Hillary of Harare

In one sense there's little point in writing about Hillary Clinton anymore. She's lost. Still, if there is any truth to the notion, much-favoured by Washington reporters, that you can gain a sense of character and, indeed, governing style from the way in which a candidate campaigns then, by gum, we should be glad that Hillary Clinton is not going to be the next President of the United States.

Her caterwauling about the perceived injustice of not counting the Florida and Michigan primary results on account of their determination to break DNC rules, has conquered many peaks of absurdity lately. Norm draws my attention to this one:

People go through the motions of an election only to have it discarded and disregarded. We're seeing that right now in Zimbabwe - tragically an election was held, the president lost, they refused to abide by the will of the people. So we can never take for granted our precious right to vote.

Good grief. This isn't just absurd, it's grotesque.

Clinton agreed to "disenfranchise" Florida and Michigan.  As Jon Chait says "This gambit by Clinton is simply an attempt to steal the nomination."

And so, in her desire to win-by-any-means and her willlingness to rewrite the rules after the contest has been held, it's hard to avoid the thought that Hillary Clinton is ill-advised to start talking about Zimbabwe - as if her "plight" and that of Africa really had anything in common - lest folk draw the conclusion that, if the comparison must be made, she's the brutish Robert Mugabe figure who's been rejected by a public that (clearly) just doesn't know what's good for them but that, nonetheless, has determined that "change" is more important than "experience". Like Mr Mugabe, she seems to take the view that it's not the voting that matters, it's the counting...

Comments

[RW Rogers]

Had Obama won the Florida primary, I'm not at all convinced that you would be arguing that the votes cast there in a record turnout (among the highest of the season) should not be counted and given representation at the convention. As to Clinton's arguments, that's just normal politics. Nothing different than the demands that Clinton drop out of the race heard from various quarters for the past two or three months despite the fact that the party rules allow for contested primaries and caucuses through June. If the contest was really as over as you and your friends began claiming some time ago, then Obama's delegate lead should be substantially more now than it was a couple of months ago, yet it isn't, is it? He'll be the nominee, of course, and probably the next President of the United States, but his lackluster performance on stage, unrehearsed on the campaign trail, and at the ballot box subsequent to that string of victories in what were largely uncontested small-turnout caucus states is less than inspiring.