LA Times Opinion Piece: Hillary's too vane to be president.

[Divernan]

That's the headline on an opinion piece by Arianna Huffington in the LA Times, subheaded, "It didn't matter much that Sen. Clinton is a fickle leader - - until Obama came along."

I am not committed to any '08 presidential candidate yet. Can we try to keep any comment on this piece on a non-insulting, non-hysterical, adult level? I'm wondering if critiques like these will cause her to change her strategy and start speaking her mind and following her heart, and try to influence popular opinion, rather than cater to it.


http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-huffington7dec07,0,7649537.story?coll=la-opinion-center
(free registration required)

WHILE THE country is urgently engaged in finding a way out of the quagmire in Iraq, Hillary Rodham Clinton is busy holding private dinners for key Democrats from primary states and remaining curiously silent on the subject of Iraq. Indeed, as she has transformed herself over the last few years from first lady to presumptive presidential front-runner, the profile that has emerged is that of a politician more comfortable following than leading.

There are politicians with great instincts as leaders — those who recognize not just the crises directly in front of them but those around the corner as well. (And these leadership instincts come from the gut, not from a multitude of consultants, strategists and pollsters.) And then there are politicians with great instincts as followers — those who are the first to stick their fingers in the air and notice even the slightest shift in the wind of popular opinion. Clinton is in the latter category: She is the quintessential political weather vane.

On Iraq, she remains a captive of her and her consultants' belief that the country isn't ready for a female commander in chief who isn't a hawk. Unfortunately, she's misreading the zeitgeist. Democrats are fed up with fence-straddling and triangulation. But that has become Clinton's brand. Smiling photo ops with Bill Frist, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum. Backing a bill criminalizing flag burning. Coming out against violent video games. Signing on to President Bush's missile defense plan. Shifting her language on abortion. Refusing to level with Americans on Iraq.

Such moves may have worked in the 1990s, but these are different times — times of war and terrorist threats, times in which the longing for strong, authentic leadership is paramount. As a result, Clinton's strategy for the presidency is threatening to become a cautionary tale about a perfect little girl who had a perfect little plan that went perfectly astray.

[ScreamingMeemie]

1. Your hysteria is another person's honesty. n/t

[Divernan]

5. "My" hysteria is "morbidly or uncontrolledly emotion", as per definition

in the Oxford English Reference Dictionary. I'm joining many DUers who, since the great election last November, are asking that posters debate all Democratic candidates' history, qualifications, positions, electability in an unbiased, equitable, above-board way. That leaves plenty of room to criticize and/or find fault with any of them, without resorting to flame throwing.

Huffington's portrayal of Senator Clinton got wide play beyond the blogosphere, via the LA Times. I would like be interested to read some reasoned rebuttal or support on DU. I just don't want to read, "OMG, civilization is doomed if she gets the nomination!" or "I hate her and always will" type crap.

[papau]

11. The flag bill stopped the Flag Amendment and was therefore a "good" thing to do

The rest is just a Greek lady pushing someone to do what she wants - and my background is such that it is rather familiar :-)

She does have a point - Hillary thinks a lady to be elected must be seen as strong on security and defense - and I agree - indeed any candidate must be seen that way. Pacifists do not get elected in the US.

[ScreamingMeemie]

12. And yet, so many times, "reasoned rebuttal" is labeled hysteria.

People have differing opinions and we must all deal with it.

[retread]

2. Because she points in the direction the politcal wind is blowing?? n/t

[Ken Burch]

4. The political winds are NOT blowing in the direction

of a consensus that the Democrats have to nominate a candidate who insists on leaving most of the Democratic coalition out in the cold.

[Divernan]

8. That's the point the article makes.

So I'm wondering if articles like this will influence Senator Clinton to break away from her "consensus building", centrist positions. Would her supporters here like to see her do that?

[paulk]

27. but, why does Ms Huffington, who isn't even a Democrat -

have any credibility when deciding who gets to be in the democratic coalition?

[Ken Burch]

28. Yes. But I wasn't responding to the article. I was responding to another poster.

Who was claiming that HRC simply represents where the country is going.

[opihimoimoi]

3. VAIN???? Check out what we got in the WH Now.....

[Divernan]

6. Is it too early to say "Meli Kalikimaka", Opi?

Nah, the headline writer didn't misspell the word - he/she was referring to weather vane.

[opihimoimoi]

14. Aloha, Mele Kalikimaka....:o)

Vane was not MS'd??

OMG...WTF is going on...LOL?

[zanne]

18. They used to complain that she wasn't vain enough.

When she entered her first term as Senator from NY, she was noticeably more casual about her appearance, and the Republicans jumped all over her because of it. I was upset that she returned to her "proper" makeup and attire and started having someone do her hair again. I thought the "natural" Hillary looked just fine.

[opihimoimoi]

24. The RW GOP are WHINERS...thats ALL THEY DO.. .complain...nothing of

Positive, always negative, thats their MO.

[wyldwolf]

7. Arianna Huffington - too confused politically to make this judgement

[Clark2008]

9. Clinton, Obama, Clinton, Obama...

I just LOVE having the press decide who my nominee will be more than a year before ANY primary.

:sarcasm:

[Divernan]

13. And whoever the Dem nominee is will be better than the GOP's choice.

That sounds like a mindless statement, but really, we have a huge number of potential Dem candidates, and I was thinking just yesterday that I could happily vote for any of them over any known Republican - McCain, Jeb, Frist - whoever.

[quickesst]

10. Smacking the Clintons around....

is not a job for Huffington, it's a passion. Thanks.
quickesst

[necso]

15. The "vane" in the title(?) doesn't work well.

(And I was under the impression that Arianna didn't approve of colloquial forms, such as "Hillary's": "Hillary is/(has)".)

"Hillary's too much of the vane to be president" might work (using more words is easier, though). ("Vain" can be used as a noun meaning vain people, acts, things. -- There's also the question of a period with this form (uncapitalized) of "title".)

Moreover, to be a proper (useful, as-designed) vane, one has to point in the direction that the wind's actually blowing -- not what direction you (merely) believe that it's blowing -- or what direction it used to be blowing.

And "what that is" might sound better at the end.

(It's slow at 3.30AM; file cleanup bores.)

[meegbear]

17. I bet you thinks that story's about her ...

don't you
don't you
don't you
don't you

[necso]

20. Now this is a case

where I think that your use of "her" in your lead-in doesn't work well, since the text appears to be a reference to the song "You're So Vain"*. (Which primarily involves the singer and -- most notably -- a second party ("you", "you're", "your", "yourself").)

But this is a harder case to remedy. Perhaps dropping the third-person pronoun would help.

*: Although in my copy, this phrase ("Don't you?") is only repeated a maximum of three times... to my "listen", anyway.

[meegbear]

22. Well it's been a while since I heard it and wrote it off the cuff ...

sorry :hi:

[Shipwack]

21. lol Thanks Meegbear. First smile of the day nt

[ixion]

16. like it or not, running Hillary for prez is a huge mistake, IMO

Personally, I don't like her politics, so I wouldn't want to vote for her. I agree with Arianna that she's been more concerned about her political career than doing what is right...and I'm sorry, but Iraq is the clincher. I can't support anyone who supported the illegal invasion of Iraq.

No if's, and's or but's, no exceptions.

[beyurslf]

19. Vane? Shouldn't she say VAIN?

[hijinx87]

23. in which vein do you mean? n/t

[opihimoimoi]

25. LOL, good one..... :o)

[NYCGirl]

26. Not when you call someone a "weather vane."

From Webster:

"A movable device attached to an elevated object (as a spire) for showing the direction of the wind b: one that is changeable or inconstant"

[election_2004]

29. Agreed

She can act like she hasn't thought about it until all she wants, but there are those of us who know the truth.

[wyldwolf]

30. Huffington worked for Newt Gingrich and backed John McCain...

... interesting theory here... she helped Gingrich try to take down Bill, now she (perhaps) want to help McCain take down Hillary... hmmm...

[lillilbigone]

31. What is Hillary Clinton's position on Iraq?

Does anyone know?