The New Vulnerability of Hillary Clinton

Peggy Noonan's column today in the Wall Street Journal says that Hillary Clinton is less inevitable after the past week. The feud with Barack Obama and David Geffen notwithstanding, the only think inevitable about Hillary Clinton's campaign is that she was doomed to go down. As front-runner, that is the only place to go.

Certainly Obama has wounded her and rightfully so. But Hillary Clinton's downfall will not come from without, but from within. Some people point to her naked ambition, her slow-boil, slow-to-cool, anger, ability to keep a grudge and other personal attributes as the source of her pending fall. I doubt that the psycho-analysis is needed. The fact of the matter is that most Americans have a view of her and most of that view is not positive, whether for the above stated reasons or for anything else.

This week Hillary Clinton has demonstrated her ability to screw up big time. Her petulant cry to Obama to give back David Geffen's money and the money he raised is but a symptom of the problem. For so long, people have built her up as the nominee apparent that she has not stopped to think and build ideas. She is expecting support because of the mere fact that she is Hillary Clinton. Obama, Edwards and the rest of the field are building a campaign, Clinton thinks she has one.

Another case is point is the apology for the Iraq vote that the left keeps demanding. Now, I don't think she should apologize for any vote she has taken in her brief Senate career. The problem is that she keeps trying to obfuscate the issue by saying that the President mislead her. But that is a bigger lie. She probably had access to more information over a longer period of time than any other freshman Senator, but she keeps dodging the issue. Here is my advice to Hillary Clinton (probably the only advice I would give). The next time the question comes up, say "I voted in 2002 based on information available at that time. We know something different know and had I known then what I know now, my vote would have been different. But everyday, everyone makes decisions based on less than perfect information and Senators are no different. Do I have regrets about my vote, yes. But I don't doubt my vote at that time. I can't afford the luxury of doubting every vote I cast."

Now, of course she won't say that because such a statement requires a confidence in oneself that she lacks, that she may be on the wrong side of something and that scares her and her campaign staff. This, and not anything else, is what makes her vulnerable because her hubris cannot be avoided or mended.