Sore Loser Ma'am
Damn. I've lost another chance to brag shamelessly on my prophetic gifts. Earlier today I had thought about writing a post where I predicted that Hillary would get up in her speech tonight and tell Obama to kiss her Annie Oakley ass. The same pundit class that predicted Iraq would be a cakewalk had been uniformly predicting that she would fight like hell for his candidacy as soon as he had the delegates to secure the nomination. Oops. I guess I can't really take much credit for noticing that Hill hasn't an ounce of grace, not even buried deep in those expensive pantsuit pockets; not a smidge of reality in her funhouse mirror of a campaign staff; not a hint of concern for her party or her country as they might exist apart from her own megalomaniacal ambitions. Those traits have been on glowing display for anyone who has bothered paying attention.
CNN's Gloria Borger summed matters up beautifully and inadvertently in a brief attempt to defend Hill's middle finger of a speech tonight. Borger noted that she had just gotten a lot of emails from prominent Clinton supporters, saying "everyone should understand, this needed to be her night." As Jeffrey Toobin's jaw dropped to the floor, he spat out a burst of refreshing candor, blasting the "deranged narcissism of the Clintons." This has been hard for me to watch. Bill Clinton--whose behavior of late has been pretty awful, one more sign that he never really got the Bush era and its failures--is one of my political heroes, and I spent a lot of time and energy in the 1990s defending both of them. Let me just say: this couple, as they are now, need to be as far away from the presidency as possible. The contrast between Hillary's pettiness and vanity and Obama's expansiveness and grace could not have been more stark than it was in those two speeches tonight.
Unless, of course, you also saw John McCain's train wreck of a speech. Holy cow! Get that guy on TV more often! Pleeeeeeasssse! How tired is that shit? Nothing but lame boilerplate, delivered with the creepiest delivery I've ever seen from a presidential nominee, in front of a Kermit-green backdrop and a crowd that looked like it had been held over from some B-list daytime talk show. Or was it a PTA meeting at an elementary school? This is the best they can do? I've always found McCain very likable, despite his ample flaws. But this was an embarrassment. Just sad. Also, note that, like Hillary, he refused to acknowledge that Obama had actually won the nomination, instead chalking it up to "what pundits and party elders say." I wonder what job Karl Rove would get in a McCain presidency?
posted by tenaciousmcd @ 12:29 AM
2 Comments:
Clinton overplayed her hand last night. Last night was her chance to make herself an object of affection and sympathy. It could have been her night - but only if she could show some dignity and class.
Her unwillingness to acknowledge reality is quickly going to make her an object of ridicule. On the Today Show this morning, Matt Lauer asked Howard Wolfson whether the Washington Post headline "Obama Secures Nomination" was accurate. Wolfson couldn't answer the question. After the interview, the anchors were laughing about it. And, of course, Wolfson's behavior was indeed ridiculous.
Her middle finger of a speech is going to make it a lot easier for Obama to keep her off the ticket. The longer she delays making a "decision" the more irrelevant she becomes. Who will bother to watch another speech by her at this point now, anyway. Who cares what she says? Her effort to continue this race is untenable and her posture is laughable. She is forfeiting any claims to leadership at this point.
Frances, it ,looks like you're right about HRC having screwed herself on VP with that speech. I think it was already dead, but now she's got much less leverage.
It looks like HRC made a bad miscalculation, trying to extort her way onto the ticket by withholding her endorsement, hence all the feelers from her people that went out simultaneously with that speech. I've always said that I thought she would jump for VP if she lost the nom itself. She and Bill just can't stand to be out of the spotlight, can't stand to NOT be campaigning when the Dems have a real shot at power.
But Obama has done a good job of swatting that shit back, so now we're getting this story about how HRC probably won't be willing to let Bill go through the necessary vetting were she to be a VP candidate--a classic fig leaf cover story to save her face. Many of the TV folks (Fineman, Alter, etc.) are getting this wrong, I think, by buying into the accompanying--and more recent--cover story that she doesn't really want it. She wanted it, he quickly told her no, both sides are now working to keep her dignity.
Post a Comment
<< Home