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Sunday, March 2, 2008

Riding the National Press, SNL Pulls Clinton Pity Wagon

"LIKE A PILLOW?" --> "CAN I PULL YOUR WAGON?"

In a coup of free "advertising", Hillary Clinton shoveled up a wave of media-driven parody into a wagon of pity on SNL last night (although she may have given as much as she got...watch it).

It seems fine to complain, if the goal is to fix the system, but it's well on its way to bordering on asking people to pull a pity wagon to the White House. Who wants to be party/Party to that?

On that score, I'll not let being foil to AS's Hillary-anxiety cloud a clear judgment. The truth is, the adversarial system has worked a fair bit of magic, so far. Obama has shifted and adapted his message, in ways that are demonstrative. Why not take at face the reports from reporters alongside him that he's grown, as a candidate, on the trail? He's pulled a lot of weight (for a wiry guy, as he might say). Everyday, he looks more ready, not less. Hillary? Looks the same.

Frankly, ignoring the high-prose of Obama and the "frenzy", the fact is that he's the man with the grander plan, for Washington at least, and for new ways to handling both his own party and the opposition. True, he'll have his own challenges, but there is now ample evidence that shuffling the deck is ... a considered view.

"A PHONE IS RINGING IN THE WHITE HOUSE"

So, we may as well end any burgeoning pity-fest, right now, with the following:

"A phone is ringing in the White House and the media know about it."

"If it doesn't turn out well, one candidate is going get stuck, snared in a loop of recriminations with the press, missing the next opportunity."

"America is ready for forthright leadership. Your vote will make it happen."