WP, E. J. Dionne: Post-Crucible Clinton

[DeepModem Mom]

Post-Crucible Clinton
By E. J. Dionne Jr.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008; Page A15

Hillary Clinton still has a lot to win this year, but not the presidency and not the vice presidency.

With Barack Obama having effectively secured the Democratic presidential nomination, it is hard for the Clinton camp to focus on her successes in this contest. But Clinton now possesses strengths she did not enjoy when the campaign began. She is, more than ever, her own person, having emerged decisively from the shadow of her husband. Indeed, she did far better when Bill Clinton played a supporting role than when he was out front, notably during the disastrous South Carolina primary. There is now a Hillary Clinton constituency in the Democratic Party distinct from the one the former president built.

Cartoonists and satirists mocked Hillary Clinton's incarnation as a fighter for blue-collar voters. Yet those who know her well think the fighting Hillary is closer to her self-image -- that of someone who has had to overcome many blows in life -- than the inevitable nominee who wove a web of entitlement around herself and ran on experience, much of which was derivative of her husband's. The Hillary Clinton of the late primaries dispelled this portrait, campaigning more on empathy than on résumé, and more on the problems of today's economy than on her husband's economic achievements.

And Clinton did her party and Obama a favor by focusing on the Democrats' potential weaknesses among blue-collar whites. This problem is not unique to Obama. Both Al Gore and John Kerry underperformed with these voters, particularly among men. That Obama has been pushed off his oratorical pedestal and encouraged to connect with disaffected whites will save him trouble in the fall. Clinton, widely seen as the champion of older, well-educated feminist women, could be remembered as the politician who brought the party back to its working-class roots.

Yet these achievements have come at a high cost for Clinton, and a $20 million campaign debt may be the least of her troubles. To consolidate her gains while repairing the damage to her standing from a bitter contest, she will have to abandon efforts to block Obama's nomination. She can keep fighting, or she can become a powerful figure in the Democratic Party. She cannot do both....

***

...(T)he best antidote to this melancholy is for her supporters to see that the Hillary Clinton who has emerged from these primaries is a stronger and more independent figure than the candidate who once hoped she could parlay the past into the White House. Her future depends on discovering a new role, even if it is not the one she had originally hoped to play.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/12/AR2008051202328.html?nav=hcmodule

[LisaM]

1. Post-crucible is a really good way to put it.

I refer people to a book called "The Devil in Massachusetts".

[Vincardog]

2. She can keep fighting, or she can become a powerful figure in the Democratic Party. She cannot do bo

I predict she will fight on and render herself into a cartoonish figure.

[damntexdem]

4. She could regain some credibility and become a real player in the Dem Party ...

if she doesn't screw up by hurting the Party even worse this year.

[eleny]

3. It was a mistake to use the race card

But it was very powerful to keep stressing blue collar issues. Definitely.

Too bad she made this one of her strong issues too late. It makes it too hard to offer her the VP job.