Personally, I'm afraid of Obama...

clipped from campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com Why I’m Afraid of the Clintons So throughout the Democratic primaries, I’ve been rooting for Barack Obama. The nobler side of me admires him, even across party lines, for the tremendous interest and enthusiasm he has engendered among younger Americans. But the larger, less decent part of me believes that Hillary Clinton would be a more formidable general election opponent for the Republican nominee. She’s certainly on the ropes right now: her campaign has been flailing through the last few rounds of primaries in a way that Clintons are usually able to avoid. But we’ve been losing to Clintons for a long time now: I’d still just as soon avoid her in a general election campaign.

Clipped this from the New York Times campaign trail series of articles. This one was by Dan Schnur. Pretty well-written, and it lacks the usual vitriol you see from Clinton-haters. Note that I'm making a distinction here; Schnur is clearly not a Clinton-hater; it's obvious that he respects Hillary. His argument is quite logical; basically he feels that Hillary Clinton is the stronger Democratic candidate in a general election owing to her ability to govern from the center and the Clinton political machine. He further asserts that once the Republicans start hammering Obama and start yapping about his voting record (most liberal of any senator) during his tenure, that John McCain will steamroll him on the way to the White House.

I see things a bit differently. Now, nobody wants to see the Republicans retain the White House more than I do. If we assume that the Democrats will continue to make gains in the House and Senate, which seems like a safe bet given the current political climate, we're already approaching the 60 votes needed to end debate on any legislation the Democratic leadership wants to move to the floor. The only thing that will stand in the way of crippling legislation and entitlements the likes of which we haven't seen since the New Deal will be a Republican in the White House, and even then we'll be approaching a veto-proof majority in congress.

The only good thing that would come out of a Democratic presidency would be the almost certain end of troops from Iraq, and the reduced spending that will accompany that. And God knows we're gonna need that money cause...

Everything else that's on the table is gonna break the bank, especially the disastrous health-care plans, will saddle us with an entitlement legacy that will be borne on the backs of generations to come. You wanna know the definition of eternity? It's a government entitlement.

Look at Europe. Reformers have been handcuffed there for decades. Just try weaning people from the public teat. In France they riot. We don't even try it here anymore - look what happened to Bush when he suggested private Social Security accounts. The demagoguery of the left was amazing; especially as organizations like the AARP came down against it and started their fear-mongering amongst the senior population. A quick aside - when did old people get to be so dumb? Just curious. Most of these proposals wouldn't impact people who are already over 55 anyway cause it'd be political suicide... But we digress...

This post is about who stacks up better in a general against John McCain. It seems to me that the very points that Schnur makes about Obama are the reasons Republicans should fear him. Here's the thing - by all objective measures, Hillary Clinton is a far better Democratic candidate. I mean, let's take stock quickly of Hillary:

• Want government run healthcare? Check! Mandatory coverage for everyone
• Want the military out of Iraq? Check! Start drawing down troops in the first year
  
• Want to slam the door on free trade? Check! NAFTA is evil; let's revisit it (never mind Bill - it'll be OK)
  
• Want to redistribute income (raise taxes)? Check! Let's roll back the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy
  
• Want experience? Check! Great senatorial career, diligently spent learning the ropes and building coalitions
  
• Want someone strong on foreign affairs? OK - you got me there, but same can be said for Obama

She's been preparing for this her whole life! It's hard to imagine a better qualified candidate. In many ways Obama has very few original thoughts about the issues - from a policy perspective he's a complete naif and remarkably similar to Hillary. And this is what's scary about Obama...

There's really no way he should be winning - but he is. Now a lot of this is about what a horrible campaign Hillary has run. I mean, I watched some of the clips from the Texas debate, and the whole "SNL - see if Barack needs a pillow" thing came across as puerile and just plain mean. She's been almost completely atonal for 6 months now. I think the unforgivable act has been allowing Obama to set the agenda and to allow yourself to get off message. Now, it may be that no matter how good a job Hillary could have done, that Obama truly has captured lightning in a bottle and is destined to win. But I don't believe it; I think that Hillary just let the wheels come off the wagon and never figured out a way to get back on track.

Go read those last two sentences again. That's what's scary about Obama. See, he might actually be destined to win. And, if that's the case, and he can win against someone as well-loved as the wife of one of the Party's true legends - a smart, politically savvy woman with true liberal roots who has paid her dues in the senate, well, then it won't really matter what the Republicans throw at him, cause he can certainly win that contest as well.

Now, you might infer from this little epistle that I really don't like Obama, and you'd be completely wrong. What's seductive about Obama is that even diehard libertarian, fiscal conservatives like myself are quite taken with him. I think he's amazing; a truly likable, visionary, and galvanizing figure. If my supposition is correct, people like Obama only come along once or twice in a lifetime, much like JFK.

And, I'm ashamed to say that, irrationally, I truly dislike Hillary Clinton. Further, there's nothing about her campaign behavior that changes my thinking, which originates deep in my lizard-brain - basically I don't like Hillary the same way I don't like spiders. Paradoxically though, for true moderates, Hillary is quite logically the better candidate. She knows better than to try to do too much too fast. Even she knows that without a radical reconfiguration of congress, she has no hope of enacting any of her grandiose plans once elected. But what she can do is build relationships and advance some truly liberal causes.

Conversely Obama, if elected, will rise to office on the wings of a generational mandate. It's entirely possible that he'll be able to railroad through a truly massive liberal agenda. And this guy is a true zealot - I mean, he's drunk the liberal Kool-aid by the gallon. And yet...

I still like him. And if he can make someone like me feel that way, then you can bet your life that he can beat McCain; it's tough to beat destiny, and that's why I'm more afraid of Barack Obama than Hillary Clinton.