A Tale of Two Hillarys

As Hillary Clinton readied herself to actually concede the Democrat nomination to Senator Obama, all of the talk about a deadlocked convention, rioting in the streets of Denver and so on has faded like an old photograph. Yet the power-hungry Hillary must be making some sort of backroom deal with Obama's people to make her go away. Mustn't she?

With the Clintons, every utterance must be parsed in an often vain attempt to sort out some real meaning and intent from all of the legalese. Thus Hillary's "concession" by its very nature will leave just the slightest open crack in the door that's closing on her presidential hopes. Even to the extent that the "c" word will not be used-rather, her campaign is merely "suspended." Still, it's remarkable that she seems to finally be giving up the race without further protest or battles. Is this the same Hillary who crowed when announcing her candidacy that she was "in it to win it?"

The media pundits are practically beside themselves in speculation and innuendos about whether Hillary will end up as Obama's running mate. The more both camps deny that this is in the works or even a done deal, the more prone we are to think that the deniers doth protest too much. Who else brings the star power and the ability to bring in millions of white voters that may otherwise vote for McCain or not at all, argue those who believe she has earned her way onto the ticket.

On the other hand, the Clintons obviously drag a lot of baggage behind them wherever they go. Unfortunately, John McCain does not seem like a candidate who will do much to make hay of their liabilities in a general campaign against an Obama-Clinton ticket, if it indeed comes to that.

Rush Limbaugh's "Operation Chaos" thus seems to be ending with barely a whimper. What he "misunderestimated" all along was the Democrats' ability to project a unified image in public, aided and abetted by their media allies, no matter how much disharmony may be occurring behind closed doors. The Dems' unquenchable quest for power allows them to bury hatchets with lightning speed when it's in their interest to do so. In that regard, it's truly amazing how Clinton can go from bashing Obama last Tuesday to praising him and asking her supporters to throw their support to him barely four days later. It's even more amazing that Democrat voters might be buying it-or maybe it isn't, after all.