In Hillary on Track for Nomination (RealClearPolitics, 3.28.07), Tony Blankley has an interesting take on Hillary Clinton's political chances. He believes she's well positioned to win the Democratic nomination--and possibly the White House.
Blankley says that Bush has created a deep hole for the eventual Republican nominee. And that neither Edwards or Obama appears capable of knocking Hillary out of contention. If anything, he says, they're unwittingly helping her sharpen her act.
Fast forward to the fall of '08: The GOP is fractured over the Iraq War and the public's low regards of the Bush administration. Their nominee is forced to fight a multi-front campaign just to survive. Meanwhile, Edwards and Obama split the anti-Hillary opposition and a sharper and stronger Hillary prevails.
While winning against a politically weakened Republican is still not a sure thing, the Clintons are masters at eking out close national victories.
Blankley acknowledges as much when he compares Hillary's skills and drive to Richard Milhouse Nixon--another unloved politician that won campaigns largely through tactical brilliance. That's why he sometimes calls her Hillary Milhous Clinton.
Last January, I posted If '68 is like '08, then who's Nixon? in which I drew a comparison between 1968 and 2008. I ended it with this question: And who is the Nixonian politician of 2008? You tell me? (And by the way, the question is gender neutral.)
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