Let’s Face the Music

IT is a truth universally acknowledged that Hillary Clinton would be the ideal Democratic candidate for the GOP. Almost all the pundits, including most of NATIONAL REVIEW’s writers, share this view. The polls suggest that the surviving Republican hopefuls would do better against her than against Barack Obama-and, still more remarkable, that John McCain would actually defeat her. Her initial aura of inevitability has been replaced after the unexpectedly bruising primary battles by one of outright vulnerability. She is seen as a hard-edged, “divisive” figure who would alienate voters simply by being herself.

Conservatives are tempted to believe all these things because they themselves would enjoy fighting Hillary. She would unify conservatives against herself and attract fewer independents than Obama.

About the Author

John O’Sullivan

John O’Sullivan is a senior fellow at National Review Institute and a contributing editor of National Review.

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IT is a truth universally acknowledged that Hillary Clinton would be the ideal Democratic candidate for the GOP. Almost all the pundits, including most of NATIONAL REVIEW’s writers, share this view. The polls suggest that the surviving Republican hopefuls would do better against her than against Barack Obama-and, still more remarkable, that John McCain would actually defeat her. Her initial aura of inevitability has been replaced after the unexpectedly bruising primary battles by one of outright vulnerability. She is seen as a hard-edged, “divisive” figure who would alienate voters simply by being herself.

Conservatives are tempted to believe all these things because they themselves would enjoy fighting Hillary. She would unify conservatives against herself and attract fewer independents than Obama.