva Braun, but after the republican shenanigans over the first black President, it's not going to be any worse for the first female President.  The republican vitriol toward her sex might be equal in its fury, but, hey, what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger.  Not to mention that after all Hillary Clinton has been through (Lewinsky scandal, impeachment of her husband, republican spaceman conspiracy theories virtually daily), it's pretty obvious her shoulders can handle it.

The real question over Hillary Clinton's running for President should be whether or not she gives us the best chance to win.  2016 is a long way away, and other candidates might rise to the fore, but those pooh-poohing a Hillary bid need to take a serious looks at what happened in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Ohio (three solid blue states and two swing states) where republican majorities in their respective statehouses plus a republican in the governorship has led to the passage of numerous anti-worker, anti-labor, anti-union, and anti-women measures despite a majority of those state's constituents being against them.  The odds of us winning back the U.S. House before 2020 (if then) are infintesimal, and we stand a chance (again) of losing the Senate in 2014.  Anyone want to imagine an America where Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the White House (other than some numb nut Antoinette)?  It's truly shudder inducing.

We're still a few years away from the supermajority status current demographic trends are showing, but if republicans can wreak the havoc they have in the individual states in two years, one can only guess how much harm they can do to women's rights and working class Americans in four.

Hillary Clinton probably wouldn't be my first choice either, but if she gives us the best chance to win in 2016, I'll happily pull the lever for her while biding my time for the Presidential election when a true Liberal can win.

Peace,
emaycee