Recently, as President Bush’s poll numbers sink to new lows and the pivotal 2006 midterm elections become more central to the U.S. political universe, serious attention has turned to who will next occupy the Oval Office for the first time.
Teeming rivers of words have already been spilled about the prospects of a 2008 presidential match up of Sen. John “Maverick No More” McCain and Sen. Hillary “Take the Good, Forget the Baggage” Clinton. And, all told, McCain v. Clinton is probably the most likely scenario from this still hazy vantage point of 2006.
The continuing war in Iraq is still the factor that looms largest, playing like a unsettling drum beat while the political machinations on stage continue. McCain has emerged as one of Bush’s staunchest supporters, a calculated move to claim the hearts of the GOP base and money people who have the power to “anoint” a Republican presidential nominee, much as was done with George W. Bush in 2000. While it is something of a “maverick” maneuver to defend the now unpopular president, McCain is in danger of handcuffing himself to the deck of a sinking ship.
Hillary Clinton is also at risk of having her position on the war sandbag her presidential prospects. Just as Sen. John Kerry was skewered for his nuanced (and at times convoluted) positions and voting record during the 2004 presidential season, Clinton will be pushed to defend her hawkish, pragmatic position against anti-war activists who want out now.
Perhaps because the political climate is so different today than it was only a year ago – a time not far removed from a triumphant and just reelected President Bush bragging about spending the “political capital” he had accumulated – the media has of late taken to exploring what characters may emerge as serious contenders in 2008.
For starters, The New Republic’s Ryan Lizza dishes up a revelatory 5,000-word thinker on George Allen, the Virginia Senator who may well become the conservative alternative to McCain. The son of famous football coach George Allen, most people assume that George Jr.’s affable drawl and affinity for cowboy culture is the natural result of a southern rearing. However, Lizza cites Allen’s upbringing as mostly taking place in Chicago (during the senior Allen’s da Bears years) and posh accommodations in southern California. And Mother Allen, it turns out, was French and inclined to look down upon the gauche American culture!
Some people who were close to Allen during his formative years don’t have the nicest things to say. George’s younger sister Jennifer, in a memoir entitled Fifth Quarter, details violent behavior that bordered on the sadistic, including beatings of younger siblings at bedtime. However, it is Allen’s early admiration for the Confederacy (Lizza digs up Allen’s yearbook photo, which, when studied closely, reveals a small Confederate flag pin) and all things Dixie that may be most illuminating to voters.
Article comments
1 - Jet in Columbus
I'd like to see Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton in either position. Either way, they'd take Bill Clinton's advice as "first lady" and we can get the budget deficit back where it belongs. That and maybe a few good paying jobs instead of all the minimum wage junk whose only purpose seems to be to prop up Bush's unemployment figures.
2 - Bliffle
I don't think a senator or congressperson can be elected president: voting record can be held against them. Governors are better, also because they've handled a president-like job, which a congressperson doesn't.
3 - Jet in Columbus
What? You mean the myth that anyone can grow up to be president isn't.........true??????
One of our greatest, John F. Kennedy wasn't a governor.
I think the most compitent men to hold that office was Gerald R. Ford. Not only was he never a governor, he wasn't even elected. He steered this country through a crisis like no one had ever seen before. If he hadn't pardoned Nixon a constitutional crisis would've occurred, and we would've been bogged down in it for years. Ford sacrificed his political career to save us, and helped us move on, and I for one am grateful.
See, I'm not as leftist and liberal as you might think!
4 - Michael J. West
John F. Kennedy was one of our greatest? With the noteworthy exception of the Cuban Missile Crisis, he didn't really do anything...other than look good on TV and get shot.
5 - Matthew T. Sussman
Whatever happened to In the Middle, EB?
6 - Jet in Columbus
The exact same thing could be said of Ronald Reagon, substituting the wall in berlin. Kennedy was a great man who saved this country from nuclear inhalation, I lived through that and watched the man calm a terrified and panicked nation.
That's probably why Kennedy's on the fifty cent piece and no matter how hard they've tried (and they have) Reagon isn't on the $10 bill or the dime.
7 - DazeyMai
I thought John McCain was too smart to hook up with Bush...so much for him. Mitt Romney is a favorable prospect. Joe Biden is a plus, but replace Bill Richardson as a running mate with Hillary...Richardson? No way! Obviously, Hillary is the smartest one of the whole bunch. It is consoling to know that whatever happens in 2008 can only be a vast improvement. That is if we survive Bush until 2008.
As for Ronald Reagan what did he ever do besides flash that foolish grin, wave to reporters, listen carefully for Nancy's cues and get shot?
8 - Ruth Ann Crocker
I predict President Hillary Rodham Clinton will be inaugurated in January, '09.
9 - Michael J. West
As for Ronald Reagan what did he ever do besides flash that foolish grin, wave to reporters, listen carefully for Nancy's cues and get shot?
Well, for one thing, he illegally authorized a covert war in Nicaragua and sold missiles to the Iranian government in order to pay for it...
10 - zingzing
and he built up our nuke stockpile to the point where we could beat the soviet union 100 times over after they beat us... but you know, they would be deader than we were, and they fuckin knew it! fuckin stupid commies... you kill me, i'll kill you til you're sooooo damn dead.
mmm, the logic of old men. actors. ACTORS!? who the fuck elects a fucking actor!? republicans! that's who! sure... hollywood is a liberal-commie scum pond... but at least the liberal commie scum doesn't want to elect hollywood into the white house. fucking stupid.
11 - Michael J. West
You know, zingzing, that's the best goddamned point that's yet been made about the so-called "Hollywood leftist elite." If that's so true, how come it's the Republicans who keep putting Hollywood actors into office???
12 - Jet in Columbus
I wonder if Ahnold skipped going into the governors office yesterday during the protest?
13 - zingzing
maybe it's the novelty?
14 - JP
I'm in Warner's camp until someone proves better. Biden hasn't yet. I think Warner/Clark wins it for the Dems.
15 - Scott
I'm not much of a Biden fan. I think he'd turn into another Kerry if he got the nom. I could really go for some moderates...Warner with Bayh as VP sounds pretty good. It would surely turn some red states blue.
16 - Jet in Columbus
After Seeing Clark on Real time With Bill Maher, I have to say he was impressive, however I'm still sticking with Hillary Clinton. If the Dems want to win, they need to stress that they're DIFFERENT than what we've got messing up everything now, and that needs Clinton. Not only does that bring Bill on board and memories of when we balanced the budget, but with a vice president of either Biden with his common sense, or Clark to bring his military experience how can we lose.
Of course there'll be a lot of bullshit from the Republicans about how Hillary avoided the draft in the 60s and 70s...