Democrats: Torn between two futures
With barely 50 days to go before the Iowa caucuses, said Ronald Brownstein in the Los Angeles Times, Democrats face an intriguing choice. Their two front-runners, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, offer very different visions for a party that
With barely 50 days to go before the Iowa caucuses, said Ronald Brownstein in the Los Angeles Times, Democrats face an intriguing choice. Their two front-runners, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, offer very different visions for a party that’s smarting after years of Republican domination. Hillary, who knows how “to respond to a punch with a punch,” is selling herself as the old political pro, toughened and made wise by years of attacks from the right. In her candidacy, which drives conservatives mad, Democrats see the promise of sweet revenge. Obama, though, is preaching a gospel of reconciliation and compromise on behalf of “the greater good.” Rather than pander to interest groups, he’s told a crowd of automakers that they have to raise mileage standards, and a black audience that unwed fathers are their biggest problem. The nation will remain bitterly fractured between red and blue, Obama argues, unless our new president reaches out “beyond the party’s base” to build new coalitions.
The closer you look, said Peter Canellos in The Boston Globe, the clearer the dilemma becomes. With their hearts, Democrats are yearning for Obama’s charisma, youth, and promise of a fresh break from the bitterness of the Clinton and Bush years. “No candidate in recent memory has embodied the deepest hopes of so many.” Yet they fear he’s naïve and inexperienced—too nice a guy to survive the barroom brawl of a general election. That’s why their heads are favoring Hillary. True, her campaign “is mildewed with the air of past scandals.” But her “ability to fight is undiminished,” which argues that she has a better chance of winning. The indecision is so great that the latest polls now show her and Obama in a statistical tie in Iowa, which will hold its first-in-the-nation caucuses on Jan. 5. The battle for the nomination “is no ordinary beauty contest.” It’s “an intense, ongoing struggle within the consciences of Democratic voters.”
In making up their minds, Democrats can safely ignore the candidates’ position papers, said E.J. Dionne in The Washington Post. On most of the issues, relatively little separates Clinton from Obama. Both support some form of universal health coverage. Both would almost certainly raise Social Security taxes on the wealthiest taxpayers. Quite deliberately, Clinton comes across as more of a hawk than Obama, but their positions on Iraq are now very similar—get out as soon as we safely can. So the choice comes down to a single question: Is the Democrats’ best hope Obama’s idealism, or Clinton’s realism?
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
The best new music of 2024 by genre
The Week Recommends Outstanding albums, from pop to electro and classical
By The Week UK Published
-
Nine best TV shows of 2024 to binge this Christmas
The Week Recommends From Baby Reindeer and Slow Horses to Rivals and Shogun, here are the critics' favourites
By The Week UK Published
-
Crossword: December 28, 2024
The Week's daily crossword puzzle
By The Week Staff Published
-
US election: who the billionaires are backing
The Explainer More have endorsed Kamala Harris than Donald Trump, but among the 'ultra-rich' the split is more even
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
US election: where things stand with one week to go
The Explainer Harris' lead in the polls has been narrowing in Trump's favour, but her campaign remains 'cautiously optimistic'
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Is Trump okay?
Today's Big Question Former president's mental fitness and alleged cognitive decline firmly back in the spotlight after 'bizarre' town hall event
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
The life and times of Kamala Harris
The Explainer The vice-president is narrowly leading the race to become the next US president. How did she get to where she is now?
By The Week UK Published
-
Will 'weirdly civil' VP debate move dial in US election?
Today's Big Question 'Diametrically opposed' candidates showed 'a lot of commonality' on some issues, but offered competing visions for America's future and democracy
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
1 of 6 'Trump Train' drivers liable in Biden bus blockade
Speed Read Only one of the accused was found liable in the case concerning the deliberate slowing of a 2020 Biden campaign bus
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
How could J.D. Vance impact the special relationship?
Today's Big Question Trump's hawkish pick for VP said UK is the first 'truly Islamist country' with a nuclear weapon
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Biden, Trump urge calm after assassination attempt
Speed Reads A 20-year-old gunman grazed Trump's ear and fatally shot a rally attendee on Saturday
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published