Not to be unkind, but how can one purport to conduct a serious post mortem of Hillary Clinton's failed candidacy without mentioning what would seem an obvious—and very important—factor: her personality that to many American was less-than-appealing, in a contest pitting her against the unusually charming Barack Obama?
Yet David Gregory ignored the personality factor entirely in his "post mortem, Powerpoint edition" on this evening's Race for the White House. Instead, he identified—and invited his panel to comment on—these five factors:
- The Iraq War Vote
- Change vs. Experience
- Dysfunction in the Campaign
- Overconfidence
- Bill
View video here.
Relevant factors all. But again, what of Hillary's personality, seen by many as cold and grating? Never mentioned. There are any number of videos illustrating the phenomenon. Here is but one.
I suppose Gregory might argue that personality is immutable, and thus not a "mistake." But at the very least, surely Hillary and her campaign can be faulted for not doing more to soften her image. Crying in New Hampshire did some short-term good, but couldn't there—shouldn't there—have been more emphasis on making Hillary more likeable?




















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...but couldn't
June 6, 2008 - 21:14 ET by MidAmerica...but couldn't there—shouldn't there—have been more emphasis on making Hillary more likeable?
Mark, I had a scary thought. Maybe this was the softer more likable hillary.
Immutable Issue Number 2
June 6, 2008 - 22:50 ET by zeestephenRace was another immutable factor in Clinton's defeat.
If Barack Obama was white, he would not be the Democratic nominee.
I don't think race was the
June 7, 2008 - 00:29 ET by fitzfongI don't think race was the factor that everyone seems to think it was. Barack Obama is young, well-educated, apparently good looking, full of energy and a good speaker. In short, he picked up where JFK, Jr. left off (without flunking the Bar as often). Sure Obama says nothing better than anyone...but JFK, Jr. did the same thing before his untimely demise. And let's face it, if JFK, Jr. hadn't flown that night, it's likely that he would have been the Junior Senator from New York...not Clinton (and perhaps Hillary would be the Junior Senator from Illinois instead of Obama, but I digress). Let's face it, since the original JFK, the Democrats have tried desperately to find the next JFK. They have a fixation with young, charming, camera-friendly cliche droppers (or other Kennedys)...Teddy, Mario Cuomo, Gary Hart, Joe Biden, Bill Clinton, JFK, Jr., John Edwards, Gavin Newsom, Heath Shuler, Antonio Villaraigiosa...even Bob Casey. Empty Suits, all of them. Barack Obama fits that club like a glove. Race has nothing to do with it.
"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it." -Ronald Reagan
Gregory had to omit analysis
June 7, 2008 - 08:41 ET by motherbeltGregory had to omit analysis of her personality; he would have been accused of sexism.
"Race Has Nothing To Do With It"
June 7, 2008 - 12:24 ET by zeestephenIs that why every MSM newspaper and TV station in the entire world - repeat, entire world - is describing Obama's victory as "Historic?"
Clinton lost by 0.1% of the popular vote.
Millions of white Americans, especially on the political Left, yearn to express their racial goodwill by electing a (self-described) black to the nation's highest office.
It is the same yearning that white sports broadcasters have for great black quarterbacks and great black coaches.
Yes, Obama is highly skilled politically, and he has charisma.
He would have given Clinton a close, tough race, even if he was white.
But I stand by my assertion - his skin color was the deciding factor in his victory over Clinton.
Whenever a Gore apologist
June 7, 2008 - 13:43 ET by fitzfongWhenever a Gore apologist whines about the popular vote in 2000, I ask the apologist who exactly are you standing up for? This is a guy who, given the relative popularity of Bill Clinton at the time, somehow managed to piss away a 17-point summer lead to barely lose in 2000. If this guy couldn't close the deal given the spike in popularity his boss gave him, he didn't deserve to win the Presidency, no matter how close. He had a huge, seemingly insurmountable advantage that he lost. In much the same way, I have no sympathy for Hillary Clinton. She had such a massive advantage that the primaries were deemed a formality to her coronation before they were even run. That she lost by 0.1% of the popular vote speaks less to a splinter in race and more to her inability to hold an insurmountable lead. She, far more than any other candidate, had a huge support that was cast in concrete...that she couldn't add to that support speaks entirely to her deficiencies...and I submit that had she not had such a huge lead in committed voters, Obama would have clobbered her. To dwell on the 0.1% advantage that he won by without that context is to totally miss the point.
Honestly, is there any discernable policy difference between Obama, Clinton, Edwards or any of the other clowns they ran in that primary? The candidates offered the exact same poison...just different delivery systems (Obama in a capsule, Clinton an injection and Edwards a suppository). Given that fact, the primary came down exclusively to personality...or what system did voters want used to deliver the same poison.
The media was always going to make that tortured "historical" argument because they all have to matter...they all want to be part of something memorable, something big. Few events give media-types the opportunity to inject themselves in history like a Presidential Election...and they were all going to hype the "first" aspect of any candidate that got the nod...first African-American, first Woman, first First Lady with cancer...they would have clutched any straw to manufacture an angle. And as there were no tangible differences in policy...they, too, were going to focus on personality.
The deciding factor in Hillary Clinton's defeat was not Obama or his skin color. It was her overconfidence, her sense of entitlement, her arrogance and her obnoxious personality. People who voted for Obama did so not just because they liked him, but because they were tired of her and the baggage she brings. Obama was simply the beneficiary because he campaigned well enough to be her chief competitor. Had Edwards or one of the others run better campaigns early on, they would have reaped the benefits...not Obama.
"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it." -Ronald Reagan
The Deciding Factor
June 7, 2008 - 16:23 ET by zeestephenfitzfong says: "The deciding factor in Hillary Clinton's defeat was not Obama or his skin color."
About 8 million blacks voted in the Demo primary.
More than 7 million voted for Obama, the self-identified black candidate.
Less than 1 million voted for Clinton.
Oh, I get it. You're
June 7, 2008 - 18:39 ET by fitzfongOh, I get it. You're saying that the only reason Hillary Clinton lost is because more African-Americans voted for Obama than voted for her. According to your earlier post, she lost by 0.1%, right? So Hillary couldn't possibly overcome that gap by earning more votes from, say, Whites, Hispanics, women, anti-war voters, blue collar voters, etc.? Your anecdotal statistic and outright dismissal of the rest of my response suggest that you're too eager to reduce the result down to race to consider other factors. She lost because she ran a lousy campaign. End of.
"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it." -Ronald Reagan
I Don't Understand Your Argument
June 8, 2008 - 01:23 ET by zeestephenNo - I said race was the decisive factor in Clinton's defeat, not the only factor.
My statistics are not anecdotes.
Every number I cited came from Real Clear Politics or from MSNBC's Decision 2008, or from simple calculations done on the numbers documented at those two websites.
Non-blacks, who make up 80% of the Democratic Party, gave Clinton a 16 million to 10 million vote victory over Obama.
That's 61.5% of the non-black vote for Clinton, 38.5% for Obama, a landslide by any political measurement.
After Super Tuesday, Clinton would have needed more than 70% of the non-black vote to overcome Obama's advantage with blacks.
Curiously, in West Virginia, Clinton did "earn" (your word) 69% of the white vote, and she was promptly denounced by many in the MSM for race pandering.
Barack Obama has a white mother and was raised by her and his white grandparents.
However, Obama has made the conscious decision to identify himself as a black man.
Obama has actively sought the votes of black Americans based on his racial solidarity with them.
Black voters rewarded Obama with 90% of their votes.
I stand by my assertion - race was the decisive factor in Clinton's defeat.
You say you don't
June 8, 2008 - 13:07 ET by fitzfongYou say you don't understand my argument. It's really simple. You've chosen to look at certain statistics to arrive at the conclusion that race was the "decisive factor in Clinton's defeat". Seemingly implicit in your position is that the disparity is down to racism. My position is that the decisive factor in Clinton's defeat was Clinton herself (and all the baggage she and her campaign brought).
Coming into the primary season, Clinton had all the advantages...name recognition, high favorability numbers within her party (across all demographics...including African-Americans), an almost infinite pile of money to run her campaign and a huge lead. Unfortunately for her, she and her campaign contrived to erode her support within the party.
Barack Obama's first victory was in Iowa...a State not exactly known for its abundance of African-Americans. The victory was supposed to propel him to a subsequent win in New Hampshire (another State with a lot of White people and not so many Black people)...until Hillary pulled off the phony waterworks to appeal to baser instincts of White Democrat women (a voting block comparably "monolithic" to Black Democrats in this cycle). Then, the Clinton campaign fired the first shots in the race war in trying to talk down the significance of Obama's South Carolina victory. That's right, the Clintons were the ones to introduce race as a wedge. Having had the cover of Black journalists like David Ehrenstein and Juan Williams in the run-up to the early primaries, the Clintons then employed the likes of Andrew Young and Bob Johnson to further insult the intelligence and ambition of African-Americans. Young essentially suggested that it was Obama's obligation to "wait his turn", to fall in line behind Hillary Clinton until he was ready in 2016. Johnson introduced the junkie attack. Add those to Bill Clinton running his mouth and the campaign publicly writing off the Black vote in favor of the more fashionable Hispanic (and, later, White Blue Collar) demographic and it's easy to see why there would be such a disparity in that segment. If Black people voted for Barack Obama in such great numbers, I submit it has a hell of a lot more to do with Hillary's deficiencies than it does any "reverse racism" (as your constant allusions to Obama being a "self-described" black man suggest).
And one of the frequently ignored phenomena of this primary process has been the fact that Hillary failed to add to her existing support...while Obama consistently gained additional voters. Hillary's supporters were largely with her from wire to wire, while Obama had to campaign to gain support from undecideds (and to convince Clinton supporters to bolt).
Anyway you slice it, Hillary lost because she ran a poor campaign. The fact that her name recognition, her popularity among certain demographics and the resistance among certain voter sements to vote for a Black man were insufficient to overcome Barack Obama does not mean race animosity took the nomination away from a deserving candidate and handed it to an undeserving one.
In other words, race was not the decisive factor in Clinton's defeat...Clinton campaign incompetence was.
"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it." -Ronald Reagan
I agree with you (I think!)
June 8, 2008 - 13:29 ET by sarcasmoRace wasn't that important this time, despite the fact that everyone seemed to want it to be. Before the primaries, I & various others tried very hard to get Walter Williams to run. I don't think we considered his being a black guy a hinderance, either. I think we all simply liked his ideas and trusted him to do the right thing. We -- or at least I -- DIDN'T CARE that he's a black dude. I can easily imagine me supporting a white Walter Williams with the exact-same words & ideas & views as "our" Walter Williams, in an alternate universe that's otherwise the same as this universe!!
Anyway, the Dems (as Rush Limbaugh correctly sensed) are better off without Hillary, and this is shaping up to be a tough race for John McCain. I hereby guarantee that John McCain has sarcasmo's vote under just one condition: He's got to pick Prof. Williams as his VP. We all know that's not gonna happen because McCain's way too much of a statist, so basically in my mind the race is between Chuck Baldwin & Bob Barr. If you think voting against both McCain & Obama is "voting for Obama," then so be it. It's my vote, not yours, and now McCain knows how he can get it.
JMR
The tax & spend drug war looks racist in the real world.
Gore seemed to lose that one
June 7, 2008 - 18:40 ET by balboaGore seemed to lose that one because he's got all the charisma of a can opener.
That and the fact that he
June 7, 2008 - 18:46 ET by fitzfongThat and the fact that he bit the hand that fed him.
"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it." -Ronald Reagan
I have an inside line to
June 6, 2008 - 21:22 ET by BlazerI have an inside line to Hillary Clinton's concession speech. Here goes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvM7CJAoYT4
"You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious. "
- Ben Kenobi on Liberals, and the MSM.
" The Cake is a lie."
Not so far from the
June 6, 2008 - 21:36 ET by bigtimerNot so far from the truth...only thing is the words there reminded me of Obama with the Now is our time...
"Never murder your opponent when he is committing suicide." ~ W. Wilson
Rings on her Fingers
June 6, 2008 - 22:13 ET by CellaNo matter how many rings on her fingers and bells on her toes they put on Hillary, she's always unpalatable wherever she goes.
CNN is also writing her
June 6, 2008 - 22:47 ET by bigtimerCNN is also writing her obituary too tonight...
They make sure to mention her Bosnia trip...lying about the sniper fire is what did it for her...along with her vote to support the war...
This all has been something else when it comes to the msm and the Clinton twins.
Tomorrow is going to be interesting.
"Never murder your opponent when he is committing suicide." ~ W. Wilson
----
June 8, 2008 - 08:23 ET by dahliatraversalong with her vote to support the war...
Hi, Bigtimer.
Correction for CNN: the biggest problem with Hillary's stance on Iraq is that she actually had two of them, diametrically opposed to each other.
However you stood on the Iraq war, Hillary had a stance to tick you off. If you were opposed to the war, you sure didn't like her original vote and active lobbying in favor of it. If you supported our action there, you weren't thrilled that she changed her mind about our going there.
In short, NOBODY other than campaign advisers hoping to get her in the White House so they, too, could have a job in the White House liked her gargantuan flip-flop on the matter.
Hillary's loss of the presidential nomination.
June 7, 2008 - 07:29 ET by cheesegraterHer loss of the presidential bid will be made up (if Obama is elected) by a nomination to the Supreme Court for her and Bill. With a Dem. Senate they will be shoo-ins.
for her AND
June 7, 2008 - 08:46 ET by motherbeltfor her AND Bill????
Nope. Bill's law license was revoked. Ain't gonna happen. Even if nominated, which is a stretch, there is no way that even the Democrats in the Senate would want to be associated with placing someone with a revoked law license on SCOTUS.
the sound of shattered glass or plexiglass?
June 7, 2008 - 13:42 ET by mom_roxnot sure about that. The "glass ceiling" for the SC has already been broken (courtesy of Pres. Reagan), but not yet for NY governor.
I think Hillary is more interested in being the First and not just a First, as in First Lady. Also, as a governor, she can have more influence on issues such as governement healthcare in NY.
Only one thing is certain, she'll still be around.
A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
- George Bernard Shaw, 1944
And I suppose a short term
June 7, 2008 - 13:47 ET by fitzfongAnd I suppose a short term as Governor...no matter how short the term...will give her claim to the executive experience that she has lacked up to this point...putting her in an even better position to run for President the next time. Looks like we're going to have to play whack-a-mole with the the Clintons for some time to come.
"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it." -Ronald Reagan
It's the candidate, stupid
June 7, 2008 - 08:28 ET by mom_rox- fin -
A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
- George Bernard Shaw, 1944
Without question, it's the candidate.
June 7, 2008 - 11:16 ET by ThalpyWithout question, it's the candidate. The fact that Obama can say nothing better than just about anybody doesn't make Hillary more appealing as a person or as a candidate. Our humanity can't ever be removed from the equation; Hillary, for many, is unpleasant at best.