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Hot for Hillary? Cool It!By Rick Horowitz I think it's sweet. Sweet in the same way that a little kid believing in Santa Claus is sweet. Sweet in the same way that buying all that fancy new exercise equipment is sweet. Sweet in the same way that Charlie Brown thinking Lucy won't yank the football away is sweet. In other words, delusional. Which brings us to the strange case of Hillary Clinton, former First Lady, current junior senator from New York and, if the latest polls are even close to accurate, the runaway choice among Democrats for their 2008 presidential nomination. And my advice to those Democrats? Run away. Now, the fact that, a mere four months into the current president's second term, they're already polling/trolling for his successor -- that's a different matter altogether, some combination of journalistic boredom ("The horse race! Give us the horse race!) and buyer's remorse ("Another four years of him?") It's a question better suited for philosophy majors: What is the sound of one (lame) duck quacking? For the rest of us, though, we're stuck with trying to make sense of the numbers. Name recognition, obviously -- Hillary Clinton is a whole lot better known than, say, Joe Biden, let alone Evan Bayh. (Who?) Evan Bayh. (Who?) See? And then there's the chance to turn back the clock, to recapture those golden Democratic days when Bill Clinton was in the White House and all was right with the world. Bill can't run again -- the Constitution says so. Chelsea can't run yet -- she's not old enough. That leaves the missus. And if the Dems know what's good for them, they'll do the same. Leave the missus, that is. Instead, they've been lauding her. Tune in the Sunday-morning talk fests, and all you hear is how "formidable" a presidential candidate Hillary Clinton would be. How deftly she's been "repositioning" herself. How cleverly she's been "moving to the middle." All of which is perfectly reasonable as an electoral strategy. Even a winning strategy, assuming one or two other things also happen between now and November of 2008: 1) The red states secede; or 2) Karl Rove falls under a bus. But if we've still got 50 states voting, and we've still got Karl Rove pulling strings and pushing buttons, Hillary Clinton is lunchmeat -- and for some of the very same reasons she's now leading the polls: She's very well known. And she's not the only one who gets to turn back the clock. Sure, America's the land of the blank slate, the fresh start, the second chance -- but not when the first chance has made such an indelible impression. She can "reposition" herself till the cows come home, but the voters already know (or think they know, which is just as good) who Hillary Clinton is. And should they show even the slightest sign of forgetting, Karl Rove and his designated Dobermans will be absolutely ready to remind them. She wants the voters to focus on her moderate voting record -- strong on defense, strong on national security -- over the past few years? That's nice. But she doesn't get to decide what they focus on. Look: Karl Rove and the "independent" guys who just happen to think the same way Karl Rove thinks were perfectly willing to go back 30 years and more to try to dig up dirt on John Kerry. What they couldn't find, they invented. Does anyone really think they'd be any more restrained in going after Hillary Clinton? They'll turn the clock back to wherever they want to turn it, and they'll light their favorite scenes in the darkest, starkest shadows money can buy. So count on seeing plenty of Government Health Care Plan Hillary, and Travel Office Firings Hillary, and Instant Investment Profits Hillary, and Rose Law Firm Records Hillary, and Hippie Fish Out of Water in Arkansas Hillary, and... "No way!" some Democrats insist. "This time it'll all be different! We've got the right northeastern liberal this time, not like the last time, or the time before that, or the time before that." Charlie Brown, call your office. This boomlet is a doomlet. Posted 5/15/05. For
award-winning commentary that always surprises, it's "Rick's" to the
rescue!
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Rick Horowitz
