Hillary Clinton: You don't need Bill Clinton to win this race.

[Colobo]

She just needs to be herself, as she apparently was on Monday. Let it out: show people who you really are and forget about what Penn, Wolfson and the other hacks you have working for you tell you. Forget about the 1990s. Forget about Bill. Just be yourself and show the people what you as a public servant have been all about, what you want to accomplish and WHY you want to accomplish it.

That's it. That's all she needs to translate yesterday's victory into a victory in the primaries.

[TwilightZone]

1. One of Al Gore's biggest mistakes...

was not taking advantage of arguably one of the best political campaigners of his generation.

Campaigning is largely about schmoozing people and raising money. Even with his negatives, Bill is still one of the best at those two things.

[cmaff05]

2. Huh?

How could he take advantage of Bill Clinton? Clinton was the incumbent president then...

[TwilightZone]

3. I'm not sure what your point is. There's nothing stopping a sitting president from campaigning.

Bush has been doing it for six years.

[cmaff05]

5. ...

Which presidental candidate has he been campaigning for this year?

[TwilightZone]

6. I have no idea what you're talking about.

Let's see if I can make this a little clearer for you.

In 2000, Al Gore ran for president. Rather than running on the successes of the Clinton/Gore administration, he chose to distance himself from both the record and Clinton.

Clinton, meanwhile, was a proven top-notch campaigner and fundraiser. He loves to campaign; it's his thing.

Al Gore, for whatever reason, chose to largely ignore that resource and essentially spent a lot of time acting as though '92-'00 didn't exist.

His personal animosity aside, he was trying to win a presidential election, and he ignored perhaps the most important single resource available to him. That, in my opinion, was a big mistake.

[ronnykmarshall]

4. I found my own voice.

I think she's right about that.

[Colobo]

7. Yep, she's finding her OWN rhythm and voice.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

8. Hi Katzenkavalier

I am avoiding logging on to DU because I consider it important that I like Barack Obama, but I intensely dislike most Obama supporters here, and it poisons my perceptions.

But I came here today to say something to you specifically. A black President is not just a dream. A female President is also not just a dream. I am guessing you are young, (and guessing you grew up in Brazil, since you mentioned Portuguese being your first language and Brazil is a lot bigger than Portugal)

I am not ancient, but I am older, and was born in the very deep south, and have seen more change first-hand, and I can tell you that the generational divide in racial, gender and sexual orientation attitudes is astonishing. The simple math of generational attrition guarantees that America twenty years from now will be unrecognizable... nobody will even talk about this shit.

I am almost exactly Obama's age and I grew up amid formal apartheid in the south. There is a world of difference between something being perhaps ten years too soon and being just a dream.

I had lunch with my elderly mother after Iowa, and she was open in her disappointment that she would die without seeing a woman in the Oval Office. To her, it was held out and then snatched away... just a dream.

Fortunately for you, Obama may still yet win and, unlike my mother, I have no doubt that you will live to see an America remarkably free of race prejudice.

Also, about your candidate. I have always been 100% about electability, and he has shown me a lot. Despite the fact of race prejudice that I have always believed would hamper him, I have concluded that he brings enough to the table that I no longer worry too much about him being nominated. The insane level of Hillary hate in the media is probably a comparable handicap. Both of them would start the race with a built in five point deficit versus any white male non-Clinton Democrat.

Since being Hillary seems about equal to being black, and since Barack is a more talented politician, I no longer have a strong preference. Iowa showed that young people can sometimes get involved if led by the hand. New Hampshire has reminded us that women are an oppressed majority that may be enjoying their own awakening. (Remember that black men had the vote, at least formally, fifty years before black women did)

It's all good.

And, though it might be a dangerous combination of negatives, I have come to believe that Clinton/Obama would be the most broadly restorative ticket for the party and the nation. I want Barack around. I want him to be the first black President. And if that happens this year, that's great. If it happens later, that's great. And if other black candidates emerge who blow Barack away, that's good too. (I really like Artur Davis)

Anyway, you seem a fine man and I hate to see you disappointed. The swings of the last week have refocused me on the difficulty of a Democrat winning at all, and I am confident that whoever wins the nomination will be the right person... who better to pick who voters will vote for than the voters?

[Colobo]

10. Thanks, Kurt... honestly, from the heart...

Thanks... I gotta work now, but I will respond to your post in detail tonight... but once again, thanks...

[maddiejoan]

9. couldn't agree more

If Gore told his handlers to eff off things would have been very different

If Kerry had told his handlers to eff off --same.

When Hillary is herself

anger at the NH debates
passionate at the Diner

or even compassionate at the hostage situation a while back --people liked the unguarded Hillary.

The unguarded Hillary is one I've seen for years, it shows up in personal appearances far better than on camera, but
when it does show --when she is authentic--she's reveals herself to me the smart, passionate and yes --warm woman that she is.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

11. She is as bound by prejudice as anyone.

When I see the brittle persona she has adopted to get along in a man's world I am reminded of Clarence Thomas.

I saw Thomas once on C-Span once addressing a small black conservative group, the one tiny minority group he really fits in, and he was natural and funny. I wouldn't have recognized him if his name wasn't on the screen... knit shirt, no glasses to hide behind, no ponderous parody of "white speak." He even had some flavor to his idioms.

If Clarence Thomas is secretly human, Hillary might be the life of the party when she feels safe... no press, no favor-seekers, no disloyal gossips.