Posted by
beltway girl on Sunday, March 09, 2008 4:31:19 AM
The idea of it coming down to a little place like Gettysburg or Vicksburg sounds way, way too much like something out of "Gone with the Wind."
But in this case, the civil war is over, and it is now impossible for Hillary to come back. She would have to go after Obama's character with a hacksaw. She would have to tear Obama into tiny bits and pieces until he looked like something left by starving wolves in a frozen wood.
And she'd do it, but she's also have to get her second round in Florida and Michigan, saying that she doesn't want these voters not to count, while at the same time leveraging herself with superdelegates in such a way as to suggest many of Obama's voters really shouldn't count.
She'd do that, too, but she'd also have to pull off sweeping victories in the remaining states so she could make her back-by-popular-demand pitch to the superdelegates. And she'd probably have to start crying again, too.
But this time, the superdelegates would be the ultimate judges of Hillary's political viability.
Ah, the superdelegates. The Party of the People's ultimate check over the judgment of the people. That touch of political provincialism introduced by the Democrats to protect them from lunatics receiving the nomination. But this time, that check being exercised not against a Gary Hart, but a Barack Obama.
If she ended up "winning" the nomination in this manner, she would alienate a whole constellation of voters to the point where she could never get them back. The ramifications of such an outcome would make the reaction to the remarks of her husband-- the Lady Macbeth of this election-- after South Carolina look like a virtual love feast in comparison.
Even if all the pieces in the unlikely plan fell into place, it's clear that Mrs. Clinton cannot win the nomination without destroying even her own chances in the general election. Jonathan Chait has discussed many, many aspects of this in a recent column for the New Republic. Chait said that by the time she was through, she wouldn't be able to beat Hitler's dog in the general election.
One has to agree with that assessment, not only because of the public outcry over the Michael Vick case, but also because of the dynamic Obama has introduced into this race. He doesn't want the same, old politics. But here, alas, are the same, old Clintons. Hillary would take all the unsavory steps necessary to secure the nomination; actually, she's already taken a few of them already. The Clintons are not above these tactics. One would think, though, that they are above cutting their own throats on the way to the general election, and this is exactly the outcome that this will produce.
For this reason, and this reason alone, one can assume that the civil war is over. But it's not any thanks to the Clintons. They would escalate this to the point that if the Democratic Party had a red phone, it would be ringing at Obama's house at three in the morning, and James Carville would be on the other end of the line.
But it won't happen. You have to admit, though, that you cannot be completely sure in this case.
Will Hillary turn into one of those bad ex-boyfriends people always have horror stories about where if it wasn't going to be him at the prom, it wasn't going to be anyone? Would the Clintons rather see the Republicans in the White House than a Democrat other than Hillary? Will Bill end up like the crazy housemaid in Hitchcock's Rebecca?
Do they think McCain is a better Democrat than Obama?
For answers to these questions, please stay tuned, as the Bill and Hillary Show enters what reasonable people could believe are its last days.