Billary Revisits a Tactic from 2004

One of the plot lines of the ongoing drama between Barack and Hillary is that Bill and Hillary (a.k.a. Billary) are trying to destroy Obama so that when, or, increasingly, if, he becomes the nominee, he will lose to John McCain. "We told you so," Billary will say, as they immediately lay the groundwork for Hillary, who will then be 64, to be the "inevitable" candidate in 2012.

Is this a variation on the tactic the Clintons reportedly tried last time around? While doing interviews for my book on Bill's post presidency, Clinton in Exile: A President Out of the White House, several of my sources mentioned Billary's work pushing General Wesley Clark for the nomination in 2004. The Clintons, according to this plot, knew that Clark, the retired NATO supreme allied commander, could not win. Bush would win in 2004 and Hillary would have an easy path to the nomination in 2008.

Billary was right about Clark. When he finally did enter the race for the nomination, he was a remarkably inept candidate, admitting he had voted for Reagan in 1980 and Bush in 1988, pushing the rumor that John Kerry had a relationship with a young staffer (Kerry's daughter, Vanessa, said she almost died laughing when she read the pulsating headline on the Drudge Report.). The rumor soon died and so did Clark's campaign.

"We were sure that the Clinton crowd had put Wesley Clark in the race, encouraged him to get into the race," said one of Kerry's top finance people. Close associates of the Clintons became involved, including Terry McAuliffe, friend, moneyman and handpicked DNC head after Bill left the White House. (McAuliffe later groused about being so shut out of the inner circle of the Kerry campaign that he was never invited to the headquarters.) Billary's friend of three decades, Eli Segal, became Clark's campaign chairman.

General Clark had hired the son of Don Fowler, a former head of the DNC and a power in South Carolina, to run the campaign, "These people from Clinton campaign came in and pushed my son out," Fowler says. Although Bill was said to be orchestrating things, spending hours on the telephone trying to jumpstart the Clark campaign, Fowler, who is now supporting Hillary, does not see Machiavellis here, just the Clintons needing a safe harbor from the storm of the democratic primary and settling for the moment on Clark. "That was just an easy place for them to be and to stay out of the fray."

Once Clark "imploded," which was what he said was going to happen to Kerry over the "intern problem," and Kerry won the nomination, it was then reported that Bill was pushing Kerry to take General Clark or Hillary as his running mate.

Although one of my sources said that Hillary complained that the Kerry campaign didn't ask for her help, both Clintons did work a bit for Kerry. The finance guru mentioned above says that had the former president not had emergency bypass on Labor Day, 2004, he would have put Kerry over the top, as evidenced by a huge Kerry rally in late October in Philadelphia; 80,000 people who came out to hear Clinton, six weeks after bypass and shortly before the election. (The crowd was not as big as the one Obama attracted before the Pennsylvania primary, but it was impressive and Kerry did win Pennsylvania).

It is true that had Kerry won Ohio, he would have won the election, but most of the big heads in the party and the punditocracy believe that no matter how much Bill campaigned, Kerry would have lost anyway. He was seen as an elitist -- the story lines in these campaigns never change -- and lost the election all on his own. In 2000 Clinton made all the difference in Al Gore's loss, they say, but in 2004 no one really cared what a former president thought. As writer and professor Larry Sabato put it in an interview with me, "In 2004 it was almost irrelevant what Clinton did or thought. Kerry lost that one on his own. it had nothing to do with Clinton."

Still the outcome in 2004, although not precisely the one the Clintons may have plotted, was the one they arguably wanted all along. At the moment, it's looking like Hillary, if she ends up losing the nomination, but so damaging Obama that he can't win, will have a path to the nomination four years from now -- so long as Democrats have short memories and don't blame Billary for blowing the clearest path to the White House the Democrats have had in years.

Comments

[BJMS]

She can try, but...I think after this campaign, she'll be lucky to be re-elected as Senator from NY...

[Cougarkj]

Let me make this perfectly clear...HRC could be touched by GOd himself at this point and I would never NEVER vote for her again...not at the national level, not at the state level, not at the coutnry level...not for dog catcher

[richcpl]

That's harsh and unfair. hillary might do very well as dog catcher. Give her a chance, for Godsake!

[rixxk]

If Obama wins the nomination, and loses to McSilly, Barack is the Democratic party leader and I'm sure he would do everything in his power to support Hillary in 2012.

[sandiaview]

She will never win without the African-American vote. Unlike Bill Clinton's resurrection after the Sister Soulja racist dog whistle and his execution of a retarded Black man to bolster his hate vote prior to the 1992 election, she has lost that! Thanks to Black talk radio, the internet and networking, it will not be coming back!

[kira181]

Or, maybe, she just wants to be President.

[ecotopian]

"so long as Democrats have short memories"

The internet will remember and will be available to assist in 2012. Hillary won't have a chance. What she's doing now, will have repercussions then. Bosnia anyone?

[realityczech4u]

I predict that Billary (one or both) will have been indicted before 2012 whether she wins the White House or not. The Paul vs. Clinton case which the press is hiding from the public should take one or both down for election fraud. Then there are the things that we are as yet unaware of. People such as the Clintons for whom lying and cheating are a way of life get caught sooner or later. As slippery as they both are, their luck cannot hold out forever.

[ckemp]

The first people whose memories will be in full working order are the democratic party establishment figures who will not let her/them get this close to the nomination ever again. Who would, with this track record?

[howard6117]

Who knows what's inside Billarys' heads? Who knows what's inside either Al Gore's or John Edward's heads? Why haven't they come out w/ an endorsement? As Billary presses what is in effect an almost impossible task, clearly damaging Obama's almost certain nomination, could we actually see our superdelegates see both of them unelectable after a failed first ballot and and run hat in hand to either of our silent ones? Wet dreams for both Gore and Edwards I'm sure, but could their silence be more than wishful thinking? A general election Obama defeat having had the benefit of Billary's love in the primary won't be forgotten. Kiss away '08 and '12 Billary--and I'm betting that Gore and Edwards are thinking the same too.

[sandiaview]

The super delegates are dumb as rocks. They sat back and let Hillary lie, cheat, beat with no hope of winning fairly. What a fine example of being tough.. or is that sleazy? They should have put an end to this a month or more ago. As for Gore and Edwards, get real! They look less presidential day by sorry Democrat Day!

[mal0980]

If this is true that President Clinton and his wife Hillary are doing, even if Obama loses to McCain what makes them think she will get the nomination in 2012? if they damage Obama's chances and sit back do nothing, i think the Clintons should be kicked out of the Democratic Party and she should lose her Senate seat. Sen. Obama will win Presidency this year and end her chances of ever running for the White House again and maybe end her political career.

[qwr]

I'm not sure. I think Hillary's support comes largely from women who are dying for a candidate. The fact that so much disgraceful behavior is tolerated shows that for many, what is important is a woman, any woman. If indeed the Dems lose the election, I think a good, viable woman candidate will emerge. At that point, we can say goodbye to Hillary.

[karaplanet]

She has stained the path for women to come. i am appalled and disgusted by her behavior, and her nasty campaign. Why the NOW organization came out for her so early is unsettling for me. Not this woman. Not now, not ever.

[liberalghost]

Nothing like an honorable article and thread.

[booksnmore4you]

The tentacles of the Billary machine are utterly pervasive and utterly lack ethics.

[harriscrl3]

I doubt if Obama makes it to the general that he is going to lose. Billary arent the only ones who love to win or know how to win. The difference Billary just think they are entitled to win so they can coast along until someone comes and sprints ahead of them. Thats why Obama is in the lead he plan ahead caught billary with their pants down (not literally of course) and now Billary has no choice but to wreck Obama to at least prove they deserve a chance. Deep down Billary knows he is the better candidate because they can't sell themselves to win rather they must tear Obama down to win.

Carol

[KGinSanFrancisco]

"General Clark had hired the son of Don Fowler, a former head of the DNC and a power in South Carolina, to run the campaign"
Is this Fowler related to Mayhill Fowler, our dear Judas, so called Obama supported that started the "bitter" nightmare? I do remember her saying she is from South carolina. That explains it all. Her family has been deeply involved with Clintons for many years and she gave them a present.

[standforpeace]

Who knows if this is Hillary's strategy. It sure seems like she is attempting to derail Obama for the generals. But she is sadly mistaken if she thinks African Americans who just as likely to be vital to the Democratic candidate in 2012 as in 2008 are ever going to get back on board with Hill or Bill. So she should reconsider this strategy immediately.

[missjabez]

Wouldn't it be wonderful if despite all their scheming, Hillary never made it to the White House, not in 2008, and not in 2012? Miracles do happen, folks.

[pagopago]

missjabez, I am a firm believing that we reap what we sow in life. God is not absent in all of this, and I do not believe that it was an accident that a virtually unknown junior senator challenging many nationally known candidates such as Hillary, John Edwards, Joe Biden, Chris Dodd, and even Richardson has come this far. Hillary was so sure that she had this nomination sewn up. To paraphase the Bible, he's using Obama to put the haughty Hillary in her place. She is being exposed for the true nature of her character. This primary has been a blessing in disguise, as we are now privy to the REAL Clinton side, which is not the wonderful couple many thought them to be.

[CalGoldenBear]

Maybe Hil and Bill think there's a chance for her to run again in 2012, but that's reading from the draft of their soon-to-be published book, "Grim [Clinton] Fairy Tales."

The most recent group "thrown under the bus" were the activists of MoveOn.org, who played a major part supporting Bill during Monicagate.

Hil and Bill will be very surprised (in the unlikely even that Sen. Obama loses on November 4) that the 2012 "tomorrow" that the Clintonistas keep thinking about is a mirage.

They're banking on the activists in and out of the Democratic party having a short memory? That Bill with his golden tongue will be able to sweet-talk folks into supporting their schemes one more time? Boy, it's lucky that Hil's the junior senator from NY 'cause there's a bridge there that might be for sale (and it ain't one to the 21st century).

They've worn out their welcome, and Bill has tarnished his already DNA-stained legacy and modest accomplishments while in office. And it probably eats at him that he's being outshone by a man of modest origins and mixed ancestry. (Wasn't Bill the "rock star" politician back in 1992?)