Peggy Noonan uses her column to make a point about the state of the Democratic contest. It ain't pretty:
What the Democrats lost this week was the chance to paint the '08 campaign as a brilliant Napoleonic twinning of strategy and tactics that left history awed. What they have instead is a ticket to Verdun. Trench warfare, and the daily, wearying life of the soldier under siege. The mud, the cold, the dank water rotting the boots, all of it punctuated by mad cries of "Over the top," bayonets fixed.
The imagery is simply delicious. If nothing else, the 2008 contest has defied the expectations of political hacks on all sides. It was supposed to be over early. Nope...and perhaps not until the convention itself will a Democratic nominee be chosen (making those torpid affairs worth watching for the first time in a generation).
It was supposed to be a Clinton coronation or, perhaps the second coming, with Obama leading the angelic host. No on both counts.
Instead, it's a slugging match. Put your money on the fighter with the better cut man. That means Michelle Obama v. Bill Clinton and in spite of each one's verbal gaffes, Bill wins that match-up hands down.
Not that this means anyone ought to rejoice in a Clinton nomination victory. Noonan quotes the quotable Christopher Hitchens on what her nomination will bring:
Hillary is the next president, he told radio's Hugh Hewitt, because, "there's something horrible and undefeatable about people who have no life except the worship of power . . . people who don't want the meeting to end, the people who just are unstoppable, who only have one focus, no humanity, no character, nothing but the worship of money and power. They win in the end."
Perhaps they have. And in this case, Mme. Clinton's worship of power may yet vault her into the general election. But does that necessarily mean she wins in November?
I don't think so. While Clinton appeals to many, she repels even more. I like to think that in their bones, the American people retain both a mild dislike for dynasties and a much stronger one for those who thirst too openly for power.
This election will thoroughly test my assumption.
Puppies and politics
I don't know so much about the undefeatable business. I'm still waiting for Hill's version of the penultimate scene in 101 Dalmatians (the animated version)-Cruella deVille pounding the steering wheel in the wrecked roadster.
Quite frankly, you're wrong....
Individuals may disdain the avarice and ambition of Mrs. Clinton. However, she articulates a vision for this country and its perceived "ills": lack of health care, uneven wealth distribution, declining purchasing power, etc.
However, it takes a competent messenger to overcome a product of social and political climbing. I am doubtful that the GOP has such a standard bearer. Senator McCain does not articulate the views of the Scottish Enlightenment well, much less a dumbed-down version of these values. Instead, he is a decent man without the most basic fundamental knowledge of Smith's "commercial society." The socialist palaver of Mrs. Clinton will go virtually unchallenged and despite her disgusting ambition, the people will vote for the "easy" case of socialist economics.
Me wrong? But that's
Me wrong? But that's unpossible!
I agree that McCain is a largely inarticulate spokesman for free market thought. Most Republicans are (which is another of their many, and manifest, problems).
And by the same token, there can be little doubt that Clinton has tapped a vein of doubt (however irrational it might be) and it could very well sweep her into power.
But I still believe her negatives will drag her down. And over the course of a general election campaign, those negatives will only be amplified. Will that be enough to thwart her ambition? Again, I believe so (with fingers crossed).
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