It's Hillary, stupid!

By Michael J.W. Stickings

James Carville may not always seem to have his political wits about him, but I suspect he's pretty much right about what he said about Hillary Clinton's 2016 prospects yesterday on This Week: 

I don't know what she's going to do, but I do know this: The Democrats want her to run. And I don't just mean a lot of Democrats. I mean a whole lot of Democrats, like 90 percent across the country. We just want to win. We think she's the best person and shut it down. And that's across the board.

Which reminds me of something Richard and I were talking about recently, as he recounted in a "Hillary Watch" post last week:

Michael and I were... speculating about what will become of the Obama campaign machine, including personnel, in 2016 and who else might run for the Democrats if Hillary does. Would anyone of significance bother, and would it be a bad thing if no one did? Parties sometime say that so-called "coronations" for presidential nominations are unhealthy, but given how badly the Republican contenders beat each other up, it may not be an awful idea for the Democrats to know who their candidate is early on. 

Normally I'm against such coronations. I'd much rather let the democratic process play itself out. But presidential primaries these days aren't so much democratic processes as exercises in self-immolation exposing various establishment and base fault lines.

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The Hillary we love (sort of)

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Now that... that was impressive. What an awesome speech. What a reminder of why Hillary did so well in the primaries, of why she continues to have such ardent supporters (even if the media continue to sensationalize the divisions in the party), and of why so many of us who eventually came to support Obama liked her so much -- and, the bitterness of the campaign now behind us, like her so much still.

(And yet... well, keep reading...)

Hillary did what she needed to do for herself, for Obama, and for the Democratic Party. Solidifying her standing in the party, her position as a party leader, she was strong on both policy and principle, reaching out to her many supporters while making a strong case for her former opponent:

My friends, it is time to take back the country we love. And whether you voted for me, or you voted for Barack, the time is now to unite as a single party with a single purpose.

We are on the same team, and none of us can sit on the sidelines. This is a fight for the future. And it's a fight we must win.

Her comments on women's issues, including equal pay for equal work, were especially poignant. So, too, were her passionate and compassionate appeals on behalf of working Americans. She ran a tough, and at times dirty, campaign against Obama, one that at times sounded Republican, as when she presented herself as a gun-happy populist (notably in Pennsylvania) with McCain-like experience (notably the 3 am phone-call ad), but tonight she directed her toughness, as well as her immense policy expertise and rhetorical skill, at the proper targets: John McCain, George W. Bush, and the Republicans:

You haven't worked so hard over the last 18 months, or endured the last eight years, to suffer through more failed leadership.

No way. No how. No McCain.

There is no doubt some lingering ill-feeling between Hillary and Obama, and much more between her supporters and his. And Hillary spent much of her speech talking about her campaign, about why she ran and what she was fighting for. In many ways, it was the speech she could have given as the nominee. She even took a subtle dig at Obama when she said she was looking forward to presenting him with a health-care bill providing coverage for all Americans, a reminder that she once criticized Obama's health-care plan for allegedly not covering everyone. It was pretty obvious that much of her speech had to do with self-promotion in defeat -- there was a lot of I... I... I... -- and with an eye to the future.

Still, tonight was about coming together, not rehashing past debates. And, overall, Hillary did extremely well.

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UPDATE: TNR's Michael Crowley notes that Hillary made no "clear, flat assertion that Obama is qualified and prepared to be commander in chief from day one, which of course was always her central critique of him."

Not good.

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Here are a couple of clips, the first from Hillary's speech, the second from Mark Warner's fine speech earlier in the evening: