Obama Turns Hillary’s Electability Meme Around
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, Hillary, Polls
Personally, I always found Hillary’s argument to be pretty hollow. For somebody so polarizing, did she really think she could credibly make that claim and not get called out for it?
(CNN) — Barack Obama took direct aim Thursday night at Hillary Clinton’s claim that she is the most electable Democrat in the presidential field, telling a New Hampshire crowd that the argument that “is being pushed, by the way, by a candidate who starts off with a 47 percent disapproval ratings.”The remarks come days after a new Gallup survey found that Obama fared better than Clinton in head-to-head match-ups with the leading Republican candidates.
“I’m not going to mention names, but I mean the notion that a viability or an electability argument is being made by somebody who starts off with almost half the country not being able to vote for them doesn’t make sense,” the Illinois senator told a Portsmouth audience, according to a report in Foster’s Daily Democrat.
One of Hillary’s main problems has been the idea that she ran as an insider who knew enough about Washington to get things done. But as we’ve seen, her version of “getting things done” isn’t really all that impressive. And would Republicans really want to build bridges with somebody who their base despises?
I certainly have my doubts and Obama is giving voice to his.
Smart move.
UPDATE:
Oh, and the latest Zogby poll lends credence to the “Obama is more electable” meme…
New York - Illinois Sen. Barack Obama would defeat all five of the top Republicans in prospective general election contests, performing better than either of his two top rivals, a new Zogby telephone poll shows. His margins of advantage range from a 4 percent edge over Arizona Sen. John McCain and a 5 percent edge over Arkansas’ Mike Huckabee to an 18 percentage point lead over Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, the survey shows. Against New York’s Rudy Giuliani he leads by 9%, and against Fred Thompson of Tennessee he holds a 16 point edge.
And Hillary?
Democrat Hillary Clinton of New York would defeat Romney by a narrow 46% to 44% margin and Thompson by a 48% to 42% margin. She would lose to Huckabee 48% to 43%, to Giuliani 46% to 42%, and to McCain by a 49% to 42% margin. The data suggest that Clinton has improved her position slightly. A November Zogby Interactive poll showed her losing by small margins to all five of the top GOP candidates.
5 out of 5 or 2 out of 5? And hell, even Edwards pulls 3 out of 5.
The Hillary electability meme is officially on life support.
This entry was posted on Friday, December 21st, 2007 and is filed under 2008 Election, Barack, Hillary, Polls. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
December 21st, 2007 at 7:12 pm
Those mock election poll numbers raise another question: how unelectable are Romney and Thompson if they are getting creamed by Obama and are losing to Ms. Polarizing 2008. Of course, these numbers can shift 1000 times between now and November,
December 21st, 2007 at 8:19 pm
“When I’m in the White House…”
This is what I’ve heard Hillary say time and time again and every time I hear her say it I can’t hep but think ‘Not if I can help it!’
The idea that she “assumes” she is the only electable candidate to the office of president is quite frankly, arrogant, pompous and insulting.
If she were half as shrewd as they believes she is she would have figured this out already.