Can Hillary Cry Her Way Back to the White House? By Maureen Dowd
"...There was a poignancy about the moment, seeing Hillary crack with exhaustion from decades of yearning to be the principal rather than the plus-one. But there was a whiff of Nixonian self-pity about her choking up. What was moving her so deeply was her recognition that the country was failing to grasp how much it needs her. In a weirdly narcissistic way, she was crying for us. But it was grimly typical of her that what finally made her break down was the prospect of losing....
"...Yet, in the end, she had to fend off calamity by playing the female victim, both of Obama and of the press. Hillary has barely talked to the press throughout her race even though the Clintons this week whined mightily that the press prefers Obama.
Bill Clinton, campaigning in Henniker on Monday, also played the poor-little-woman card in a less-than-flattering way. “I can’t make her younger, taller or change her gender,” he said. He was so low-energy at events that it sometimes seemed he was distancing himself from her. Now that she is done with New Hampshire, she may distance herself from him, realizing that seeing Bill so often reminds voters that they don’t want to go back to that whole megillah again.
Hillary sounded silly trying to paint Obama as a poetic dreamer and herself as a prodigious doer. “Dr. King’s dream began to be realized when President Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act,” she said. Did any living Democrat ever imagine that any other living Democrat would try to win a presidential primary in New Hampshire by comparing herself to L.B.J.? (Who was driven out of politics by Gene McCarthy in New Hampshire.)
Her argument against Obama now boils down to an argument against idealism, which is probably the lowest and most unlikely point to which any Clinton could sink. The people from Hope are arguing against hope...."Read more.
2 comments:
maureen dowd has descended ever further to the depths of repugnance, and this catty piece is even unworthy of her worst efforts... i have no clue as to what provoked hrc's tears, whether it was stress, exhaustion, overwhelming emotions, or political calculation... i am also no fan of hrc, but, dammit, tears are part and parcel of being human, and to blow this incident up to the scope of national news and the op-ed pages of the nyt, is despicable in the extreme... i have spoken before large and small groups countless times, and i have occasionally been known to tear up over something that moves me deeply, and i'm neither proud nor ashamed of it... it's just part of life... modo can go to hell and take bill kristol with her...
In general, I agree with you about Dowd. Not, however, in this case. Hillary & Bill's distortions, whining, and exploitation of her teary moment were frankly sickening. For the twenty four hours preceding the vote in New Hampshire, CNN & MSNBC literally discussed Hillary & Bill non-stop --virtually shutting out the other candidates -- playing the same voice-cracking video of Hillary over and over again ad nauseum. The entire Bill-ary affair was orchestrated -- from their Rovian attempts to smear Obama to their distortions of his comments and positions to -- yes -- her woe-is-me moment which was, like the rest of her campaign, more about her inability to believe that ANYONE could be presumptive enough to think themselves capable of being a better president than her.
What the moment showed was the true Hillary, crying over the realization that she was losing a battle she felt she had a royal "right" to win. How dare anyone take away her turn to rule? Vulnerability wasn't the issue. Arrogance is.
The assumption behind her teary comments was that ONLY she can save our country. Her voting record and her less than courageous stand on important issues show otherwise. Her stump speeches riddled with a thousand "I's" show where her loyalties lie.
Obama has attempted to raise the civility bar in politics and has begun to inspire America in ways not dissimilar to Jack, Bobby, and Martin. We desperately NEED that. And I deeply resent the Clintons' attempts to kill that optimism instead of raising their own bar.
The last thing we need in the White House is another arrogant, elitist, entitled ruler -- Democratic, Republican, or independent. I will do everything in my power to make sure Hillary is not our next President.
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