Reply #21: If Hillary's the nominee and the R-candidate figures out a way to run against Bush AND Clinton

[BeyondGeography]

he'll win. Goldberg is almost as big an ass as his mother, but he's right about one thing: The "Clinton" brand is a tough sell when the country wants change.

The running against Clinton part will be easy, and drawing lines of difference with Bush part is easier than you might think. Bush's negatives are mostly a function of his transparent incuriosity, his incompetence and his tone-deafness on Iraq. Any of the leading Republicans will appear more intelligent, which helps solve problem #1. On Iraq, they'll simply have to move toward the center and say what the Democrats have been saying for months about withdrawing troops and leaving a residual force to combat al Qaeda and help guarantee the basic security of Iraq.

We'll still have the advantage on health care, retirement security, the economy (at least we should), but those issues could well be negated by the focus on the Clintons; they will be the single biggest issue of the campaign, and that's only helpful to the other side.