The WaPo’s Chris Cillizza ponders just what Hillary and Bill might be up to:
Facing almost impossible odds in her quest to become the Democratic nominee for president, Hillary Rodham Clinton has started to cast the presidential race as a historical anomaly in which she is being badly mistreated.
In doing so, Clinton and her husband seem to be laying the groundwork — whether unconsciously or consciously — to go back to Democratic voters if Barack Obama comes up short in November with a very concise message: “Told you so.”
To be sure, the Clintons are FAR too savvy to use that exact language, but the sentiment, nonetheless, is accurately summed up in those three words.
Need evidence? Look no further than comments made by former president Bill Clinton during a campaign stop over the weekend in South Dakota.
“She is winning the general election today and [Obama] is not, according to all the evidence,” the former president said, according to CNN. “And I have never seen anything like it. I have never seen a candidate treated so disrespectfully just for running.”
Clinton herself sounded a similar message during her now-famous interview with the Sioux Falls Argus Leader editorial board on Friday, in which she registered amazement that she was coming under such pressure to leave the race before the primaries end next week.
“I find it curious because it is unprecedented in history,” Clinton said. “I don’t understand it and between my opponent and his camp and some in the media, there has been this urgency to end this and you know historically that makes no sense, so I find it a bit of a mystery.”
It is, of course, all just speculation, but these are the Clinton’s we’re talking about here so it’s not all that far fetched to believe that they are already thinking about 2012:
The window appears to be closed on Clinton in the race for the 2008 nomination. But that doesn’t mean that the final weeks of her bid are without purpose as it relates to her future political plans. Keep a close watch on what she and her husband say between now and when she leaves the contest — likely early next month. It could be a telling sign of what she has planned for her own future.
Far fetched ? Maybe, but there’s always the Nixon example so, don’t be surprised if you hear a speech from Hillary like this:
For 16 years, ever since the Hiss case, you’ve had a lot of—a lot of fun—that you’ve had an opportunity to attack me and I think I’ve given as good as I’ve taken…..But as I leave you I want you to know—just think how much you’re going to be missing. You won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore, because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference.
Well, that wasn’t exactly true, was it ?
Can’t you just see it ? She’s tanned, she’s rested, she’s ready — Hilary in `12.
