It's a pity when good candy goes bad. It sits on the shelf and its once sweet shell begins to break down into its essential chemicals, it's snappy nougat becomes flinty and flakey and its eye-catching wrapper fades and becomes brittle.
Sic Semper Zagnutis.
When Bill and Hill presided over all during the Nirvana Nineties, generating prosperity and (relative) peace and the White House was ground zero for every heat ray and disintegration beam The Republicans could hurl at them, they took on heroic qualities, complicated but clear, in the face of the pinched, pissed-off, pseudo-patriots obsessively intent on bringing them down.
But too much time spent being a hero can have corrupting effects; bravery can evolve into desperation and the cause for which the hero once fought becomes inexorably entwined with the insatiable desires of the ego.
Thus it is with Hillary. Like the aforementioned candy-bar (an admittedly labored metaphor written through a haze of generic cough medicine, as I have a touch of the grip), Hillary's stock hasn't been rotated and her once unique tang has turned toxic. Too much exposure, too much desperation to restore her relevance has led to a tragic display of her inner workings, indeed the inner workings of The Clintons themselves. After touting her own experience and ability to be ready for anything at any wee hour of the morning, she has in fact demonstrated the opposite and has proven herself to be in possession of too much opportunism, too little restraint and not a lot of class. She is clinging to her prime which has, sadly, just passed and should instead now endeavor to preserve what remains of the spirit and power that defined her two Bushes ago. (Gonna be tough with that "obliteration" comment she made a few days back. But hell, the MSM barely mentioned it, anyway.)
And Bill? His hair deservedly white, has also curdled somewhat, having become bellicose, turned inside out and deployed as H's erudite front-and-center hit man, doing the job once consigned to his own sleek squad of bobbers and weavers, shuckers and jivers. He's once again managed to taint his own resurrected record and -- heresy! -- has overstayed his welcome. Shelf-life, you see?
(cough)
Sorry. One sec---
Okay.
The classic Hillary is the one that would have inspired the next generation, herself as living history, watering the very grassroots of advocacy and activism the same way Conservatives so expertly did for their soon-to-become-viral legions decades ago. The Hillary being sold now will just give them a belly ache.
There's another candy being touted at the moment. It's new. It's smartly packaged. And it tastes fresh.
And hope has no foreseeable expiration date.