Everyone keeps talking about the delegate math being insurmountable for Hillary, but clearly she would not still be in the race if she did not think she could beat it. Her campaign has already broadcast how. She'll tear down her opponent, tear apart (if she must) the Democratic Party, and then deal with the general election when she gets there.
It's obvious that her goal in the primaries is to win Pennsylvania by continuing the kind of campaigning that was effective for her in Ohio and Texas. She is going to continue to throw the "kitchen sink" at Obama for the next seven or so weeks. The media, no doubt, will eat it up. By then, Obama will be sufficiently weakened and tarred for new primaries in Michigan and Florida. Watch her "concern" for Democracy grow louder and louder as these states figure more and more into her strategy of changing the rules that no longer suit her. After pulling ahead in these states, she'll ask the superdelegates to fall in line.
So far, so good. She's not bad at short and mid-term thinking. It's thinking in the long-term that kills her. She had a plan for 'Super Tuesday', but not for what might happen afterwards. Likewise, it seems like her new plan could get her to the Democratic Convention, but doesn't take into account how her behavior in the primaries affects her chances in the general.
Make no mistake, if Hillary keeps playing it how she has this week, the party will end up watching its best opportunity in decades go down in flames. Democrats will be reminded of the 50% of Americans who say they will never vote for her. Crossover independents and Republicans will not materialize. Many of the new voters Obama brought in will no-show. Her scorched earth tactics will have turned off large percentages of significant core Democratic groups, in particular African Americans, younger voters, and progressives.
When the electorate is asked in November "who do you want answering the phone at 3am", it will be a McCain ad. Unsurprisingly, much of the general electorate will decide a grizzled vet is better prepared to be Commander-in-Chief than a 6 year Senator/former First Lady. By Hillary's own standards of "experience", it's McCain who should be President, not her. She even spent this week running around praising McCain over her Democratic opponent. Given her initial support for the Iraq war, she'll have no traction on that issue either.
It's too bad that Hillary's tactics in the last week have proven so effective. If only it was the nice version of Hillary that was winning places like Ohio. That's the Hillary that could win the election against McCain, and that's the Hillary that could bring around Obama supporters. Unfortunately, it's the nasty one who is getting results now. There's no reason to believe she won't continue on that track. Hillary's found her voice... again. It's a recipe for a Clinton nomination and a McCain presidency.
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