Under the Gun

For Obama supporters, one of the most disillusioning aspects of this election has been the tarnishing of what many have long revered - the legacy of the Clinton Administration. While rooting from the sidelines, many of these loyal Democrats have never found themselves at odds with the Clintons - little alone under the gun of the Clinton attack machine. This new perspective on our generation's only two-term Democratic president has shed light on many of the unflattering characteristics of the Clinton style and yes, allows even the most die-hard Democrats to more easily sympathize with the many who have found the traits of each less than appealing.

On the NY Times Politics Blog, Matt Bai discusses some of the tactics recently employed by the Clintons, the deteriorating tone of the Democratic primary, and a possible (yet improbable) next step for Hillary. An excerpt:

"Both Clintons now find themselves in an unfamiliar reality, the kind of all-out war for the nomination that Bill Clinton twice managed to avoid. They will get all kinds of advice from people whose career opportunities are at stake and who will do or say anything to win. They are surrounded by overzealous politicians and interest groups willing do whatever it takes to shut down Barack Obama and deliver their states to Hillary Rodham Clinton...

No one expects Mrs. Clinton to stand down and let Mr. Obama make his case unchallenged. She could, however, send a clear message to the cogs in the machinery she’s built that there is a line she will not cross. She could tell her Nevada allies that the job of the Democratic Party she grew up in is to make it easier for people to caucus, not harder. She could tell Robert Johnson that he needs to apologize, the same way she forced Bill Shaheen, her New Hampshire co-chairman, to resign last month. She can make it plain to all those people trying to get jobs in the next Clinton Administration that there is way to win—a rough and combative way, even—that nonetheless won’t destroy all the good that the Clintons, at least for a lot of Democrats, have come to represent."