The Real Winner in New Hampshire

Last week, just after she'd had her clock cleaned in the Iowa caucuses, Hillary Clinton came out and cheerily declared that what had just happened was a great night for the Democrats. Even for her it was a crowning moment of inauthenticity, a speech which -- regardless of your politics -- was so palpably false that it made you wince. There was no way she could possibly have felt the way she told the world she did, and surely everyone -- including Madeleine Albright and all of the other Democrats behind her -- knew it.
It turns out, however, that Clinton was merely ahead of her time. It was the New Hampshire primary that provided such a moment for the Democrats. Indeed, for them it's hard to imagine a better turn of events. That was clear from channel hopping as the votes came in. No matter what network you watched, the Republicans were literally reduced to a footnote, a few pathetic lines at the bottom of the television screen. The news was all Democrats, all the time. Even the newly-resurrected John McCain just vanished, with Chris Matthews, Wolf Blitzer and the others dutifully deigning to mention him now and then.
And, as the speeches of Obama and Clinton suggested, more of this is on the way. Each was at the top of his form last night: Obama, with more of the Martin Luther King-like cadences he'd uttered in Des Moines, but amplified now by a sense of heartache and poignancy; and Clinton, displaying some of the genuineness and conviction she'd magically seemed to locate in the past few days. One can ask how it can possibly be that someone who has been in public life for 35 years has only found her voice now; political oblivion apparently focuses, or frees, the mind. Another question is whether, given her fixation with those focus groups and susceptibility to her omnipresent handlers, she will somehow manage to lose it again.
For now, though, a party which, like the Red Sox of old, always managed to find a way to lose finds that things have broken for it in the best conceivable way. Obama, untried and untempered, already showing signs of an overconfidence and glibness that would have left him wide open to Republican attacks, must now show whatever character and toughness and subtlety and substance there is beneath the soaring rhetoric. And Clinton, whose sense of entitlement and artificiality turned off even people who agree with her, has finally revealed some humility and soul. And both will have to keep summoning whatever each of them has found, it seems, for weeks to come, a process that promises to keep the tired Republicans stuck at the bottom of the screen. It's not at all clear which of the two Democrats will prevail, but one winner is already clear. It's their party.

Comments

[IsaacKuo]

Yes! This post mirrors my impression 100%. The last few days have played out almost perfectly to bolster both Clinton and Obama. If both Iowa and NH went the same way, either of them would have become or remained overconfident, and all of the media attention would have been focused on the Republican race. But these early shocks, and the failure of the polsters/pundits, have really energized both of them in the right way. This has given the general public a reason to start paying attention.

A close competition can cause damage to both sides as they bruise each other into oblivion, or it can make them both stronger. At least for now, it's the latter.

[Absintheforall]

Yes, I agree. Now that Upstart Obama has been routed, can we all PLEASE rally 'round Hillary and take on the Repugs (who are far from defeated)?

[beef33]

Not so much. She is a phony propped up candidate awash in corporate money. So is Obama. Really if the choice is her or McCain it is no choice. It just means more of the same. Israel huggin', warmongering, defense contractor money grubbin'corporate greed all over again. Never will I vote for her. never never never.

[PadrePio]

Great post you have encapsulated both the arrogance that Obama displayed in the last week and the overriding lack of appeal of Hillary. We will see if Obama is more than an empty suit and if Hillary is human.

[phlounder]

Nice post David.

It was obvious to anyone who watched last night's cable TV coverage that the Dems have already won the excitement campaign. Change is the buzz word this season but what we're seeing from the right is just more of the same. They're looking very tired and worn out, using the same old slogans about tax cuts and smaller government. Yawn.

Republicans haven't yet come to grips with the reality that Americans want a new direction. Seven years of bad luck is all we can take.