It appears that on some level my mixed feelings about Hillary Clinton (i.e., not much of a fan but will vote for her in the general election to save the country from Marco Rubio) are being shared to some extent. A new Quinnipiac poll shows that her support among independent males is sinking and that right now she’s nearly even with Rubio…good God! All along I’ve been operating on an assumption that none of the Republican stooge wannabes are strong enough to beat her and that she’ll win the general one way or the other. For the first time it’s hitting me that Rubio, a pandering climate-change denier, could conceivably win. Rubio!

Clinton’s problems are mainly due to a slippage among independent male voters, say pollsters, and are more particularly due to Eghazi fallout, a feeling that she’s greedy (ridiculous speaking fees, Clinton Foundation razmatazz), an inability to inspire trust, a sense that she lacks empathy for working schmoes, those puffy eye bags (go ahead and laugh but all aspects of a person’s physical appearance are metaphors) and her natural, God-given ability to generate strong negatives.

I swear to God that a good third of Clinton’s problems would disappear if she would just drop a few pounds and have a little “work” done. Perhaps more than a third. Getting a personality transplant would also help. I know this sounds lame or superficial but hear me out.

Hillary obviously has nothing to worry about with women voters — her problem is with guys. As much as I hate to say this (and please understand I’m in no way respecting or winking at this attitude) Clinton’s problems are at least partly due to the fact she has this crabby neghead vibe, that she doesn’t seem to be all that mellow or kindly. She looks like a vaguely snitty, pissed-off granny who possibly sips a little too much wine. Guys are visually guided and like to vote for semi-attractive women, or at the very least women who don’t give off contentious ex-wife vibes. Elizabeth Warren has a far more genteel, agreeable manner than Clinton, which is one reason why I wanted her to run.

I know that if Hillary looked like Joe Biden’s wife, she’d be in a whole different place right now. Remember how a lot of Sarah Palin‘s support in ’08 was due to independent and rightwing guys thinking she was hot? Ask Gold Derby‘s Tom O’Neil about how male geezer Academy members like to vote for hot younger actresses. It’s sexist bullshit, agreed, but it all falls into place.

Hillary is not a naturally charismatic type, but Bill Clinton and Barack Obama are. If people like you they’ll let you skate on all kinds of stuff. But if they don’t like you they’ll seize upon stuff as reasons not to support or vote for you. Being a successful politician is all about chemistry, personality, vibes, comfort.

I myself don’t need or want Hillary to be some kind of silver fox. I admit that her cranky ex-wife vibes are a turn-off and that I find her eye bags unattractive, but I mainly want her to let loose her inner Bernie Sanders. It’s her calculating caution (listening to voters to determined what she should say) and center-right attitudes that irritate me more than anything else.