"A slave stood behind the conqueror, holding a golden crown, and whispering in his ear a warning: That all glory is fleeting." Oh, woe is she! Just ask Hillary.
Or Bill, or the legion of hard-core Clinton boosters who think just about everything that went wrong with her campaign is the fault of bad luck or someone else.
Where to start? Even before there was a campaign, her soon-to-be handlers moaned about the fawning coverage Barack Obama was getting. (John Edwards griped about it, too.) That was pretty much it, until things started to go wrong last October when she flubbed debate questions over then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer's illegal immigration policy.
Starting the following day, Team Clinton developed a list of complaints almost as long as the marathon primary battle:
She accused her rivals of "piling on" because she was the front-runner.
She said last month sexist attacks on her have been "deeply offensive to millions of women."
The media was unfair to her - and too easy on Obama. Just Monday, Bill Clinton denounced an unflattering story on him as part of "the national media's attempt to nail Hillary" and railed, "This has been the most rigged coverage in modern history."
Debate moderators were unfair to her. "Can I just point out that in the last several debates, I seem to get the first question all the time?" she griped in February.
| Most politicos would love to get the first question each time and thus frame that night's debate ... |
Obama outspent her.
The Clintons were unfairly accused of playing the race card.
Old pals like Ted Kennedy and Bill Richardson stabbed her in the back by endorsing Obama.
If only Democrats had winner-take-all rules in states like the GOP does, she'd be the nominee.
Last Saturday's party ruling on the Florida-Michigan mess cheated her.
Analysts think the campaign's biggest problems were internal: its failures in message and strategy. But most see some elements of truth in her complaints. "There are degrees of plausibility and veracity," said Prof. Doug Muzzio of Baruch College. "There is sexism, the love affair with Obama - it's not just made up."
| There was no failure in either message or strategy. Hillary delivered her message. She went to each state. She thumped her drum good and loud. The Dhimmis heard her and decided (narrowly) they preferred an untried, rookie, smooth-talking, hard-left foot-in-his-mouth greenhorn to putting the Clintonistas back in power. Can't say I blame them. |