Oops

Back in the Fall, I had thought Chris Dodd would be on Hillary’s veep shortlist. He’s an experienced Senator, just to the left of moderate, well-spoken, a white male, friendly to her in the debates, etc. Well, he endorsed Barry Obam today, so I suppose that won’t happen. And while we’re at it, we can slot his name into the Obama shortlist.

Hillary has has probably sealed her fate over the past few days. She’ll be a Senator for as long as she wants, but nothing more. Her campaign has disintegrated into chaos.

Tonite’s debate should be very interesting. Only a week removed from, “I am honored to be here with Barack Obama,” she’s going to have a very hard time walking back from “Shame on you, Barack Obama.” Supposedly that was an unscripted moment. Her handlers would have done well to reign her in on that one.

The argument was over Obama campaign mailers regarding NAFTA, which are of course factual. She may oppose it now, but regardless of her vehemence, both she and her #1 campaign surrogate (whose name rhymes with “Hill Clinton”) fought hard for it in 1993. NAFTA was the signal achievement of Bill Clinton’s first term, while healthcare reform died on the table. I still remember learning about NAFTA in history class during 4th grade. NAFTA was, and remains, a very big deal. Hillary can’t expect anyone to consider only her recent history on that matter. This incident is indicative both of Hillary’s foolishness regarding the astuteness of the electorate, and of her laziness in working to convince them of her virtues.

Hillary has done something I have never seen before in a presidential race -- she has completely reversed my opinions of her, both personal and professional. Prior to the primary season, I liked most of her policy positions, thought she was a savvy politician, and gave her more credit for being honorable than did most people. Over the course of the last three months, however, she has shown herself to be unimaginative, brutal, and clueless.

She seized the anti-Bush, anti-war, pro-people mantle early in the campaign, and was right to do so. But, as the U.S. economy went from bad to worse, and foreign trouble spread beyond Iraq, she lost touch with popular sentiments. Voters are eager for solutions. Things are bad right now, and will likely remain bad for years. A few pragmatic, though major, policy shifts will not cure national pessimism. It will take a sea change to fix everything that’s gone wrong in the last decade.

The problems range beyond the institutional Washington quagmires. There’s more to the divide than a widespread hatred of George W. Bush. Conservatives and liberals across the country have been conditioned to despise each other, and that is a serious problem that will require reforming our attitudes toward the government and toward each other. People want to move forward and stop fighting with each other, but someone has to set the tone. Hillary never picked up on that sentiment. Obama did, and here we are today.

Hillary missed a big opportunity with this Drudge photo flap. It’s racist and wrong for all the obvious reasons -- namely perpetuating the fear-mongering and false belief that Obama is a Muslim. The Clinton campaign had an opportunity to denounce the photo, and they didn’t. They said it was a covert smear job by the Obama campaign. Drudge cited the photo to a Clinton staffer, though, so that holds no water.

Hillary had the chance to come out hard against the intentions behind the photograph. She could have said any of the following: this is unacceptable; we would never do this, and it’s beneath the dignity of the Democratic party; we don’t tolerate that behavior on my staff, and we’ll fire anyone we find to be responsible. She could have taken the high road and looked righteous, but instead she just took a swing. Wrong choice.

Hillary has recently come out against Obama’s idea of change by saying that we have seen some of the worst changes imaginable over the last seven years. This is true, but wouldn’t she like to take the fright that our government has become and change it into something far better -- something not limited by the major policy achievements of the years 1993-98?

This campaign has recently shifted from being one about a choice between three excellent candidates, into a battle of good and evil.

Hillary sarcastically mocked Obama’s rhetoric at a rally over the weekend, lampooning the idea that we can unify the country and achieve some positive, lasting impact in our lives.

Perhaps someone could make a “No, you can’t” video starring Hillary. Who told her that it’s a good idea to seem as mean as John McCain, and as crotchety as Fred Thompson? More importantly, who forgot to tell her that people never vote against hope?

Her recent tactics are cruel and unnecessary. She’s hurting everyone but McCain. What’s more, it’s too late. These attacks might have introduced some self-consciousness into Obama’s campaign last year, undercutting him before he could build national support, but now it looks cruel and desperate. It must never have occurred to Clinton that if you mock Obama’s idealism, you mock those who believe in Obama because his idealism resembles their own. It is a colossal, and hopefully final, mistake.

This sarcastic reviling of Obama demonstrates that Hillary has no interest in healing the divisions that have ruined the government and created discord across the country. Perhaps she doesn’t think it’s possible. Perhaps she doesn’t want to make nice with Republicans (understandable). Or, perhaps she appreciates the current political mechanism, and doesn’t mind the politics of fear. Maybe she’s arrogant enough to think we should beat the GOP at their own game. That seems to be the most likely mindset.

If that’s the case, then she misses the point yet again. If we could take away the GOP’s ability to play the terror card every time they need to pass a bill on corporate security, we might finally have a government that works for the benefit of its constituents and the world at large. Hillary seems all too willing to continue playing by the GOP’s rules. GOP rule #1: everyone loses.

Meanwhile, Texas is a statistical dead heat, and Ohio polls are wide in their variance -- some have her up by 11 percentage points, some by as few as 3. She’ll probably win Ohio (no one cares about Chris Dodd there), but that’s not enough. She has to run up the score.

Trailing in national polls, and by over 100 pledged delegates, she needs to flash some swing-state dominance. She won’t win Texas by the margin she needed to in order to close the delegate gap, so she needs to win Ohio by at least 10 points -- and in all likelihood more like 20. If she loses Texas, regardless of the margin, then it’s over for her. Dean and Superdelegates (great name for a band) will never allow this fight to go on to Pennsylvania -- a full 7 weeks away. The chances continue to dwindle, and she’s increasingly unlikely to make a successful case to secure the nomination.

The crazy thing is that I still wouldn’t weep if she were in the Oval Office, because she might get some good things done. But if Obama is not on the ticket, we’ll have lost a level of faith in candidates and the political process that we might never recover, at least not until the next generation of unspoiled voters comes of age.