"This is Not Classy and Does Not Help"

Confirmed Hillary-hater Fallows:

She has not had the grace to mention Barack Obama's name, nor his existence or success. Not as "Senator Obama," not even as "my worthy opponent in the contest for our great party's nomination -- for this battle we all believe in to change the course of the nation's future" and so on. This on a night when he has just trounced her fair and square in Virginia and, presumably, will in a few minutes be shown to have done the same in Maryland and D.C.

This is not classy and does not help. Not that the campaign is short of critics at the moment (see my Atlantic colleague Josh Green's excellent inside account), but whoever advised her to take this petty approach made a mistake.

That Josh Green piece is interesting in its own right, of course. Did anyone else know that, in her book Living History, Hillary referred to herself and her staff as Hillaryland? I find that rather creepy.

Comments

[Gib]

It's probably better at this point if Clinton doesn't mention Obama in her speeches after he beats her in primaries. When she still saw herself as the presumptive nominee, it was easy to be gracious when Obama won in Iowa and SC, because she was still going to be the nominee, and being gracious in defeat looks presidential.

Now that she's falling behind, maybe her not mentioning him is an act of discretion - better not to mention him at all then to mention him and possibly sound less genuine.

I'd suggest they quit trying to play nice with each other and just slug it out - everyone knew McCain and Romney despised each other, so no one expected graciousness.

[Mithras]

I'd suggest they quit trying to play nice with each other and just slug it out

She would if he would, but he won't because he's the Kumbayah candidate. If she attacks again, he'll just deflect it and appear to rise above it, which is what he's been doing all along. If there is anywhere she can push him, it's in the debates.

If I were advising Hillaryland, I would say run against Bush hard. Those would be criticisms everyone would enjoy. It would also give her the chance to imply that Bush's enablers in Congress and the media will not simply roll over because we elect a charismatic who claims he can bring people together - in other words, we'll have to knock heads and bust balls, and you know who does that best.

[Twisted_Colour]

Did anyone else know that, in her book Living History, Hillary referred to herself and her staff as Hillaryland? I find that rather creepy.

Why?

[Mithras]

Perhaps in context it comes across humorously. But on the face of it, it connotes a certain level of - to use a term applied in a similar context recently - cultishness. Like Hillary's organization is a foreign country with its own laws and language. I find the overtones disturbing.