The Sunday Outlook section of The Washington Post sums up who has a "Good Year" and a "Bad Year" in politics -- Gingrich good, Obama bad, for example. But "Best Year" went to "The Clintons." Political writer Chris Cillizza -- not a normal fountain of gush -- said it was "an amazing year for the Clintons. Again."
The Post is blinded by their star power. "When we gave Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton our 'good year' in 2010, we thought she was headed toward a little bit of a letdown in 2011," wrote Cillizza. "Boy, were we wrong. (Mental note: Stop counting out the Clintons.)" He also gushed over Bill and over Chelsea (thanks to NBC).
Hillary looks smart for accepting the portfolio of Secretary of State, which makes it easier to look above the fray of domestic politics. It's also easier if the press is naturally gushy toward you. (Not so for Condi Rice, who was normally cast as Bush's yes-girl.) Cillizza disdained the rest of Team Obama on Hillary's behalf:
In a year in which almost anyone associated with the Obama administration turned to dross — Attorney General Eric Holder ("Fast and Furious"), Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner (the economy), Energy Secretary Steven Chu (Solyndra), Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius (Plan B) — Clinton managed to stay gold.
She continued to travel the world at a breakneck pace — some 60 trips abroad and nearly 600,000 miles to date — including to places such as Burma, where no U.S. diplomat had ventured in decades. Clinton's steady leadership on Libya drew wide praise in the diplomatic world and contributed to the overthrow of longtime dictator Moammar Gaddafi.
Haven't other Secretaries of State traveled the world at a breakneck pace? Talk about being an easy grader of A-pluses. Cillizza also undermined his reputation for straight-shooting by confusing a favorable approval rating -- from people who see next to nothing of Secretary Clinton on the news except her standing next to heads of state in photo-ops -- with burning "love" from the American electorate, a"stratospheric" high: "And the American public loved her for it. In a CNN poll in late September, 69 percent of people had a favorable opinion of Clinton — a stratospheric number in a political climate in which politicians are widely reviled."
Cillizza doesn't note that the media is the biggest player in boosting the Clintons and ignoring their critics -- especially when they're gushing over the Clinton Global Initiative meeting every autumn. Then, Bill was the party's "smartest strategist' (now that no one's following the strategies of his personal life) and Chelsea basked in the glow of the servants of NBC News:
It isn't just the secretary of state who can count 2011 as a very good year. Her husband, former president Bill Clinton, appears fully rehabilitated from the image hit he took during the 2008 campaign and has reclaimed his title as the smartest strategist in the Democratic Party. The Obama White House even appears to be taking a page from the 1996 Clinton reelection strategy, making a series of small-bore moves on the economy to show progress. (If you want more on how to fix the economy, just check out Bill's book "Back to Work," released last month and ensconced on the bestseller lists.)
And then there was Chelsea Clinton, who inked a deal with NBC in November to serve as a special correspondent for the Peacock Network and appeared this month on "Rock Center" — the Fix's favorite new show.
All in all, an amazing year for the Clintons. Again.
