Clinton's Zidane Moment

You may recall French soccer star Zinedine Zidane's epic lapse of composure in the 2006 World Cup final. Zidane grew irritated in what would turn out to be a losing match against Italy, started jawing with Italy's Marco Materazzi and ended up pasting Materazzi with a vicious headbutt. If you don't remember what it looked like, here's the video:

Zidane was a pro, a giant of the game. But his career "will be forever remembered for a moment of madness on the world's biggest stage," said the BBC. "It was a night when his reputation was tainted forever -- when he showed he could not control his temper like he can a football." Watching this video, in which Hillary Clinton appears to mock Barack Obama with a weird, angry, gospel-tinged incantation...

" ...the sky will open, the light will come down, celestial choirs will be singing, and everyone will know we should do the right thing, and the world will be perfect... "

...you can't help wondering if Clinton hasn't finally reached that Zidanian moment of exhausted frustration -- a moment when the anger comes boiling up out of you and you can't control yourself for one more second, because what would be the point? You're losing, and the better angels of your nature are hopelessly outgunned.

The headbutt doesn't represent the sum total of Zidane's career, but it was certainly the moment for which he'll be best remembered. Here's hoping Clinton's outburst in Providence wasn't hers.