Hillary Clinton. A good 08 option.

Hillary was a Goldwater Girl in high school who was influenced by her liberal pastor. By the time she got to college, she was a liberal but not a radical. After college and law school, she worked for the committee investigating Watergate. In Arkansas, after marrying Bill, she was active in education reform and moved a bit to the center. Her health care reform in the White House was an unworkable contraption—and politically tone-deaf—but not a lefty single-payer plan. So she has never been that far left. If you read her graduation speech from Wellesley, it is very general, even obscure, but hardly radical.

One of the most crucial qualities of the next president in my view is the ability to create consensus between the parties and return a civil atmosphere of compromise to Congress. Bill Clinton, despite his controversies, seemed very good at this. Given the current climate and her lightning-rod status among many on the right, does Hillary have what it takes to return this atmosphere, and would her husband be an asset or a hindrance in this goal?