Ok, let me say to begin with, I am not a Hilary Clinton supporter. Indeed, I am also quite anxious to make the point that I always thought that Hilary was much farther left than her husband. She is an opportunist who used a failed marriage to a charismatic President as a virtual "reverse carpetbagger" strategy which got her the Senate seat in New York. That said, I actually have a great deal of sympathy for her.
This is a woman who got "beaten" at the disadvantaged candidate game by Barack Obama. Her feminine credentials lost to his black credentials. Her credentials as a legislator were far more real than Obama's, and her legal experience was far superior to his "community organizer work." In short, she was far better qualified than he to be President. Yet, the community organizer beat her by using the core principles of charisma, eloquent speech making and the "Rules for Radicals" principles.
Yes, Hilary lost to Barack, but her nomination loss is nothing compared to the brilliance of his next move. He managed to convince Hilary that she would be better off being the powerful Secretary of State than a junior Senator from New York. She bought that argument probably because she convinced herself that the platform was a "no lose" proposition. Indeed, I thought that this was a smart move by each of them He got her close to him (keep your friends close, and your enemies closer) and she got the international platform. I concluded that it was a win win for each.
My mistake was that I did not think deeply enough about the principle "marginalize your enemies." Barack Obama "giveth and he taketh away." He gave her the platform and then took away the power by putting her into the "Cabinet Box." Yes, the Cabinet Box is what I wrote about the other day when I talked about the Czars. With 30 plus Czars, Obama has put al the intellectual and policy clout into the White House staff, and left the Cabinet Secretaries devoid of real policy influence. Hilary's "most powerful" Secretary of State job has become almost invisible. Where is Hilary? She is marginalized. Another victory for Obama.
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