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HILLARY DEBATE CLUB. I was out at the RAND forum on Iran all day, so am just catching up on Ezra's take on my piece on Hillary Clinton. I may have more to say later, but for now I'll heartily endorse Dana's comment that a vision of progressivism that does not include Clinton's decades long record of leadership on issues of importance to women and children is a very narrow one indeed, and add that anyone who doesn't think that Hillary's gender is going to be an issue that progressives have to play defense on is, as Rick Perlstein makes clear in this piece, wearing blinders. In any event, I'm not all that surprised my piece made Ezra "chafe," since he's spent much of the last year suggesting that it's not her time to run yet and that she should wait her turn, while the real heroes of progressive politics (cough, John Edwards, cough) step up to the plate:
- Ezra: "Hillary Clinton should back off from the presidential race and vie for the Senate leadership."
- Ezra: "forces are aligning to offer her a dignified way to demur from an ugly and ill-fated presidential effort, while still emerging a national leader....Many of her potential competitors score far better on likeability indices....Worse yet, the blogs -- the weathervane of the emergent left -- can't stand Clinton ... her path to the Senate leadership is a far safer road, ensuring that Clinton's trailblazing migration from first lady to senator remained unmarred by a catastrophic defeat in a presidential campaign. She would be the first woman to occupy the august body's leadership position, and she would remain resolutely in the public eye, ready and waiting were the ground to shift and 2012 to look more inviting."
--Garance Franke-Ruta
