Twistin' By The Pool

Jon Robin Baitz unmasks the guy who had the temerity to ask Hillary Clinton why she can't manage to utter a single thought from the heart, or in her case, the dead empty place where her heart used to be: It's Jon Robin Baitz.

Clinton apparently went all frosty at the question; her thin skin, an unattractive trait that seems to run in the family, is just one of the things that makes me view her candidacy with skepticism. More troubling, though, is her apparent inability to articulate any position that hasn't been focus-grouped right into a smooth, gooey, pablum-like state. Anybody here remember this bright, shining moment from back in March?

Asked if she believed homosexuality was immoral, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton declined to answer the question in a television interview this morning and said it was for "others to conclude."

Clinton should be called out for her pathological caution and unshakable allegiance to talking points, and called out often. But if, as Baitz points out, it makes little cartoon jets of steam issue from her ears when she's challenged in a respectful way by a supporter in a friendly setting, how can she reasonably be expected to cope with the stresses of international statesmanship? Or, for that matter, the rough and tumble of a general election campaign? A peevish sense of entitlement doesn't look good on a US president, and the reason I know that is that I've been looking at it for the last seven years. Democrats and Republicans, left, right and center, we all deserve better.