Joe Klein in Time ...
Time Magazine has published a most interesting article by Joe Klein, whose edgiest output was the infamous 1996 novel Primary Colors, originally published by Random House as "A Novel of Politics by Anonymous," and then turned into an amazing film -- both said to be inspired by Bill Clinton's first presidential campaign. Here are excerpts:
On the Friday before her resurrection, Hillary Clinton seemed exhausted, played out ... It was easy to assume ... that this was coming to an end ... And then something happened ... appearance on Saturday Night Live ... tapped into the slow boil that many of Clinton's female supporters had experienced during Obama's February — that feeling of taking a backseat to the egos of others who might not work as hard or know as much as they did. A feminine fury was abroad in the land; on March 4, women represented a staggering 59% and 57% of the Democratic electorates in Ohio and Texas, respectively ...
But there were more prosaic, political things working to Clinton's advantage as well. Tiny fissures were beginning to appear in Obama's shining armor. I thought he won the Texas and Ohio debates with his elegant counterpunching and cool demeanor, but I was wrong: Clinton's policy details — her specificity and passion on health insurance during the 16-min. volley with Obama that was later, foolishly, derided by the media — apparently conveyed a degree of caring and preparation that seemed more reliable than her opponent's shiny intellect and rhetoric. On the ground in Texas and Ohio, she began to seem more real than he did ...
Outside the debates, there were the first sprigs of evidence that Obama was a politician like any other ... association with the shady Chicago developer Antoin Rezko ... strange NAFTA flap with the Canadians ...
... another issue bubbling .. Obama's patriotism ... Michelle's moment was her extremely unfortunate statement that the success of her husband's campaign had made her "proud of my country" for the first time in her adult life ... The Senator's moment came in the Ohio debate when he played political word games before rejecting the support of the bigot Louis Farrakhan. The hesitation was noticeable — and unacceptable ...
However ... the fundamental mistake at the heart of the Clinton campaign: a stifling literalism, which leads to caution and an overweening sense of calculation; the absence of art and creativity. Her February nosedive ensued ...
Finally, with nothing left to lose, the actual Hillary Clinton came back, in a dizzying array of moods and aspects that seemed to confuse the press. She was gracious toward Obama at the end of the Texas debate. She was furious — "Shame on you, Barack Obama!" — in Ohio. She was sarcastic, mocking Obama's high-flown rhetoric, in Rhode Island. And she was a tough-minded, gritty, independent woman throughout, a woman on her own, as so many working women find themselves these days, cleaning up the messes that their feckless men have made. I cannot emphasize enough how important it was that Bill Clinton was out of the frame. She appeared alone onstage in victory in Ohio — and alone is the only way she can win the nomination ...
Obama did raise his game in recent weeks ... But his TV cool requires a certain distance, and distance easily slides into remoteness. Sitting on a tractor in Texas on March 4, he didn't look as out of place as Michael Dukakis in a tank — but he did seem like a tourist getting his picture taken with a longhorn cow, a visitor to the hinterland. He badly needs to get down, get gritty, sweat a little, show that he is willing to scuff his shoes in pursuit of the nomination ...
But the victories gave Clinton so much more ... she has finally defined herself as a public figure, and an attractive one at that, with a personality independent of her husband's. Her flashes of anger and sarcasm, her occasional emotional overflows ... recognizable human qualities that, in the strangest turnabout of this campaign, have made her seem more accessible than her opponent ...
If you''d like, read it all: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1719898-2,00.html
Positively,
Carolan
On the Friday before her resurrection, Hillary Clinton seemed exhausted, played out ... It was easy to assume ... that this was coming to an end ... And then something happened ... appearance on Saturday Night Live ... tapped into the slow boil that many of Clinton's female supporters had experienced during Obama's February — that feeling of taking a backseat to the egos of others who might not work as hard or know as much as they did. A feminine fury was abroad in the land; on March 4, women represented a staggering 59% and 57% of the Democratic electorates in Ohio and Texas, respectively ...
But there were more prosaic, political things working to Clinton's advantage as well. Tiny fissures were beginning to appear in Obama's shining armor. I thought he won the Texas and Ohio debates with his elegant counterpunching and cool demeanor, but I was wrong: Clinton's policy details — her specificity and passion on health insurance during the 16-min. volley with Obama that was later, foolishly, derided by the media — apparently conveyed a degree of caring and preparation that seemed more reliable than her opponent's shiny intellect and rhetoric. On the ground in Texas and Ohio, she began to seem more real than he did ...
Outside the debates, there were the first sprigs of evidence that Obama was a politician like any other ... association with the shady Chicago developer Antoin Rezko ... strange NAFTA flap with the Canadians ...
... another issue bubbling .. Obama's patriotism ... Michelle's moment was her extremely unfortunate statement that the success of her husband's campaign had made her "proud of my country" for the first time in her adult life ... The Senator's moment came in the Ohio debate when he played political word games before rejecting the support of the bigot Louis Farrakhan. The hesitation was noticeable — and unacceptable ...
However ... the fundamental mistake at the heart of the Clinton campaign: a stifling literalism, which leads to caution and an overweening sense of calculation; the absence of art and creativity. Her February nosedive ensued ...
Finally, with nothing left to lose, the actual Hillary Clinton came back, in a dizzying array of moods and aspects that seemed to confuse the press. She was gracious toward Obama at the end of the Texas debate. She was furious — "Shame on you, Barack Obama!" — in Ohio. She was sarcastic, mocking Obama's high-flown rhetoric, in Rhode Island. And she was a tough-minded, gritty, independent woman throughout, a woman on her own, as so many working women find themselves these days, cleaning up the messes that their feckless men have made. I cannot emphasize enough how important it was that Bill Clinton was out of the frame. She appeared alone onstage in victory in Ohio — and alone is the only way she can win the nomination ...
Obama did raise his game in recent weeks ... But his TV cool requires a certain distance, and distance easily slides into remoteness. Sitting on a tractor in Texas on March 4, he didn't look as out of place as Michael Dukakis in a tank — but he did seem like a tourist getting his picture taken with a longhorn cow, a visitor to the hinterland. He badly needs to get down, get gritty, sweat a little, show that he is willing to scuff his shoes in pursuit of the nomination ...
But the victories gave Clinton so much more ... she has finally defined herself as a public figure, and an attractive one at that, with a personality independent of her husband's. Her flashes of anger and sarcasm, her occasional emotional overflows ... recognizable human qualities that, in the strangest turnabout of this campaign, have made her seem more accessible than her opponent ...
If you''d like, read it all: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1719898-2,00.html
Positively,
Carolan
Comments