Time out for a campaign sideswipe:
One of Hillary Clinton’s stock lines–part of reminding us that there’s only one candidate in the race who will be able to find her way to the White House bathroom in the dark on Inauguration Night–is this: There’s one candidate in the race who knows what it’s like to do hand-to-hand combat with Republicans and who’s ready to put on the brass knuckles again. (As delivered in Youngstown, Ohio, earlier this week, the line was: “One of us has faced serious Republican opposition in the past. And one of us is ready to do it again.”)
Is that a note she really wants to sound? I can’t believe there’s anyone in the Democratic Party, aside from James Carville, who is eager to see a Clinton rolling around in the muck with the Republicans. The memory evokes the image of a president who parsed and prevaricated while his enemies sharpened their knives.
Besides, Clinton’s claim to be such a tough campaigner is being put to the test by the one candidate in the race she is implying is too soft to deal with the Republicans.
Poor Hillary…it’s a shame she feels compelled to play the part of mud-wrestler, since she has great moments (her closing remarks in the Texas debate) when she really connects to people in a heart-felt way that seems much more genuine. I wonder if it’s because she feels the need (as a female candidate) to be seen as “tough.” Or is she just getting bone-head advice?
It’s hard to figure out. But I think one thing that’s going on is that the Clintons can’t quite comprehend that the game plan isn’t working, and it’s very hard to get people to drop something they feel has worked for them in the past (the general approach that they’re the martest, most able policy people you’ve ever met). It is remarkable that just about anyone who has been following the campaign has two moments they’d point to when a “different” Hillary showed herself — the restaurant in New Hampshire and that moment in the Texas debate.