Brian M Downing
As Hillary Clinton persists in efforts to become the Democratic nominee for president, she is angering many in the party. It would be better to say she is further angering them. She will also be damaging her image – and that may present serious problems in future political endeavors, whatever they might be.
Even a year ago, the Clintons were not well liked by many prominent members of the Democratic Party. Their eight years in the White House brought few accomplishments. Indeed, their two principal ones, NAFTA and welfare reform, enjoyed more support from the GOP than from their own party. Both bills were opposed by many Democrats and seen as ploys to shore up the Clinton’s support in the center. The blunders and scandals of the Clinton years need no elaboration. Many in the party blame them for the loss of both Houses of Congress, which hadn’t happened for decades, and for tepid support for Gore in the 2000 election.
After their departure from the White House in 2001, the Clintons maintained a good deal of influence in the DNC and its allocation of funds in various campaigns. Many in the party felt that funds were distributed with an eye toward building a network of clients beholden to the Clintons and ultimately aiming for a Clinton restoration in an election cycle or two. Such maneuverings are very much part of political organizations, local and national, but the Clintons’ self-promotion was more pronounced and more resented.
Claims that Hillary Clinton’s doggedness today is only hurting the party and improving John McCain’s chances in the fall are overstated. The back and forth between her and Barack Obama have rarely exceeded the standards governing intra-party campaigns, loose and evolving as those standards are. She has nonetheless helped to dim the incandescence around her rival.
But she has damaged herself more than she has her rival. Clinton’s effort to pull out the nomination for herself is only increasing the perception among party members that she, like her husband, is too egocentric and irritatingly oblivious to the concerns of the party. Questions also grow around her judgment – perhaps the most important quality a politician can have. Strengthening her ego and diminishing her judgment are the advisers she chooses to surround herself with, who are likely the same sort that would compose the cabinet and advisers of her presidency. Her council should have apprised her of hard facts weeks ago and told her that further efforts, though admirable and well-intentioned, were futile. Instead, they aid in her delusion, in the same manner of Bourbon courtiers or a fading star’s retinue.
Many years ago, Harold Stassen, a former governor of Minnesota, made numerous efforts to become president and in doing so he became ridiculed. Too bad. Stassen was an exceptionally decent and capable politician who had much to offer America, though it did not call upon him. It took Stassen many years to ruin his once impeccable reputation. Life is faster and less forgiving now. Hillary Clinton might well achieve that in a few weeks.
~ ©2008 Brian M Downing
Brian M Downing is a national security analyst who has written for outlets across the political spectrum. He studied at Georgetown University and the University of Chicago, and did post-graduate work at Harvard’s Center for International Affairs.