Hillary Clinton II was down to earth and hard as nails. She laughed loudly and could sometimes be mean. She drank beer, not wine and water. In the primaries for the Democratic nomination, she never let up attacking her rival Barack Obama.
She questioned his Christianity, his patriotism, his experience, his judgement and his personal integrity. She labelled him “unrealistic.” She made it clear to the voters: I am tough and he is weak. I am real and he is the creation of a speechwriter.
The longer the campaign went on, the more these two Hillarys diverged from one another. One was a great lady, the other nothing less than a great fighter. She pulled out all the stops, resorting to everything, including self denial.
Voters wanted more emotion, so Hillary II produced tears in her eyes. Voters desired a candidate who would take on the Wall Street kingpins — Hillary II came to the fore. With high gas prices on the minds of voters, Hillary II reached for the gas pump and promised, in the era of global warming, a gas tax holiday — a suspension of the tax on gasoline during peak vacation time.
As a presidential candidate, Clinton wasn’t always elegant, but she was often impressive. She cast an uncompromising spotlight on her rival’s weaknesses. Time may very well show that she was right in many respects.
But the majority of Democratic voters didn’t flock to her on Tuesday. Her combative nature impressed many, but it scared away at least as many others.
I’m reading Carl Bernstein’s bio of her and at last feel like I understand her. She’s not the monster from Pat Buchanan’s 1992 speech but this quip from a while back still fits: she’s Reese Witherspoon in Election.
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