No Clear Path for Clinton’s Political Future
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on May 28th, 2008 4:41 am by HL
No Clear Path for Clinton’s Political Future
The Washington Post looks at Sen. Hillary Clinton’s future and notes many Democrats “are now pointing to the Sen. Edward M. Kennedy model as a path for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton to reshape her own political career, assuming she is unable to wrest the nomination from Sen. Barack Obama.”
“When Kennedy returned to Capitol Hill before the 1980 election, the Massachusetts Democrat was in a similar fix. Like Clinton, he was the heir to a powerful political legacy. But the climate was volatile, and voters were in the mood for change. Kennedy was rejected by many of his Senate colleagues, despite Carter’s sagging popularity, and he won just 10 primary states. But like Clinton, he hung on until the bitter end.”
The New York Times also examines Clinton’s likely return to the Senate. “At a minimum, Mrs. Clinton would face an adjustment in exiting the high-energy, applause-filled, rapid-fire atmosphere of a presidential race and re-entering the meandering Senate, where power, status and legislative accomplishments take years or even decades to attain.”
First Read argues that by staying in the presidential race so long, Clinton is hurting her political future. “Given the thud with which Clinton’s RFK flub was received, it’s starting to become clear that perhaps she erred in deciding to stay in the race this long. Imagine had she suspended her campaign and still won primaries. Wouldn’t that have put her in an even stronger position than now? Obama hasn’t run a campaign against her for the last few weeks and, in turn, it’s helped Clinton prop up her personal standing. But wouldn’t she be winning over the support of some in ObamaNation if she were sort of returning the favor by getting out and suspending the campaign? And that’s the rub: At some point for her political future, she has to win back the support of Obama’s supporters. And they don’t seem to be very forgiving of her right now.”