E. J. Dionne: Post-Crucible Clinton

[babylonsister]

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/05/campaign_creates_a_new_clinton.html

Post-Crucible Clinton
By E. J. Dionne

WASHINGTON -- Hillary Clinton still has a lot to win this year, but not the presidency and not the vice presidency.

With Barack Obama having effectively secured the Democratic presidential nomination, it is hard for the Clinton camp to focus on her successes in this contest. But Clinton now possesses strengths she did not enjoy when the campaign began.

snip//

For both Clintons, one of the most painful aspects of this campaign has been their alienation from so many black voters. Any moves that risk further divisions in the Democratic Party -- Hillary Clinton's comment last week about Obama's weakness among voters who are "hard-working" and "white" didn't help -- will aggravate a problem she wants to go away.

So would an orchestrated campaign by Clinton supporters to push Obama hard to make her the vice presidential nominee. An aggressive Clinton for vice president campaign would simply reopen fights that are just ending and offer Obama two bad choices: either to look weak by capitulating to pressure from the defeated wing of the party, or to look spiteful by refusing to take Clinton on.

On the other hand, choosing a Clinton supporter as a running mate -- the obvious possibilities are Govs. Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania and Ted Strickland of Ohio or Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana -- could serve Obama's interest while assuaging a certain sourness that lingers in the Clinton camp.

But the best antidote to this melancholy is for her supporters to see that the Hillary Clinton who has emerged from these primaries is a stronger and more independent figure than the candidate who once hoped she could parlay the past into the White House. Her future depends on discovering a new role, even if it is not the one she had originally hoped to play.

[Hardrada]

1. What country was Shirley Temple Black ambassador to?

[TahitiNut]

2. Ghana then Czechoslovakia

:evilgrin: She's a Republican.

[babylonsister]

5. May I ask where that question came from? nt

[Hardrada]

6. Sure.

[Carrieyazel]

3. Dionne is one of the best, but his "obvious VP choices" are way off

None of those three will be BO's VP.

[babylonsister]

4. He's not suggesting they are. It's a 'what if' scenario. Dionne is a

good, fair, journalist, I agree.

[elana i am]

7. um...

<<<the Hillary Clinton who has emerged from these primaries is a stronger and more independent figure>>>

not hardly.

[saltpoint]

8. Thank you for trafficking in excellent journalists. And for encouraging us

to as well.

Agree with you on Dionne.

The discovery of a new role for HClinton is her best path forward. A good start would be for her to privately meet with the Obama camp and forget it. She and her husband could become "U.S. Ambassadors to New Orleans" to revive that city after George W. Bush abandoned it.

[babylonsister]

9. You are very welcome, OC. I do so enjoy

posting articles from people I admire and agree with.