For the past year, I, like millions of others, have been bewildered by TV’s talking heads, always assuring us that Hillary — before a single vote was cast, before a singe attack ad was made, before a single blunder or mini-crisis occurred—was to be coronated as the Democratic nominee and would inevitably go on to beat any Republican rival. (Many instead thought ‘Never underestimate the ability of Bill Clinton to do damage to those around him’).
Now after the first week of the primary season, these same geniuses are deifying Obama (formerly trashed as running a “surprisingly” dismal and uninspiring campaign) to the skies and writing Clinton’s post mortem — even as her national polls are still even or ahead of Obama. . . .
Hillary is not comatose, but instead at a crossroads. If she distances herself from Bill, goes silent about her First Lady years, stops the play-safe, donÂ’t-blow-it-fourth-quarter strategy, and instead takes risks, talks about what sheÂ’s going to do in simple, blunt terms, gives more interviews, answers impromptu questions at her campaign stops, jettisons the canned laugh for real give and take, she could recover in two weeks.
Left unsaid is that America will soon — thanks to input from the shadows from various hitmen from the Clinton 1992/1996 team — be hearing a lot more details about the relatively unknown life and views of one Barrack Obama and those around him.
Right now voters know almost everything about Hillary and are troubled by that knowledge; they know almost nothing about Obama, and are happy for that ignorance — but that too can change, since she has nothing left to disclose or lose, he everything. |