Obama '08

As someone who aligns himself far to the right (particularly on economic issues) of both Clinton and Obama I have recently defended why I, if forced to choose a president from the democratic pool, would prefer Obama to Clinton. The very reasonable question goes something like: "Obama is more liberal than Clinton, so why from a conservative perspective is he the lesser of evils?" A commenter at Marginal Revolution sums up my views beautifully:

Obama is to the left of Hillary. He would likely be more difficult to beat in a national election and would likely be able to implement change more effectively.

But he, unlike Clinton, is more prudent and intellectually honest.

I would add that, in my view, Obama does possess some sort of unifying and image-improving value. The benefit of this might be small and short-lived, but it is not zero. And, I would argue that the fact that Obama's experience in manuevering the political machine is nil means he would actually be less effective at implementing change. This last point might be enough to support Clinton over Obama...but not for a Republican!