Proof That I Was Certain Hillary Would be Crushed in NH

Ok, so now I think enough time has passed and I can look back and laugh at myself, along with the pollsters/pundits/press, about my ridiculous presumptions concerning the New Hampshire primary. I, like everyone else, was pretty certain Hillary would lose. And not just lose, but a Mortal Kombat "flawless victory" then "Finish Him" kind of loss.

So I wrote this blog just a few hours before the voting booths closed on Tuesday. Of course, I tried to erase it immediately and replace it with this after hearing the news but unfortunately I was caught by a few readers who've since asked me to repost it. So here you go.


The 5 Moments that Killed Hillary's Campaign
(written 4 hours before voting booths closed)

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past week, the mainstream media and bloggers alike have been delighting in the concurrent rise of Barack Obama and the downfall of the one-time-invincible Hillary Clinton. Myself included. Sure, it's not over yet. But following an almost-certain defeat in New Hampshire today and another almost-certain loss in South Carolina (provided Obama does not have any serious gaffes) I feel less nervous predicting her defeat.

But before we carve Ms Clinton's epitaph, we've got to write her eulogy. So here it is folks. The five moments that lost Hillary the nomination.

5. Hillary's furious rant about change.

In this frightening moment during the ABC/Facebook debate in New Hampshire, Hillary did what she knew she would have to do following her loss in Iowa- she went after Obama. She started her attack directly but not in personal terms saying that Obama claimed to be against lobbyists but has one on his staff, that he claimed to be against the Patriot Act then voted to keep it in place, and that he was against the war but continued to vote to fund it. She concluded saying Obama "could have a debate with himself" considering how much he's switched his positions. All very strong points and delivered to perfection. She then looked to get John Edwards to join in on a tag team by mentioning that Obama said Edwards was "unelectable" and "inconsistent" on a number of issues. What followed next Hillary could not have been prepared for. John Edwards responded, but instead of responding to the charges leveled at him, he sided with Obama, saying the following:

Now, what I would say this: Any time you speak out powerfully for change, the forces of status quo attack. That's exactly what happens. It's fine to have a disagreement about health care. To say that Senator Obama is having a debate with himself from some Associated Press story I think is just not - that's not the kind of discussion we should be having. I think that every time this happens, what will occur - every time he speaks out for change, every time I fight for change, the forces of status quo are going to attack - every single time. . . I mean, I didn't hear these kind of attacks from Senator Clinton when she was ahead. Now that she's not, we hear them.

Hillary then responded with a tirade that made her look insane. Her eyes were literally bulging out of her head and she was slamming her hand around in defiance. Take a gander.



This would certainly be higher on my list but since it followed an already sinking ship it only makes number 5 on my list.

4. Hillary attacking Obama for having presidential aspirations in kindergarten.

In early December as Obama's polls began to bring him closer to Hillary, she thought it would be a good idea to start going at Obama a bit more aggressively. On her website, Hillary stated the following in an article entitled, "Sen. Obama Rewrites History, Claims He Hasn't Been Planning White House Run"

Today in Iowa, Senator Barack Obama said: "I have not been planning to run for President for however number of years some of the other candidates have been planning for."
Oh really?

"Senator Obama's comment today is fundamentally at odds with what his teachers, family, classmates and staff have said about his plans to run for President," Clinton spokesperson Phil Singer said. "Senator Obama's campaign rhetoric is getting in the way of his reality."

In third grade, Senator Obama wrote an essay titled 'I Want To Be a President.' His third grade teacher: Fermina Katarina Sinaga "asked her class to write an essay titled 'My dream: What I want to be in the future.' Senator Obama wrote 'I want to be a President,' she said." [The Los Angeles Times, 3/15/07]

In kindergarten, Senator Obama wrote an essay titled 'I Want to Become President.' "Iis Darmawan, 63, Senator Obama's kindergarten teacher, remembers him as an exceptionally tall and curly haired child who quickly picked up the local language and had sharp math skills. He wrote an essay titled, 'I Want To Become President,' the teacher said."

This sounds like something that would come out of SNL. It's that ridiculous. It would probably have gotten higher on my list if people had realized that she was, in fact, being completely serious.

3. Bill Clinton on Obama on Charlie Rose

Following all of the positive press that Obama was getting after the Oprah event, Bill Clinton thought that it would be a good idea to help out Hillary by throwing in his 2 cents on Obama. While completely patronizing Obama by saying that he is a "great politician" Bill went on to call a vote for Obama a "risk" and " a roll of the dice. " To many it looked like something out of the Rove playbook and made Hillary look like she needed her hubby to help her fight her battles when she'd already positioned herself on her own. By all accounts a bad move.

2. Clinton adviser says Republicans will use Obama's drug use as a youth to beat him in general election

Bill Shaheen, one of Hillary's top advisers, came out and said this speaking about Obama:

"The Republicans are not going to give up without a fight ... and one of the things they're certainly going to jump on is his drug use. . .It'll be, 'When was the last time? Did you ever give drugs to anyone? Did you sell them to anyone?' There are so many openings for Republican dirty tricks. It's hard to overcome."

The comment was especially despicable considering that Obama has been forthright about his drug-riddled past (see" Yes, I inhaled. That was the point.") and even wrote about it in his bestselling book. Of course this bounced back on to Hillary and Shaheen 'voluntarily' resigned. A day later, Hillary got caught saying that she forced him to resign. The whole situation made her campaign look desperate. This resonated especially hard since it was the first sign that Hillary's camp was truly worried about Obama.

1. Hillary flubs question of driver's licenses for illegal immigrants

True, this is not nearly as sensational as the others, but this was the first crack in Hillary's impenetrable armor. For nine months Hillary was smooth sailing. Yeah, people talked about Obama here and there, but it was all about Hillary. She seemed to win every debate effortlessly and Obama and Edwards got lost amongst the shuffle amongst folks like Mike Gravel and Chistopher Dodd. And then this happened.

NY Governor Eliot Spitzer came up with the idea to give driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. Hillary supported it. A day later the press got wind of it and she realized that it was probably a bad move politically so she came on the debate stage and tried to have it both ways. By the end of her answer no one knew where she stood and for the first time, everyone smelt blood.

What do you think?