Hillary on the Attack and Under Fire

With over year and a half left until the next U.S. presidential election, there is already a cast of candidates worthy of a Shakespearean play, or maybe by an author of surrealist or Kafkaesque influence.

It is unusual, but by now the Democratic Party is quite clear on who its favorite candidate is. Unless something truly unexpected happens, Hillary Rodham Clinton will be its representative. Even though she drastically lost the nomination eight years ago against Barack Obama, there seems to be no one today ready to face this woman, who, besides being quite the character, is part of what undoubtedly is the most formidable political duo of modern times in the U.S.

The Bill and Hillary pair remains, after 23 years, an exceptional unit for raising funds, weaving alliances, and obtaining benefits of what has been a political career that could not only transcend the conjugal limits, as it has already done, but also, eventually, become hereditary.

Hereditary is also the style within the Republican Party, where the unusual case of a third member of the Bush clan reaching the White House could occur. Jeb has built a career relatively similar to that of his brother George, in Florida instead of Texas, where his government was reasonably fortunate, at least enough to leave him as the aspiring candidate to be beaten, having not yet formalized his intentions, which are clear to everyone.

Along with him there will be others tagging along, some more presentable than others. The field ranges from the truly shocking Ted Cruz, who mixes the most profound ignorance with the most intense verbal incontinence, to the much more interesting Marco Rubio, whose Latino roots slightly offset his very conservative posture on immigration issues and could help Republicans defeat the Latino veto that they have earned in recent years with their ardent rejection of an exhaustive immigration reform that will help millions leave the shadows of illegality.

These two and several others have already started to look for what will be a highly disputed candidacy, in which we will see low blows, a dirty war and much populist radicalism. Sadly, what once was a symbol of conservative sanity and moderation, today the Republican Party is fighting against its own ghosts: those of the tea party, which threatens to kidnap it, the ones from the radical religious wing without which no Republican candidate can win now, and the neoliberal excesses of some of their most brilliant minds — who also happen to be disconnected from reality.

With over year and a half to go, it is early for any prediction, at least on the Republican side. The only thing guaranteed is an authentic festival of hatred and resentment against the government of and Barack Obama himself, who has become a symbol of everything the lifelong WASPs, and those who aspire to be like them, loathe.

There is not much left of the Republican establishment, the ones who went to major universities, who had traveled, read, studied, and whose conservatism was based on knowledge. Today we have, instead, an ignorant right wing and proud to be so, with a vision that would like to be religion-based, but does not even achieve that, for their interpretation of the scriptures is limited by their closed minds and intellectual limitations.

Those are the ones Hillary will face, and she will most likely not have an opponent in the Democrats’ internal process, but is already under attack by all aspiring Republicans. They hate her for being a Democrat, for being the continuation of Bill’s very successful model, for being a woman, for having worked with Obama. And they hate her because she is thoughtful, articulate and tough as nails.

This will be the contest. We will have a year and a half to see, as a laboratory, what has become of the U.S. political class.

It would be laughable if the world’s future were not in their hands.