Playing The Ace

by Steve

Now that we know Tim Russert, Chris Matthews, and Maureen Dowd are lined up against Hillary’s candidacy, it’s a sure bet she is doomed. The Beltway Intelligentsia have a crush on Barack Obama, and the fact that they get to relive their anti-Clinton euphoria is a two-fer for them. But Dowd simply makes an ass out of herself today.

“With all due respect,” she told a crowd in Iowa. “I don’t think living in a foreign country between the ages of 6 and 10 is foreign policy experience.”

But is living in the White House between the ages of 45 and 53 foreign policy experience?

Yes, you twit. Or do you think being on the inside seeing how the world works at the highest level possible for eight years means nothing?

Look, Hillary can't expect any breaks from her media opponents, nor should she. It's still up to her to run a good campaign and deal with Obama - and her media detractors - straight on. She can't reinvent herself as the next flavor of the month or fresh face because she isn't and hasn't sold herself that way. All she can do is put out there what she stands for, even if some of it gives a reality check to the party's base about the world we live in and the demolition derby that any Democrat will endure from the media and GOP attack machine next year. To that end, she should confront the media and party oppposition attack lines against her head on, and play to the one remaining advantage she has so that she can reconnect with voters as a change agent.

But to do that, she needs to boil down into several sentences why she is running in the first place. May I suggest the following:

"Look, we all know that I'm not the fresh face or best talker in this race, and I'm OK with that. And despite what you may hear from the media or my opponents, I'm not running because I'm a woman or a Clinton, but rather because I feel I am best able to push for real change here at home against a resistant media and GOP opposition, while rebuilding alliances and improving our national security abroad."

"I will get universal health care done for all of us, or call out those that oppose it."

"I will end this war and refocus our efforts to stopping Al Qaeda, and call out those who profit from permanent war based on permanent fear."

"I will restore competence, integrity, and fiscal discipline to the federal government, and identify those who degraded the United States for private gain these last seven years."

"I will make sure our energy, environmental, trade, and foreign policies share the same goals: to make this country safer and energy independent; a leader in reducing global warming; and committed to free but fair trade that does not degrade the earth."

"And I will work make this country a place of opportunity and shared responsibility once again, not only for us but more importantly for our children and their children."

"I've seen how things work at the highest levels for eight years, and learned the good and the bad from that experience. From my time in Washington I know who can be counted on to support change that benefits all of us, and who inside the Beltway simply talks a good game but can't or won't get it done. Yet you must choose whether you want experience that can bring about change, or if you want to vote for newer, fresher faces and hope that they can confront these same challenges even better than I will."

The major card she has left is experience, and despite the idiotic Obama love letters from the likes of Dowd, Hillary should frame the remaining debate along these lines and let voters make the call.