Reply #26: Hillary missed her chance.

[JDPriestly]

The flurry is not about the DLC. They've always been, well, the DLC. We liberals have never liked the DLC, but we've always accepted it as a necessary evil. This storm is different. It's about Hillary, not just the DLC.

Since leaving the White House, Hillary has focused on being a team player in the Senate and on winning friends and influencing people in the Republican Party. As a result, she has been troublingly silent about issues that matter to liberals, most importantly, about the Bush administration's deception on Iraq, about Bush's theft of the presidency, his lies and incompetence. It hasn't hit her yet, but one of these mornings she is going to wake up and realize that she can't count on the support of the liberal base that elected her husband.

Hillary has worried too little about keeping the confidence of the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party and too much about winning votes from the Republican wings of the parties. That was a dumb thing to do. In the end, Hillary's Republican friends will vote for Republican candidates. As for the DLC, they will vote for the highest bidder. Can Hillary pay the price? I doubt it. There are too many good looking, slightly younger men from red states with beautiful families, great pedigrees and much closer ties to corporate money who will offer more than she. Hillary might be able to trump their hands if she could play the liberal support card, but, at least at this point, it looks like she doesn't hold that card and her bluff is about to be blown.

That's because we liberals, who are the reliable Democratic voters, have had enough. Hillary ignored us for five years. As a result, most of us want "anyone but Hillary." Hillary miscalculated -- badly. It will take a lot for her to regain our confidence. Of course, she's got Bill. We love him, but whether he is enough to win back our trust, only time will tell. We are only now reaping the whirlwind caused by NAFTA, and that was his baby. So I question whether even Bill can overcome our mistrust of Hillary. Too bad, I would love to see a woman in the White House.