Letters to the Editor
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One Word: HUBRIS
It is a shame, but I think Hillary Clinton's campaign doomed itself to failure by indulging in good ol' fashioned hubris. Their overconfidence transmogrified itself into a sense of entitlement; and even the most sheep-like and syncophantic among us would have to admit that such an attitude is off-putting at the very least. And I have heard that Hillary is absolutely wonderful in one-on-one settings: warm, friendly, sweet-natured. Her handlers never allowed that human side to appear, lest she look "weak".
At this stage, I'd say her best bet is to graciously step aside and help her supporters accept and support Obama as their candidate (GO BARACK!!). Then she can be a stalwart Democrat in the Senate, helping undo these eight nightmarish years, and ultimately ascend to the Supreme Court, where she could do us all a favor and knee Antonin Scalia in the nads (GO HILLARY!!). Repeatedly.
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It's not anything she DID wrong . . . it's that she IS wrong.
We're still experiencing the woes of a nation led by someone who doesn't GET IT. Dubbya didn't get it more than any other American president ever.
But Hillary has some real problems with understanding and she has a tin ear.
Her vote to Authorize the Use of Military Force in Iraq is a perfect example. She voted without reading the NIE. Then she chose to believe George W. Bush. What - did she just roll off the turnip truck?? Her vote means she was either dumb enough to believe Bush, or she was so calculating that she cast a vote she KNEW to be wrong for political expediency. Either way should disqualify her from being President. Especially when she still can't admit her mistake. We've got a president like that now . .. not a good thing.
Another example: she signed a pledge not to "campaign OR participate" in the Michigan and Florida primaries. Participate means to partake of or share in. She's supposed to be a lawyer. Does she not know that pledging to not participate means she pledges not to accept delegates picked by that process she pledged to not participate in?
Again . . . she's either WAY too dumb . . . or a WEASEL. We don't need anymore weasels, thank you very much.
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Clinton didn't change, the electorate did
Up until the beginning of this year, all the Dem candidates were scrambling for a theme. For some the election was 1 billion percent about Iraq for others it was immigration for some it was just 'anyone but Bush'. The economy I think took many by surprise, politically which left them with not a lot of options. Given Obama's campaign is largely vacuous and based on little more than feelings he was in the best position to be flexible in that shifting context. His unassailable platitudes work well with any problem "Corruption is Bad!" "We need to change!" "No more same old same old!" Who can argue with that? So as the electorate's priorities shifted, Clinton was unable or unwilling to shift with it. That was the key mistake - being overly specific with concrete plans and policies that were outmoded too quickly. The electorate has a very low threshold for information overload so Clinton, always having a ready command of the FACTS at every turn actually turned people off, more so as the topics she discussed were not the same ones people were interested in.
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Whose in charge, Alex?
Alex Koppelman's analysis in this piece blames Hillary's campaign for "sending her out" on the stump with poor and/or anachronistic messages that didn't help her case, while supporting arguments against her.
Given all the talk about "Ready On Day One", it would appear from this piece that Hillary herself is nothing more than a puppet... a metaphorical "Hillbot" with no real thoughts, emotions or ideas of her own, taking all her cues from a teleprompter. Given Salon's clear and strong support of Hillary, this makes sense: Blaming Penn, Ickes et al for the terrible campaign she's run preserves the myth of Hillary's oft-cited intellect and political prowess for 2012.
Wow. I can think of no more demeaning, offensive excuses for Hillary than those put forth mindlessly by Alex (Tumulty's piece is very good, and well written, focused on "just the facts", while the spin is from Salon's Koppelman). If we are to take him seriously, Hillary is a stooge and a fool, victimized by her own team, and shaken down by Penn for a quick buck.
On the other hand, if we assume she played a role in her own operations, it's impossible to take her seriously as a candidate. She's blown through more money than any candidate in history save Obama (who out-RAISED her, in order to outspend her, with no money from a rich spouse, and questionable sources), and has little to show for it. Her strategies and campaign themes change like prices at the local gas station... regularly and inexplicably. She has run one of the worst primary campaigns in modern primary history, by any measure (including message where her voice is only successful when negative and divisive). The infighting, and many-headed medusa-like operations suggest real and deep incompetence.
I have no idea whether Hillary is a victim or just a terrible manager. Either way, she's proven herself unfit for this particular office through her campaign. This is, after all, an executive position, where basic competence and management skills are far more important than gender, race or belligerence (the remaining talking points left to her bankrupt operations).
Clearly, her management skills are on par with how W has run the country - ineptly and with great malice. So I guess it's not surprising that her message has sounded increasingly Bush-like, from the belligerent foreign policy, to her good-ol-boy pandering. She lies like Bush, believes in entitlement and relies on nepotism like Bush. Her ideas about foreign policy (she supported his wars and out-crazies him on Iran) and John McCain's fitness for office match Bush's too. Her management style and basic skills seem poorly matched for executive positions, because her failure to manage the biggest operation of her career speaks louder than her frothy rhetoric.
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He finally comes out of mourning
How do you feel today, electro robot? Oh, bitter.
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If her reason
for remaining is as this article put it I respect her for it. I may not like a lot of the decisions she has made to this point, but she is worthy of respect.