Hillary Clinton For President 2016: A Conservative Woman's Perspective

There has been much talk about a possible Hillary Clinton run for president in 2016. While this is a nice thought, this conservative sees it highly unlikely for many reasons. Hillary Clinton is a strong, smart woman who has been very successful in her political career, but she will not be able to gain support of a large number of conservative women.

I hate being lumped into a group, so I will not try to speak for all women or all conseravtives. I can only speak for myself and women I have discussed the issue with. I am no feminist — I am more concerned about the economy and the plight of women in the under-developed world than the few things that feminists here in America are screaming about constantly. While I admire Secretary Clinton for the position of power she holds, I would not be able to vote for her. Her values simply don't match mine.

Clinton wrote the book It Takes A Village. As a conservative, I believe it takes a family to raise a child, not a village. linton is a strong proponent for a woman's right to choose whether or not to end the life growing within her womb. As a conseravtive woman, I see a difference between the woman's body and the child's body. What about the rights of all of the future women that are being aborted daily? Who is speaking up for their basic human right to live?

Secretary Clinton views government as the solution to everyone's problem. The problems with our country is there is not enough government spending on education, welfare, healthcare, etc. As a conservative, I view government as the problem. I think the solution to a lot of the issues facing our economy is slashing the size of government, cutting spending and maybe even some programs, and a whole bunch of reform. When a system is broken, throwing more money at the problem will not make it better.

On the more logistical issues with a possible Clinton run in 2016 ... Hillary Clinton will be 69 at that time. This would make her the second oldest person ever to be elected president (Ronald Reagan was 70 when he took office). Age has proven to be a big issue in any presidential election (remember the concerns about whether former POW John McCain would be able to handle the stress of the presidency?), but I think it will be made an even BIGGER issue by the anti-woman media. Plus, Clinton was burned once already. Before President Obama stepped on the scene, she was the Democratic presidential candidate. The Democrats turned on her for a younger model.

Women are an extremely diverse group. I can't predict how they may or may not vote, and I'm one of them! While the rise of the Texts From Hillary memes are humorous, I don't see them as anything more than a short lived internet fad that will die off in the next couple of months.  They will definitely not be applicable to a 2016 presidential bid by Clinton. Who knows though, with time, Clinton could find herself being quoted as having said some of the ridiculous things from the memes, just like how Tina Fey's infamous SNL line "I can see Russia from my house" has been incorrectly attributed to Sarah Palin ever since that skit aired.

I guess only time will tell if Clinton decides to run again or not. Whether it is her or some other woman, it will be intersting to see what hurdles they have to jump in order to get the presidential nomination. It will also be fascinting to see if the American public is as eager to vote for the first woman to be president as they were for the first black man.