I have a couple more guests posts over at Hot Air you may enjoy. Here’s a taste of the first, in which I consider Hillary Clinton’s Fox News Sunday appearance in which she said she was done running for office.
The “I swear I’m not running” gambit is as old as politics itself and has all the career-stopping power of wet tissue. It does, however, give her the chance to sit above the fray next year for a while then jump in after the other candidates (and I do believe there will be a few) have bloodied each other considerably. At that point, she can claim that she really didn’t want to run but that the people need her leadership and experience. Democratic voters will cheer, donors’ wallets will open wide, and the nomination will practically fall into her hands.
On the other hand, maybe we should take her at her word. Maybe she really has lost the taste for political power she’s had since at least her college days. Maybe she’s ready to lay it all aside just as she’s reached arguably the second most powerful position in the world, with that final step as reachable as it’s ever been in her life. Maybe she’ll simply retire when her time in Foggy Bottom is done and enter the quiet, contemplative life of book-writing and the occasional speech.
The second is a riff on how the Tea Parties and the GOP establishment can work together to help each other and become an electoral juggernaut in 2012.
Now, I know there could be problems. Political consultants tend to react to the word “free” the way that Fonzie reacted to the word “wrong”. Likewise, Tea Parties tend to regard professional politicos about as warily as they’d eye a bushel basket of angry cobras and scorpions. But it would be a good beginning. At the very least, it will bring together the Tea Parties and some party insiders on neutral ground where they can work on uncontroversial nuts and bolts matters instead of ideological issues. After all, we can all agree that a better GOTV effort in 2012 would be a good thing, right? How about a few more coherent social media campaigns?
Read them both, please, and be sure to comment as the spirit moves you.
Tags: 2012, Hillary Clinton, Hot Air, Republicans, Tea Parties
That was a weakly worded statement. I don’t think you can draw any conclusions from it.
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I think the “I am” was about as clear as it gets, even if she did wrap it with weasely words.
“I am” is not “I will”.
That’s true, but I don’t think it needs to be. I think I made it clear that her statement today is as binding as a pair of handcuffs made of pretzel bread.