Obama or Clinton? Fast Forward to Next January...

"I've been taking the incoming fire from Republicans for about 16 years now, and I'm still here, because I have been vetted, I have been tested," she said in a TV interview before campaigning in Missouri and Minneapolis. [Hillary Clinton, Associated Press, Feb. 3, 2008]   Friends and fellow voters,   Most of us admire Hillary Clinton for her principled stands, hard work and boldness in seeking to become the first woman U.S. president.    I happen to be voting for Barack Obama.  Yes, in part it was Mr. Obama's message, his warning on the Iraq invasion, his appeal to non-Democrats.    But another reason I decided to vote for Sen. Obama has been largely ignored by political analysts.

Let us suppose for a moment that Hillary Clinton ultimately defeats Obama for the party nomination.  Then let's say the pollsters are wrong and Ms. Clinton manages to get past the likely GOP nominee (Sen. John McCain) in November.  

Now fast-forward to next January and envision what may come next, after Hillary Clinton occupies the White House:

• Bill Clinton -- the former president who was impeached and came within 1 vote of being removed from office on a Republican party-line vote -- will become our country's "first husband;"    
• Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, Savage, Ingram, O'Reilly, Drudge and their brethren -- who've been assaulting the Clintons nonstop for more than a decade -- will be in full throat, 7 days a week, for 4 long years; 
• Tens of millions of social conservatives and evangelical Christians, infuriated by Mr. Clinton's sexual dalliance with a White House intern, are apt to be newly infuriated when he moves back in;  
• Egged on by the large familiar cast in the right-wing media, these and millions of other faithful Republicans may reflexively oppose Hillary's initiatives, regardless of their merits; and finally
• The Republican half of Congress -- the same crowd that boisterously applauded Bush's "State of the Union" address last week -- may endlessly filibuster, discredit and denounce Ms. Clinton's legislative agenda in an all-too-familiar partisan drive to derail it.   

I fear that the election of Sen. Clinton may degenerate from that first day or two of euphoric pride into unending divisiveness and political gridlock.  I'm personally not thrilled by the prospect of four more years of rancor and futility, while our job, economic, environmental, health care and other problems continue to envelop more Americans.     We can all agree by now that we've had our fill of polarized, dysfunctional government.    Some of us have listened to Barack Obama's speeches and maybe even had a look at his policy positions.  We all know about his spot-on judgment back in 2002 ( http://www.barackobama.com/2002/10/02/remarks_of_illinois_state_sen.php) on what's turned out to be one of the most costly, bloody foreign policy blunders in our nation's history.  We're aware that he's worked productively with Republicans to get some very good things done for all of us.  We've seen how he can inspire all kinds of people to vote and get involved in the political process.   Let's give Mr. Obama the opportunity to bring his ideas, abilities and extraordinary political acumen to this job.      Of course, whether her campaign ends now or in November, Hillary won't be going anywhere:  she'll be right there on the Senate floor, working on behalf of our interests.   If you share my concerns about a Hillary Clinton presidency, please forward this e-mail to your list of friends and acquaintences, so they can think about this for themselves.     We're in this boat together.  Thanks for doing your part on behalf of all of us.