A series of short opinion pieces by 13 pundits, including Mark Penn, Clinton’s chief advisor, and Ana Maria Cox, the founding editor of Wonkette. A few blame sexism—a ridiculous argument, I think. Clinton lost for the simplest and most obvious reason: Obama has more chops. But if we have to blame one of her choices, Kathleen Hall Jamieson gets it most right. Hil’s refusal to apologize for her Iraq War vote probably cost her more than anything else.
At the time, early on in the race, Clinton had a tough choice to make. Should she play to the party’s base, and apologize for her vote? Or, should she play to the general electorate, taking a tougher stance to win over some right-leaning independents? Hillary & Co. knew that her stand would cost her support among anti-war liberals, but (and they weren’t wrong about this) it would probably increase her all-around base if she were the nominee.
She gambled away some primary voters in the hopes of securing victory come November. Not a dumb call, just overconfident. Obviously she should have focused on the race at hand.
3 years ago • Notes