I've heard some speculate this could be the last debate of the primary cycle. I guess this assumes the potential Obama victory in TX will close the door on HRC. I'm not sure this is the case. I know I've said it previously, but I'm starting to think Mark Penn's "States that Don't Count" strategy is winning inside the Clinton campaign. If this were the case, feel pretty strongly that my earlier opinion of HRC will be my final opinion of her: I like the person and Senator a lot, but the campaigner has surrounded herself with the worst of strategists. Too bad, too. While I agree with Josh Marshall that we evaluate all of these outcomes with the benefit of hindsight, I've been saying from the first moment I heard/saw Mark Penn that I believed him to be a horrendous person/advisor and that I liked HRC despite her continuing to rely on his advice.
In fact, I was undecided until right before Super Duper Tuesday, when I was forced to make a decision and cast a vote. And while grummish accuses me of being a Hillary hater, "just like every other Obama lover," I really do believe Clinton would have made a fine President. Unfortunately, on the road there, she was convinced to run a campaign as the inevitable front-runner, then seemed unprepared for a long contest. Some say that a campaign is a reflection of managerial experience; ie since Obama ran a tight, efficient, targeted campaign, he has a related potential as a chief executive. I don't necessarily buy this logic. I do, however, believe the inverse to hold (at least a little) true. If you surround yourself with inept advisors who continually shoot you, and themselves, in the foot and you stick with them because of personally loyalty, that bodes ill well for the type of executive you'll be.
Every CEO has to cut the fat to save the business at some point. Mark Penn and Howard Wolfson (who I blame in some way for toning down Ned Lamont's aggressive insurgent campaign in CT) should have gone a long time ago.
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2 comments:
Hillary is getting more desperate as the losses pile up. This foolishness about Obama in a dashiki? Shame on you, Hillary Clinton!
Penn is the real jerk. He does not come across well on television and anytime I've seen him quoted, he sounds ridiculous. What I have read is that the campaign owes him so much money, he can't be fired; but does that mean he can't be muzzled?
Wolfson is not nearly so culpable, and he has a long history of success with Hillary. Lamont's problem was that he took a vacation after the primary and allowed Lieberman (who didn't slow for an instant) to get a jump on him. That, the overblown U.K. terror threat that was announced the day after the primary (apparently at the urging of the U.S., which allowed Cheney to point a finger at the voters of Connecticut), the lack of a credible Republican and, finally, the unwillingness of some Democratic lawmakers to stand behind Lamont, which made it acceptable for Democratic voters to stand with Lieberman also.
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