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.

Follow Bill Barol on Twitter: www.twitter.com/billbarol

Comments

[Myrrhis]

01:52 PM on 02/25/2008

I don't entirely agree with this analogy. My nephew and I are avid soccer fans and were watching the game when it happened. It was shocking and unexpected­, and we followed whatever news we could find about it until it came out the Materazzi had very seriously insulted members of Zidane's family.

Hillary has been building up to this. It's true that she has finally made the choice to "cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war". She doesn't care about party unity or leaving supporters from either Obama's camp or hers a place to go after the convention­, but this is not out of character for her. While Zidane has a reputation for being feisty, what happened in the World Cup was way out of line for him. Hillary is doing what many people expected.

[talia714]

12:05 AM on 02/26/2008

Thank you for touching on what had me seething for the last day. I'm a huge Zidane fan and this analogy is terrible and unfair and I'm tempted to headbutt Bill Barol myself. Amazing how the rest of the world doesn't see the Zidane incident quite with the same self righteous eyes that certain US media outlets do. Almost 2 years after the WC Final Zidane is still revered as a god of the game in almost every corner of the world and the hysteria immediatel­y following the headbutt has ceased. Zidane's dignity has been restored and Materazzi has been exposed time and again for the loathesome dirty, racist, misogynist­, violent thug that he is. The football/s­occer loving rest of the world shrugs and says, Materazzi had it coming and we forgive and still love Zizou. Only in the US, where most people didn't even know which teams were playing, is this still an issue. Bill Barol took a cheap shot at the great Zidane and owes him an apology for comparing him to Hillary.

[GDliberal]

01:50 PM on 02/25/2008

One of the many problems with the clintons is that the dems have never really held them accountabl­e for much of the seemingly bad things they've done. They've forgiven or forgotten the affairs, NAFTA, welfare reform, the crime bill, the Lincoln bedroom, fundraisin­g methods, corporate welfare, de-regulat­ion, "Don't ask Don't tell, DOMA, pardons and etc., etc. That's given them this "Love of the clintons conquers all" attitude. They think they can do and get away with anything. And they have until now. Things have changed and they're not liking it and they're scared.

[Ides]

11:12 AM on 02/25/2008

Hillary Clinton must be out her goddamn mind.

[passport]

10:41 AM on 02/25/2008

The ground burst open, fire and sulphur spewed from the cataclysm, horrible screams and demonic laughter rose from the depths,...­..
and a politician ruins her career.

[tcagle]

09:12 AM on 02/25/2008

What this moment resembles to me is when George HW Bush called Clinton and Gore "bozos" in the '92 race when things were tight with just three weeks to go. It was poison because it simultanou­sly showed him as was worried, out of touch, and condescend­ing. It revealed a flawed character. So did this.

[cthomp7280]

08:46 AM on 02/25/2008

Regardless of who supports who, this was a sad moment for her. We have seen it over the years as people in the limelight will reach so far into the bag to preserve their "now" that they end up doing something foolish. As I have said before, if she attacks Obama on the issues every chance she gets, then I have no problem with that. But when she stoops to gutter politics, railroadin­g, and mockery, she is "shining light on the politics that America is dead sick of"!

[Illinoisdan]

07:55 AM on 02/25/2008

I watched the Hillary Rant over the weekend, and almost lost hope, but then I realised that it was just another face of the Syble campaign. Time to stop the madness and pullout.

[Eternal]

07:27 AM on 02/25/2008

I think internal polls show her behind in TX and slipping in OH. This was a last ditch effort to hold on to Ohio. She had a choice, go out fighting but with dignity or scorched earth, clearly she decided scorched earth, which should come as no suprise. I was almost at the point of feeling sorry for her, her weekend meltdown cured me. I can't imagine they really think being the "anti hope" canidate win's the day, it's another example of curious decisions by her team.

[uberlefty]

03:21 AM on 02/25/2008

To believe that this was some sort of slip gives Hillary too little credit. This is classic triangulat­ion at its best/worst­. You throw out sound bites and see what gets a response. Good Hillary, Bad Hillary, Nice Hillary, Mean Hillary, Tough Hillary, Soft Hillary. They are trying to mine the demographi­cs to see if they can pull a little here and pry a little there. It just shows how little she really stands for. They cant appeal to any larger demographi­c than to women over 50 and that is starting to come apart. They achieve 3 things with this action. 1. They try to peal off the hangers on by appealing to their fears. 2. They dominate another days news cycle, which they see as essential to stop Obamas momentum. 3. They poke a stick into the Obama bees nest hoping to perpetuate the image of the Obama "cult" behavior. Look at the huge response to the initial story. Thousands of negative comments that her surrogates will point to reaffirmin­g her victim status. Stay tuned for more manipulati­on.

[MrLion]

12:28 AM on 02/25/2008

Another sports analogy comes to mind: the frustrated Woody Hayes trying to punch out Clemson's Charlie Baumann, who had to audacity (pun intended) to make a game-winni­ng intercepti­on at the end of the Gator Bowl. For that performanc­e, Hayes was shown the door.

[moda31]

12:13 AM on 02/25/2008

i think the screaming rant yesterday might have been her headbutt moment.

[greenpaz]

12:08 AM on 02/25/2008

This is what is known as a Britney Spears moment.

[womanvoter]

07:20 PM on 02/24/2008

I too am an Obama supporter but I will vote for HRC if she is the candidate in the general election. The reason: Supreme Court appointmen­ts. So please don't abandon the party, even if she is the nominee.

[lovethesinner]

12:05 AM on 02/25/2008

If Hillary was a reasonable candidate, would you be begging us not to abandon the party?

Actions have consequenc­es. Some are mature enough to understand and adjust to that reality. Some aren't.

If you really care about the party, make your pleas to her, not those who are sick of being gamed by the system.

Can you really think that there is actually a party if Hillary somehow pulls out a win from here? The only way Hillary could win from this point is if the system were rigged, somehow: election fraud; pressure on leadership­; getting leadership to change the rules...

[castlerider]

06:48 PM on 02/24/2008

I've been gunnin' for Hillary, hoping that maybe there is actually a real progressiv­e that will come out after her possible win in November, but she sure is making it tough for me to hope for the best for her. So sad because I insist on believing that had she fought as the progressiv­e she really seems to yearn to be, it's not really that much of a no-brainer she'd be doing much better. Am I the only one who can see this?

Her "top down" campaign has been a real disater, but her going negative at this juncture is absolutely the wrong idea.

Too bad she and her campaign can't get a clue.

[Ides]

11:10 AM on 02/25/2008

Battered spouse syndrome much?

[diamndpeace]

06:41 PM on 02/24/2008

"... a light will shine through that window, a beam of light will come down upon you, you will experience an epiphany ... and you will suddenly realize that you must go to the polls and vote for Obama"
http://oba­mamessiah.­blogspot.c­om/