Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton may win the White House in 2008, political adviser and journalist David Gergen told attendees Tuesday, June 5, at the CCJ Spring Symposium in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
An adviser to presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, Gergen was the keynote speaker at the 18th annual gathering of truck industry leaders at the home of Randall-Reilly Publishing. With in-party political debates dominating this week’s headlines, Gergen made his own political forecasts.
Gergen called the Democratic Party’s bid for the presidency fascinating. He called it a two-way fight between Sens. Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.). “Democrats like to fall in love, they like to have someone who really moves their heart strings,” he said. “The issue right now for them is they’re falling in love, but not with their front-runner. Hillary Clinton is the front-runner, but they love Obama.”
Gergen likes Obama’s youth — a reminder of Bobby Kennedy’s energy — but said the 45-year-old may be too inexperienced. He called Clinton forceful. “She is very experienced, she’s a take-charge person,” he said. “She’s going to be hard to stop.”
Having worked for Bill Clinton during his term in office, Gergen said he regularly talked with the current New York senator. “She told me that when she goes out, a lot of the guys my age tell her that ‘I sure would like my daughter to be like you, but you know something, I’m glad my wife isn’t.’ ”
Baggage from her husband’s presidency might hurt Clinton’s chances with Southern conservatives, though, Gergen said. Bill Clinton’s administration had its firestorms – the Whitewater scandal and the Monica Lewinsky affair, among them. Voters from northern and West Coast states could trump that deficit.
“Democrats are likely to win,” Gergen said of the White House bid, referring to deep voter and political dissatisfaction with George W. Bush’s handling of the Iraq war. Gergen said some polls show Bush’s approval rating at 20 percent.
