Bill and Hill On Stage Together Again

Read more reactions from Huffington Post bloggers to the Pennsylvania Primary results

Did you notice?

One of the biggest surprises after Hillary's big win in Pennsylvania was that standing just behind her on the stage as she basked in applause at the start of her victory speech was Bill Clinton. (He seemed reluctantly to follow the cue of Hillary's mother in exiting left before Hillary started to speak.)

The last time Bill was in camera range during a victory speech or a concession couched as a victory was after the "inevitable" candidate's shocking third place finish in Iowa -- the race that started her on her downward trajectory. That January night at a speech that was not part of the plot of the Clintons' restoration, Bill bit his nails as he gloomily gazed out at Hillary's supporters. An AP reporter described the once rock star ex-president as "a relic." Obama was the candidate of the young and hopeful; Clinton of the has beens. As if to illustrate that, also on stage with Hillary after Iowa were General Wesley Clark -- the Clintons' straw man in 2004; they were said to be behind his brief flirtation with the nomination, under the theory that he could not win and would leave the door open for Hillary in 2008 -- and Hillary's close friend and therefore Bill's Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. (No matter how rested Albright might be, she always looks tired.)

Perhaps Bill's appearance Tuesday night -- even though his outbursts and misrepresentations have made some wonder if he's flirting with senility or with an unconscious desire to see Hillary lose -- signals that Hillary is convinced she can grab the nomination. It seems to this biographer of Bill Clinton to signal a new chapter in the Clintons' roller-coaster lives; more significant than the numbers that still stubbornly point to Obama, not Hillary, as the inevitable nominee.

Read more reactions from Huffington Post bloggers to the Pennsylvania Primary results

Comments

[maryrat]

I thought from the beginning and still think it's patently unfair for the ex President to be essentially a running mate for Hillary. Obama has a four prong pitchfork he has to fend off what with Hillary, Bill, Chelsea, and McCain.
Michelle is brilliant but definitely not the draw the ex Predsident is. And the media is just waiting for her to give them another soundbite moment.
All in all I'd say Obama's holding his own.

Barack Hussein Obama, President 2008!

[Unless]

He stood out, like the relative who's finally invited back to the adults' table at Thanksgiving.

[mindact]

Here's the fact, Clinton was on stage in Iowa, when she won new hampshire, Bill strode on stage while glaring at the cameras tyring to warn the superdelegates that he's still standing. when the defeats were rolling through, he was absent from the stage and turnng into a raging lunatic on the campaign trail. Now she's won philly and it was well know in advance that she was going to win, he showed up on stage.

The point is he's an opportunist. He's stayed away from her defeats because he was concerned that her concession speech with him in the background will lead to hid legacy being wrapped up in the defeat. I can't wait til she gives her concession speech....

[MPeter]

Thanks for a beautiful piece Carol. The line I loved the most, is this: (No matter how rested Albright might be, she always looks tired.) It is so true. She looks like she belongs to the museum!!!!! I wondered what got to her so fast. she has lived an easy, monied life. It must be her proximity to the Clintons that is doing it to her!

[ebbtide]

What about the third Clinton liar, Chelsea? Is she on stage also?

Two notorius liars on stage to rum for president. What a swell idea, America.;