Two Easy Targets

Conventional wisdom has it that the Democrats would be unbeatable with a ticket that has both Hillary and Obama on it. However, in the 2008 Presidential campaign we can safely throw out the window conventional political wisdom.

Political Science 101 will not prepare one for the present scenario.

Under normal circumstances it is assumed, and correctly so, that the two top candidates for their particular Party's nomination would make the strongest ticket in the general election. Many assume this would be the case this year in particular with the Democrats, given the fact that one of their two top candidates is a charismatic and photogenic speaker and the other is the spouse of a popular former President.

I beg to differ.

Clinton and Obama offer the Republicans two very easy targets. If the Democrats present the nation with a ticket consisting of both, the only question remaining is, which scandal or liability do we start with today?

And that would be the most difficult decision given that there are so many possibilities from which to choose.

Both of the Democratic candidates have glaring weaknesses. Pennsylvania polls showed us that even most Democrats do not believe Hillary to be trustworthy. Those same polls show that Obama is perceived by a significant number as an elitist snob who says what he has to say in order to appease the sensitivities of a particular group, although he is clearly unable to make gut-level connections with ordinary, average citizens.

And when it comes to political acumen, both candidates have made glaring errors in judgment in terms of strategy and 'off-the-cuff' comments that inadvertently allow voters to see that the real person is a far cry from the public persona.

This has hurt Obama in particular due to the fact that he has gone out of his way to portray himself as the one candidate who is honest, genuine, and has the pulse of what 'the common man' holds dear.

Yet when his guard was down in the friendly confines of like-minded elitists, surrounded by a group of San Francisco Democratic Party liberals, he discloses that 'the common man' is a scared and bitter ignoramus who deals with his emotions by clinging to his guns and religion.

Hillary's disingenuousness is well-known and documented. The only question is, what whopper of a tale will she be caught in next? And, what skeletons still remain hidden in the closet?

Thus, the Republicans are not automatically knocked out of the ballgame with a Hillary-Obama ticket or an Obama-Hillary ticket. In fact, having TWO easy targets may well be twice as advantageous as having one.