The Worst Way

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Can there be any doubt? Hillary Clinton covets that address—1600 Pennsylvania Avenue—in the worst way.

And that's the way her campaign is starting to shape up...or down, depending on your perspective.

More and more in her effort to position herself against Barack Obama she's simultaneously branding herself as McCain Lite. To win battles against Barack in primaries and caucuses, she's willing to cede the big event to four more years of BushCo.

Meanwhile, the Big Dawg himself successfully got The Village and the Very Intelligent Pundits to go chasing after the canard that Hillary "had" to win Texas and Ohio to win. As though there was really any doubt. These two states were her strong suits, after all. She didn't "win" in Texas, or Ohio, she didn't "succeed" on Tuesday. She fulfilled expectations set a long way back. Well, kinda. Actually, she didn't measure up to the numbers she was polling weeks ago. So it seems to me, she actually, kinda, really, you know, "lost."

Hence the increasing desperation under the guise of confidence. The 60 Minutes race/religion pander. The 3 a.m. phone call. The Wolfson projecting his inner Rovian Atwater.

The foot-stamping demands for counting Florida and Michigan. What happened to rules are rules? Fact is, I'm not as worried about what the world thinks of us as what do we tell our children? Don't steal the other kid's backpack? Pfffgt. If you can bluster, bully, or well up and play the victim and get away with it....

Sorry, that's not a lesson I taught my kids, nor one my grandson's learning now. Don't know how it works in your house, but false witness is false witness and stealing is stealing. And no, the ends don't justify the means. And yes, there's a better way to do it...that works when you're the better man.

All the smarmy tactics that remind everyone of the soap opera that is Clintons—Party of 2, that brand may have dimmed a bit with intervening years since the scandals of the '90s, but Billary/Hillabubba are burnishing it up just fine again.

Oh, and contrary to what Bill Clinton says, it's not "on me" whether or not his wife gets the nomination or, if she does, subsequently loses in the General. That's all on her.

Heckuva job, Hilly.