I don’t know how much to read in the comments of HRC within the last 24 hours. I caught this excessive rant by Keith Olbermann last night and found myself smirking. Olbermann, who is the darling of the left when he’s ripping Georgie Jr. a new one, suddenly becomes a little less lovable when he turns his caustic comments on the Madonna of the Democratic party.
Asked if her continuing fight for the nomination against Senator Obama hurts the Democratic party, Sen. Hillary Clinton replied, “I don’t. Because again, I’ve been around long enough. You know, my husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. You know, I just don’t understand it. You know, there’s lots of speculation about why it is.”
(you can watch the thing here)
I don’t know, is it shock and awe?
Shock, that the presumptive nominee is watching her campaign falter and trying to figure out just what the strategy is to save some face or awe, that she has actually been outplayed at the game she thought she was the master of.
There are a generation of HRC supporters who figured her reward for sticking by her man as he disrespected her with his extramarital activities would be to ultimately capture the presidency for herself. It was all part of that grand design that saw an eventual return to the White House after a brief sojourn gaining political cred as a Senator from New York.
So, the question is, will we one day be seeing HRC sporting a shirt stating, ‘I stuck it out with this cheater and all I got was a lousy Senate seat.’
HRC is unquestionably a force in American politics, she is not without support but something has happened along the way to her coronation and it is a bitter pill to swallow. Somehow, in some way her status as the ‘anointed one’ was usurped.
So, were her comments wishful thinking on her part?
No, I would say not but, her memory of her husband’s candidacy is certainly in error as Billy tied up the nomination well before June. Also, primaries have been moved much, much earlier this year than in elections past so, part of the fascination with her doggedness in continuing to campaign in June has something to do with many of the primaries having long since concluded.
In the meantime, John McCain sits back and takes potshots at Barack Obama knowing full well that’s who he’ll be facing in the general election come November.
Speaking of which, if John McCain had said the same thing that HRC had said would there be less outrage over the comments or more?
I think the worry here (and justifiably so) is that as forward thinking a nation we might picture ourselves as being, there are still large swatches of the population given over to baser impulses as prejudice. While Barack Obama’s ascendancy is a cause for celebration there is a very real fear that it all could be spoiled by an idiot with a gun, a grudge and good aim.
It’s a sobering thing and I shudder to think of the kind of statement it would make to our country and the kind of response it would engender.
Of all the things to bring up though – it’s amazingly stupid and insensitive so, the question remains - why did she do it?
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