Just as John McCain starts his do-over of the 2000 election, Hillary is hoping for a rerun of that 1992 Clinton classic, "The Comeback Kid," but the script and casting present problems.
Yesterdays wins will keep her onstage, but Barack Obama is no Paul Tsongas or Jerry Brown to be overtaken in the late primaries, her timing is off and TV gigs on Saturday Night Live and the Daily Show won't do as much as the 60 Minutes soap opera about Gennifer Flowers did to turn things around back then.
Moreover, this Clinton faces a dilemma her spouse did not have to deal with--the risk of tearing her party apart with attacks on a front runner that the Republicans can put to good use if Obama wins the nomination.
In the red phone commercial and statements pairing her experience with McCain's in contrast to Obama's sparse resume, the former First Lady is on a scorched-earth march that won't overcome the deadly delegate math she is facing and that may damage her standing with a party desperate to wrest the White House from those who have taken the country into a devastating war and on to the verge of economic disaster.
Sequels seldom live up to the originals, and Hillary Clinton is not enough of a political artist to give us a Godfather II.
Showing posts with label Comeback Kid. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Comeback Kid. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Monday, January 14, 2008
The McCain Mutiny
Now that he is the Republican front runner again (talk about Comeback Kids!), John McCain has a bull's eye on his back for all manner of Conservatives, and today's Washington Post recites the litany.
"For at least eight years," the Post reports, "official Republican Washington has been dominated by what McCain advocates have called President Bush's 'Death Star'--an array of advocacy groups and lobbyists that backed Bush in 2000 and have remained the city's conservative power brokers.
"Republican politicians with national ambitions genuflect to (David) Keene at his Conservative Political Action Conference. They sign (Grover) Norquist's pledge not to raise taxes and attend the weekly conservative conclaves over which he presides as the head of Americans for Tax Reform. And they curry favor with religious conservatives such as Ralph Reed, the former head of the Christian Coalition."
At one time or another, McCain has poked a finger in the eye of these king makers with his position on issues, as the executive director of Gun Owners of America points out. "I can tell you every single immigration activist and organization is terrified by the New Hampshire results," says the executive director of an "immigration reduction" group.
If Huckabee and Thompson fail to keep McCain from taking South Carolina, all these idealists will be put to a severe reality test. At the moment, Sen. Jim DeMint is backing Romney there, but John McCain's Baghdad traveling companion and likely running mate, Lindsey Graham, will be trying to tip the scales in his favor.
In 2000, Karl Rove bushwhacked McCain there, but that kind of ambush is not in the cards this time.
"For at least eight years," the Post reports, "official Republican Washington has been dominated by what McCain advocates have called President Bush's 'Death Star'--an array of advocacy groups and lobbyists that backed Bush in 2000 and have remained the city's conservative power brokers.
"Republican politicians with national ambitions genuflect to (David) Keene at his Conservative Political Action Conference. They sign (Grover) Norquist's pledge not to raise taxes and attend the weekly conservative conclaves over which he presides as the head of Americans for Tax Reform. And they curry favor with religious conservatives such as Ralph Reed, the former head of the Christian Coalition."
At one time or another, McCain has poked a finger in the eye of these king makers with his position on issues, as the executive director of Gun Owners of America points out. "I can tell you every single immigration activist and organization is terrified by the New Hampshire results," says the executive director of an "immigration reduction" group.
If Huckabee and Thompson fail to keep McCain from taking South Carolina, all these idealists will be put to a severe reality test. At the moment, Sen. Jim DeMint is backing Romney there, but John McCain's Baghdad traveling companion and likely running mate, Lindsey Graham, will be trying to tip the scales in his favor.
In 2000, Karl Rove bushwhacked McCain there, but that kind of ambush is not in the cards this time.
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