A Kinder,Gentler Bill Clinton?
As we suggested on Saturday, it has dawned on the genius’s in the Clinton campaign that maybe Bill should go back on his meds. After two weeks of red-faced outbursts against Obama, a new Bill will emerge this morning.
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign team, seeking to readjust after her lopsided defeat in South Carolina and amid a sense among many Democrats that Mr. Clinton had injected himself clumsily into the race, will try to shift the former president back into the sunnier, supportive-spouse role that he played before Mrs. Clinton’s loss in the Iowa caucuses, Clinton advisers said.
But Democrats said it was not clear whether the effects of Mr. Clinton’s high profile could be brushed away by having him modulate his campaign style. They said Mr. Clinton had upset some of the central themes of Mrs. Clinton’s campaign, including her appeal to women and her assertions that her time in the White House during the 1990s amounted to vital experience rather than a link to a presidency defined as much by scandal and partisan divisions as by its successes on fronts like the economy.
Sunday must have been a depressing day for Team Billary. The morning started with Caroline Kennedy’s tribute to Barack and Frank Rich’s long piece on how Billary could be defeated by John McCain (The Times two most emailed articles of the last 24 hours). By the end of the Sunday talk shows they had learned that Teddy Kennedy was so pissed off about Bill’s low road attacks that he would abandon his traditional pre-convention neutrality and endorse and campaign for Obama. By sunset they knew that Toni Morrison, who had called Bill the “nation’s first Black President”, was going to endorse Barack. Charley Rangel, who is going to be as lonely as the Maytag repair man, in the Black Caucus told the Times Mr. Clinton was going to pull back. “He’s got to,” Mr. Rangel said. “The focus has got to get back on Hillary. For all that he cares about his wife, this has to be her election to win, and it’s become too much about his role.”
Personally, I’m not sure it will be easy for either Mark Penn or Hillary to control Bill. He has developed such a sense of entitlement that the big dog will pee anywhere he wants to. This morning on the Today Show, Clinton sock-puppet Paul Begala (having been banned from CNN) acted as if nothing was wrong comparing Bill to the Patriot’s Tom Brady as the best in the business. Surrounded by syncophants, Bill will never change. What is interesting to watch is that the Democratic Establishment is slowly recoiling from the Clinton assault. The more the idea of the Billary Co-Presidency became established last week, the more the party elders rethought their support. My guess is that Hillary’s supposed lock on Super Delegates is going to look increasingly tenuous in the coming weeks.
Jon,
The connotations of the “Billary Co-Presidency” label are so loud I almost fell out of my chair! Did you write that? If so, kudos to you. I’ve been saying stop Bush-Bush-Clinton-Clinton and let’s see some political change … but “Billary” in the House makes the point so much more eloquently. Good one.
I see a real possibility that it will wind up being Billary vs. McCain, and I think Billary is defeatable, if that’s a word. If that happens, I’ll probably write in Obama.
I suspect that in Senate and Congress races, the Dems will do very well…hopefully well enough to counter a McCain presidency. Then look for Billary to fade away, and look for Obama to make another stab at it in 2012 as McCain proves his ineptitude and more voters tire of warmongering. Of course this scenario means another four years of bickering, but at least there might be enough senators and congresspeople to override McCain vetoes.
McCain is the classic hammer looking for nails to hit as it’s the only thing he knows. To him, every foreign policy decision needs a military backup. There will be more wars as that’s how you get your way in his world. As Robert MacNamarra figured out…
I’ll be watching it all from Tasmania, Australia, thank you very much…
I think we are a long ways off from nominating Mrs. Clinton. I’m not sure that Super Tuesday will even settle the matter.
Well, I like the sentiment there, Jon. My natural slight tendency toward cynicism nudges me the other way, though. I certainly haven’t given up, but there’s a element out there that is so desperate to see a woman up for the presidential election that the wrong woman becomes their choice. It’s the politics of making a point rather than helping to make a change. It’s why we had Nader as an election spoiler and wound up with too much Bush. I’ll bet that a lot of the Nader supporters have lived to regret their votes.
As I indicated, what I’m counting on is an overwhelming victory for the Dems for the senate and house. An Obama presidency would then be quite something, but a McCain victory might not be an unmitigated disaster either as he’d be held in check if not checkmate. I think Billary have alienated a lot of their fellow Democrats now, and I’m not sure they’d be able to work all that well with the rest of the world…abroad and “Inside the Beltway.”
Isaid above that Charley Rangel was going to be as lonely as the Maytag repairman in the Black Caucus. I didn’t realize even his own wife would come out for Barack.
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/30/on-michelle-obamas-guest-list-alma-rangel/
[...] 2, 2008 · No Comments As I have said before Bill Clinton seems to have a kind of Bipolar mood during this long campaign. Over the weekend Bill [...]