Or is she vulnerable, not as adroit as Bill in triangulating? Will the press stop giving her a pass? Her Republican House as a plantation comment caught major media attention, among others NY Daily News columnist Michael Goodwin, who thinks her remark was unplanned:
Instead, I think she panicked after a tough questioner said Democrats had been spineless and cited her record as an example. She was looking for an escape hatch and the race card was handy. She played it not because she remotely believes House rules are akin to slavery, but because she knew the word plantation would manipulate the black crowd and let her avoid explaining her support for the Iraq war.
The New York press is getting restless:Think of it as a cheap trick.
Of course, her panic is no excuse for rancid race-baiting. Indeed, it points up an even deeper problem with Clinton's "triangulation" strategy for her presidential run in 2008. All this zigzagging from left to right and back again on abortion, health care and national defense is supposed to make her look like a centrist.
It's just making her look confused.
Last September, she stood mute as Rep. Charles Rangel called Bush "our Bull Connor." The reference to the Alabama police boss of 1960s infamy was below the belt, but Clinton uttered not a peep of protest. It would be nice to ask her what she really thinks about such things, but our senator rarely grants on-the-record interviews to New York journalists. Maybe she's trying to decide who she is.
Or maybe she's afraid some of us already know.
And who among Republicans has the guts and smarts to take on "Lady Macbeth in a Headband" in 2008?
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