Yes, she did lose. She didn’t win the nomination. She isn’t President. Now, she’s not living on the street or anything or totally finished like John Edwards, but she clearly lost. She was the overwhelming favorite for the nomination with huge leads of 20 to 30 pts or more throughout all of 2007. For all of 2005-2006 everyone thought she’d be the nominee, she was written in. She and her husband ran the Democratic Party for 15 years, knew everyone, had contacts everywhere.
I don’t know if anybody was ever more of a favorite for and seen as more of a lock to win their party’s nomination. And she lost to a guy no one had heard of before 2004, had never run a national campaign, had 2 years experience in the Senate, no executive experience, no military experience, no business experience, etc...
I don’t think a day goes by that she doesn’t think about not being President and how close she was, and maybe wonders what she could have done differently.
My point is that the Wright Tapes would have clearly ended Obama’s chances if they were released in say Nov or Dec of 2007 instead of March of 2008. They were readily available and his association with Wright was not a secret. Nor were Wright’s views. If the Clintons were really the political startegists some said they were those tapes would have come out much earlier than they did. True political geniuses would not have missed that opportunity.
I’m just saying they’re not some all powerful edifice.
So when Huckabee says “well, if he wasn’t born here the Clintons would have found the proof” he’s off base. They couldn’t even find out about Wright and he was right under their nose and in plain sight.
I agree with 99% of what you say, and it was very well said. They are indeed not an unstoppable force.
My point, which was lost because I’m not as good a writer as you, is that yes, Hillary lost the Presidency to an interloper, but she now has the type of behind-the-scenes power and room to maneuver she loves, and would not have had had she been the one in the Oval Office with all the detailed record keeping and public scrutiny.
I’m sure she regrets the outcome of 2008, but she feels that regret while she’s making a deal with the leaders of Myanmar and North Korea that we’ll only find out about in 30 years, if ever. And the deal will probably result in a charitable donation to some international fund Bill is running.