The new Time magazine is out, and there are articles by Joe Klein and Karen Tumulty on the Democratic campaign and why Hillary has fallen behind. Klein talks about how Obama has out-organized the Clinton campaign, how Hillary has failed to be inspirational, how she assumed the nomination was hers. Tumulty writes more about the deficiencies in the Clinton campaign staff and their lack of money. In both cases, the articles talk about the "inside politics," the behind-the-scenes stuff that probably seems exciting to those who have been covering this campaign for close to a year.
All of these things may be true. Maybe Hillary should have put more people on the ground, maybe she assumed too much about her inevitability.
But maybe, more importantly, we just don't like her, we just don't want her to be our president. That office is still seen as an honor by most people; perhaps we don't want to convey that honor upon her.
There may be many different reasons someone doesn't like her: her voice, her husband (not everyone, even Democrats, felt that 1993-2001 was a dream time), her gender, her clothing, and so forth. Perhaps there were those who felt her ambition was too skewed toward the personal, that she didn't necessarily get up every morning thinking about what she could do to help people.
Whatever the reason, it is possible that no amount of organization, no optimization of staff, no level of funding would have put her in any different position than the one she finds herself in today. (And let's stop assuming it's over, it's not.)
I enjoy reading the "inside" stuff, hearing the pundits dissect it with Tim and George and Bob, but we should at least consider the possibility that we know Hillary - we just don't like her.
All of these things may be true. Maybe Hillary should have put more people on the ground, maybe she assumed too much about her inevitability.
But maybe, more importantly, we just don't like her, we just don't want her to be our president. That office is still seen as an honor by most people; perhaps we don't want to convey that honor upon her.
There may be many different reasons someone doesn't like her: her voice, her husband (not everyone, even Democrats, felt that 1993-2001 was a dream time), her gender, her clothing, and so forth. Perhaps there were those who felt her ambition was too skewed toward the personal, that she didn't necessarily get up every morning thinking about what she could do to help people.
Whatever the reason, it is possible that no amount of organization, no optimization of staff, no level of funding would have put her in any different position than the one she finds herself in today. (And let's stop assuming it's over, it's not.)
I enjoy reading the "inside" stuff, hearing the pundits dissect it with Tim and George and Bob, but we should at least consider the possibility that we know Hillary - we just don't like her.
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