What’s the Cost of Admission to Hillaryland?

We all know that you can’t just show up at Six Flags or Disneyland and walk in for free. You better check the cost of admission.

Hillaryland

The Washington Post now has a spread about “Hillaryland” a “powerful group of women from [Clinton's] White House days [chosen] to drive her campaign to the Presidency.” The appeal is so enticing that if I weren’t so astute about Clinton’s record, I’d want to join Hillaryland myself. However, I believe the cost of admission is too high.

Hillaryland is a direct appeal to women. It entices to vote for me because this is the season for women. As Clinton has said at campaign events, “Now it is the time to break the biggest glass ceiling in the land.”

Here, Clinton has a playing-field advantage over Barack Obama. While Clinton can run an ascribed-identity-based campaign, Obama cannot. He cannot go around and say vote for me so we can have the first black President or so that we can conquer the ultimate barrier for African Americans.

That’s cool though because it works on America’s behalf. It forces him to be the candidate who has the strongest record on the most salient issues right now–the Iraq War, health care, supporting working class-families, etc. I’m happy that when he has spoken to African American audiences, he has said that he doesn’t want African American votes just because he’s African American. He has said he has to earn their votes just like every other politician.

Cost of Admission to Hillaryland

All this gets to the cost of admission to Hillaryland. By people voting based on an ascribed identity like gender or race (or in John Edwards’ case, being southern-born) they overlook the record of the candidate they are supporting.

While the Hillaryland article was four pages long (online), there was almost nothing about Clinton’s record on the issues and how that draws the women in Hillaryland to support her. Are they supporting her because she authorized us going into Iraq? Are they voting for her because she has billions in earmarks, particularly to defense companies? Are they supporting her because her understanding of homeland security contradicts that of the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies? Women better have Clinton earn their votes like Obama is out here doing. What comes cheaply probably isn’t worth having.

‘Oh What Fun’ from the Clinton Campaign

It seems that the Clinton campaign is going to have a lot of fun and amusement for the American people over the next several months. We have Hillaryland for women. We had an American Idolish pick-my-campaign-song contest. We had a spoof commercial based on America’s favorite show, the Sopranos. We will not be able to contain ourselves as we laugh at the funny one-liners Clinton will continue to throw out at the Democratic debates.

But there’s nothing in life that’s free, including your entertainment and merrymaking. Shoot, you even have to pay for HBO to watch the real Sopranos.

Voters better check candidates’ record of good judgment and positions on the issues and count the cost of admission to this entertainment as they enjoy it from the Clinton campaign over the next few months. Otherwise we will play now, but pay like heck later.

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“For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?”–Luke 14:28

UPDATE: I see a similar conversation is occurring at Andrew Sullivan’s blog.