After last night it seems extremely unlikely that Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic nominee.  If last night had gone differentely and she won both North Carolina and  convincingly won Indiana, I probably would have admitted that Obama could not overcome Jeremiah Wright or that maybe people really did want a gas tax holiday, or maybe people really want to obliterate Iran.   If  somehow Hillary had got the nomination, I know what I would have wanted to see from her to make me support her. 

Mostly I would have wanted assurance that she was going to end the Iraq war and that she was not going to start any more wars of choice.  For me the turning point with Hillary was her support of Kyl-Lieberman amendment.  She would have to convince me that she was not a war monger.  I think that the main reason Obama is going to be the nominee and probably the next president is his opposition to the war in Iraq.   Also, I would have wanted to see Hillary promise some fiscal responsibility and a balanced budget in the near future.  Getting out if Iaq would go a long way towards balancing the budget so in the end it would have been pretty easy for her to get my support, as a one-hundrd year war McCain is not an option if you care about ending the war.

My question: What do Hillarys supporters want out of Obama?  I think this is going to be a problem for Obama as I don’t think he can take over any of her “big issues” without contradicting his vision for America.    If any Hillary supporters read this blog I would like to know what Obama can do that will make them support him.  My guess from conversations I have had with Hillary supporters is that the answer would be something to the effect of “he could wait his turn and they will support him in eight years”.   At this point that is not an option so what can Obama do to unite the party?

Posted by John Rove in Words

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