Posted on 05/17/2008 2:20:56 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
She can't win. The pundits say it. The polls say it. The math says it. It's even the word on the street. If Huggy Bear from "Starsky and Hutch" were around, he'd say it's time to stick a fork in her.
So why does she keep going?
One theory is psychological, almost Aesopian. Hillary Clinton - like her husband - is a creature who follows her nature. Scorpions must sting. Ants must save food for winter. Clintons must fight.
Bill Clinton illustrated Clinton grit when he confronted Newt Gingrich during the government shutdown of the mid-'90s. "Do you know who I am?" Clinton said to Gingrich. "I'm the big rubber clown doll you had as a kid, and every time you hit it, it bounces back. That's me - the harder you hit me, the faster I come back up."
"That was not bravado," writes Commentary's John Podhoretz, author of a book about Hillary Clinton titled "Can She Be Stopped?" "It was a warning, and an accurate one. The Clintons are without shame, and therefore we all believe they are without honor and cannot possibly imagine themselves as heroes. But Bill very much believed, and believes, that he is a hero because he would not allow himself to be defeated, no matter what - and that part of his eventual victory would be that he could use the virulence of his foes to his advantage."
Hillary sees herself the same way. The Clintons have campaigned as a unit. They see themselves as a team. They are fighters.
But they aren't fools. The Clintons know how to mount a tactical retreat. Indeed, Bill's career has been one long jujitsu match in which he's used his enemies' weight against them, falling backward to get the advantage.
So again, why is Hillary staying in?
Perhaps it's the best route to long-term victory. Washington has long swirled with rumors that the Clintons are holding some "nuclear option" in reserve against Barack Obama. The latest theory is that they've decided not to use it, as it would destroy them, too. Who knows what it might be, if it exists at all. But it's worth noting that if Hillary were the take-no-prisoners brawler everyone says she is, she would almost surely have pushed that button by now.
That she hasn't used the doomsday device buried under Clinton HQ might mean it doesn't exist. Or it might mean she's looking beyond 2008.
In her West Virginia victory speech, Hillary emphasized her electability. Obviously, that's now her best argument for persuading the superdelegates. But it's an even better argument for positioning herself as the "I told you so" candidate after an Obama defeat.
Just because the Clintons say something doesn't mean it's untrue. Hillary's claim that she would do better against John McCain in swing states such as West Virginia - no Democrat has captured the White House without winning there since 1916 - is quite plausible. Obama is in danger of being cast as the Michael Dukakis of the 21st century (fairly or not). Polls show that in West Virginia, Obama wins only 53 percent of Democratic primary voters in a matchup against McCain. When only half of the party base is willing to vote for the nominee against a Republican, that nominee and that party have real problems.
If Obama does implode, Hillary's bitter-end fight would position her to say to Democrats, "You were warned."
Obviously, she wants to win this year. But the conventional wisdom that she's hurting herself within the party by not bowing out gracefully might be flawed. Polls show that Democratic voters want the race to continue. And so long as she can avoid blame for Obama's loss, she'll be in great shape for 2012. She will be able to argue that Democrats must think with their heads, not their hearts, if they want to win the presidency and change the country. Her centrism would no longer seem calculated. And, of course, the identity-politics bean counters will argue that, this time, it really is a woman's turn.
Hillary will do all she can to appear supportive of Obama should he get the nomination. But appearances can be deceiving. Clinton biographer Carl Bernstein recently reported on the Huffington Post that Sidney Blumenthal, the Clintons' preferred smear artist and rumor spreader, has been pushing the press to cover Obama's ties to Bill Ayers, an alum of the left-wing terrorist group the Weather Underground, as well as "many other questionable allegations about Obama."
The real test of my theory will be whether the Blumenthal operation shuts down after the Clinton campaign does.
I put the above quote in my Free Republic profile
the clintons have focused public attention on the
racism of the democrats.
“Carl Bernstein recently reported on the Huffington Post that Sidney Blumenthal, the Clintons’ preferred smear artist and rumor spreader, has been pushing the press to cover Obama’s ties to Bill Ayers, an alum of the left-wing terrorist group the Weather Underground, as well as “many other questionable allegations about Obama.” ...”
So Sid Vicious is not in a NH jail?
blumenthal...another lib/dem is above the law....dui...only for the common folk!!!
Howdy Doody!!!
LLS
I have no doubt the Clinton's think this. However, if Obama crashes and burns in Nov., MOST Democrats activists are going to turn and say "This is YOUR fault Hillary" I think in pursuing this bitter end stategy Hillary is not only hurting Obama but destorying Clinton Inc political future.
It is a sign of just how far gone the GOP Establishment, and the Democrat party, are that Hillary is now defined as a "Centrist".
Time for a political revolution.
Although, I suspect that in reality, the roles are reversed. That is why Bubba feels such a need to stray from their so-called "marriage". /psychobabble
Obama DOES have Secret Service protection, doesn't he?
==8-O
bump
Now you are talking my kind of language!
But in the land (USA) of instant gratification will enough people start and/or sustain a "political revolt" long enough to insure it's outcome?
Our Declaration of Independence and Constitution gives us the political tools to do so - Our founding fathers foresaw that the time might come when "we (the people)" might just be in the position where a real political change is necessary.
George Washington, in his farewell address, went to great lengths to warn of problems of swearing fidelity to political parties. Alas, "we" didn't listen.
The "political revolution" you mention won't be won overnight. It was not intended to be. At age 62 I have already declared my independence and I feel sure in saying that I will not see the change if it indeed comes. Will enough Americans take the same attitude? I doubt it, but my decision has been made. I can only do what I can only do, if you get my drift.
"Time for a political revolution."
I'm in!
The klintoons will always lie, even if better served by the truth.
They will, on a rare unknowing moment, speak the truth, but it is an accident.
They are both pathological liars, but if either one says that today is Saturday, I check my calendar.
I’m still in for the beast in ‘08.
Hillary will be on the ticket with Obama, and she'll be holding hands with him during the entire general election. (Bob Beckel wrote that Obama putting Hillary on the ticket as VP cannot NOT happen, and I think he is right).
Thanks Rush — you got the troops out to keep Hillary in the race after the Texas primary.
And, as your reward for that (low life, democratic Party type) tactic, we will see Obama and Hillary win the election.
Then it's welcome back to the STAGFLATION of the Cater years...
But it will result in higher ratings for Limbaugh than if McCain gets elected. For Rush, it's all about Rush.
After all the obstacles Clinton has thrown at Obama she won’t be able to claim she did not damage his 08 campaign, except she will do so anyway.
“I’m still in for the beast in ‘08.”
“So why does she keep going?”
Because as long as she can get suckers to fund her run there is no point in backing out. Anyone who thinks that that 20 mil she owes will not be paid back by some foreign lobbyist is naive.
All Hillary has to do is flip the superdelegates, many of who were in the Clinton camp to start with. I don’t buy that “we changed to Obama because...” crap. They are going to make Obama look as bad as possible steal the nomination from him then tell the blacks to get back on the plantation, which they will happily do because that’s what they have always done. And Clinton knows that.
There won’t be any riots in Denver. No one will be able to afford the gas to drive there to protest.
Coincidence?
Not being a Marxist, I have trouble seeing money driving anything like this for this long. If money is your motivator, you just don't have the energy and pig-headedness she has.
Moreover, the Clintons are richer than snot. $20 million is a few weeks' worth of speeches by the two of them, and one more book.
There is more to it. But I don't think Goldberg is right either---I don't think she can wait four more years.
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