Hillary and Big Brown: The Inevitables
Hey, Hillary Clinton, there you were above the fold on the front page of the Sunday New York Times with Big Brown, your equine equivalent, also pictured on the page in color. And you looked like a winner, Senator.
Both Clinton and Big Brown were beautifully groomed and considered "inevitable" winners of their races for the Democratic party presidential nomination and the Belmont Stakes. The stakes were as high as they come: becoming the first woman in American history to win the political prize versus the first horse to win the coveted Triple Crown in three decades.
But one came in a close second in her race and the other was dead last. So much for sure things in politics and horse racing. Pundits and gamblers, take note: life isn't yet as predictable as it seems.
Hillary Clinton did nothing to dispel the illusion her advisers created at the get-go, that there was no way she could lose. "I'm in to win it," she said then and again, many times. She contradicted CBS News anchor Katie Couric early on when Couric said the word "if" when it came to her winning the primary. There were no ifs, said she. "It will be me," she stated serenely.
The battle plans were laid for a fast finish in February, but Clinton's advisers overlooked key things like caucuses and Internet fundraising. Her commander-in-chief pose and foolish pride never let her take back her deeply flawed vote on the Iraq War authorization.
Like everyone, she probably expected Bill Clinton, the former two-term president, to continue to play the senior statesman on the world stage, instead of alienating party luminaries like Sen. Edward Kennedy and Rep. James Clayburn with unbecoming shouting matches. A Clinton operation was something it's never been before -- outsmarted.
In February, at a crucial curve in the race, a graceful, speedy candidate with an unlikely life story, Barack Obama, started to overtake her, with the wind of Kennedy's endorsement at his back. Despite winning New Hampshire, Clinton always looked at least a length behind Obama.
Gone was the air of regal entitlement. Voters liked Clinton better as a scrappy contender who campaigned her heart out and won some big states like Ohio and Pennsylvania as the race approached the finish. Good for her, going out to Mount Rushmore for the South Dakota primary. Clinton closed in as if to catch Obama, but in the end he had something that hubris had prevented her from actively seeking -- superdelegate support. An "inevitable" candidate doesn't have to ask to receive that kind of support.
Similarly, Big Brown's people didn't do the public any favors with their fervent smugness, acting like the bay horse was a done deal for the Triple Crown.
"Anybody that has ever touched him, seen him, had anything to do with him, are the luckiest people in the world," said his trainer, Rick Dutrow, after the horse won the Preakness Stakes in Baltimore.
With all that build-up, languid Big Brown wasn't interested in running the day of the Belmont Stakes. It was amazing to see how little he lived up to the universally breathless expectations of the media and the racing world.
Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, gave as good as she got. In her concession speech, she spoke of the "18 million cracks" in the so-called glass ceiling -- a metaphor given additional resonance as she stood under the loftiest ceiling in Washington in the 100-feet-tall National Building Museum.
When you consider that women won the right to vote only 88 years ago, Clinton has done the world some good by running so well. The picture of her on The Times front page is the best I've ever seen fit to print. She had a real smile that showed wistfulness mixed with an unbeaten spirit.
Never did she look more like a winner than in losing.
Jamie Stiehm is a political journalist in Washington.
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I don't think I've read your articles before, but I must say that you explain the facts and reason without coloring them. That's hard to do and I commend you and wish you good luck in the future! Have at it, young Barack.
I understand your main point, but reality is Big Brown just didn't have the legs, its not that 'he wasn't interested'. And I'm pretty sure the Clinton campaign did lots of wooing Superdelegates, it just wasn't successful, especially as the campaign ended with Obama still in the lead in pledge delegates--the supers didn't want to overturn the will of the people. But the main idea is a good one for future horse owners and candidates (and pundits) to remember, that you don't know anything for sure until the actual race is run.
Hillary Clinton did not LOSE. She was strong-armed into dropping out of the race. The first female viable candidate for the presidency, WHO WON THE POPULAR VOTE, WON THE MAJORITY OF THE PRIMARIES THESE PAST THREE MONTHS BY WIDE MARGINS, was continually asked by Obama supporters and the Obama-lovin' media, "When is Hillary dropping out?"
The DNC would not even give Hillary a week or two to think things through. They FORCED her to drop out. They told her Obama was bringing in the cash and even though they KNEW HE WOULD LOSE, it would help the senatorial and congressional races!
Now Dean is BULLYING Hillary to release her delegates and trying to stop her from being included in the role call at the convention. This is unheard of!!! The DNC preaches party unity but like their "selected nominee" they are all talk and no action!!
This attitude is only contributing to the increased ANGER, RESENTMENT, FRUSTRATION that Hillary's supporters, especially women, are feeling. Blogs, petitions, rallies are all planned to STOP OBAMA from getting the nomination which rightfully belongs to Hillary!!!
Many, many millions WILL NOT VOTE DEMOCRATIC IF HILLARY IS NOT THE NOMINEE!!! Raising hand here! As of now I am writing-in Hillary's name. But I am still fighting to make her the nominee. This country is in the worst shape it has even been in during my lifetime. We need an experienced, qualified president. Not an unqualified, inexperienced, inadequate LOSER like Obama!!!
No, Senator Clinton lost according to the rules, and she did not win the popular vote unless one gives Senator Obama NO votes in Michigan, which would be patently unfair. There is NO rule that says only that last months of the primary should count and Senator Obama won more states than Senator Clinton. She was only elbowed out after she had absolutely lost the race by the rules of the Democratic Party but nonetheless refused to recognize this fact. As for the millions of voters who will not vote Democratic, that is a myth and recent polls are already pointing this up. The few Clinton supporters that are spreading themselves across the airwaves and blogs saying they will vote for McCain have no understanding of the issues in the campaign, unless Senator Clinton is a lot less progressive than she has presented herself to be, and one suspects they only want attention. I see no need to vilify Senator Clinton or her hardline supporters, but there is no need to pay any attention to them either, as we have a winning candidate who will bring in new voters and win over most of the Democratic base. You have a right to write in Senator Clinton's name and I encourage you to do so as it is far better to vote FOR someone than AGAINST someone.
Good one "Fabienne"! You should be a goodwill ambassador! You are indeed MUCH more diplomatic than I am. Going forward I'm going to try to be nicer. No promises though. Every now and again, when I hear a strident fanatic, I'm going to resist letting em have it with both barrels.
Actually, the person who gave Obama no votes in Michigan was Obama when he decided to be 1 of the 4 candidates who took their name off the ballot rather than 1 of the 4 candidates who kept their names on. Clinton won the popular vote because of Obama's political calculation that his action would help in Iowa - and Obama won Iowa and the nomination. (One Michigan DNC member said at the time of candidates removing their names: "This election is not for president of Iowa , it is president of these United States." Momentum in Iowa can help win the US.)
I think you might want to look at factcheck.
Sorry, blueraven, but for some reason you are misquoting factcheck.
It really says that if you (unlike the DNC) ignore the 330,000 people who elected 34 Clinton delegates in Michigan, Obama had more votes. If you include Michigan (where Obama wasn't on the ballot because Obama took his name off the ballot), Clinton had more votes.
www.factch
Once again, the popular vote means nothing, the delegate count is what matters. Obama was ahead in the pledged delegate count at the end of the primaries, and the superdelegates put him over the top. I can only imagine the uproar if the supers had overcome the will of the people (expressed in the pledged delegates) and thrown their support to Hillary. Personally I don't think anyone could, or did force Hillary to do anything. I think she looked at the odds after the primaries were over, and decided not to take the fight to the convention, where she only had a slim chance of winning, and there was a large chance of dooming Democratic chances for November.
its funny how hillary supporter keep saying that obama was selected but she had LESS delegates than he did and would need the super Ds to put her over as well...if she had won then she would have been SELECTED..
see how that works..
Keep fighting!! That's all you supporters know what to do!!
Newsflash: It is over. Take a break.
Let the re-scripting of history begin!
For my part before the history books are scrubbed and all the tapes disappear, let me do my little part in the accurate portrayal of what really went down in the Primary Season.
Truth is that Hillary Rodham Clinton ran a despicable campaign. The reasons she did as well as she did had absolutely nothing to do with her campaign. Were it not for her husband's name, her husband's legacy, her husband's political machinery, her husband's relationship with the Hispanic community she would have been a Carol Mosely Braun. After she had squandered almost everything she inherited and saw that she was about to lose, she then employed racist and sexist tactics. In addition to which she amplified every mis-step Obama made. She deliberately fanned the fires with his bitter comments, she threw Rezko in his face, she brought up Farrakhan and Ayers and she exploited the Wright affair. She even spoke about what an ASSASSINATION would mean to her candidacy. She ran a graceless and classless campaign. I loved Bill Clinton and respected and empathized with Hillary Clinton during the Monica scandal but I grew to despise and detest both of them. I for one will neither forget nor forgive the Clintons for this betrayal.
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