I hear -- and see -- rumblings and signs indicating Hillary may be considering unlocking her jaws off the Presidential nomination she presumed was hers. Did the SNL skit finally get through to her when no one else could?
Take a look if you missed it -- http://youtube.com/...
Finally, after putting the party through days of gut-wrenching suspense, fearing they would witness the ultimate murder-suicide, Hillary shows signs of softening. After holding my breath watching her recent video to her supporters, fearing she was going to burst into tears in yet another strategic stoking, instead, I thought I saw the first signs. Then, when I heard that James Carville said yesterday that he expected Barack to be the nominee, I knew there must be a sea change. But what finally did it? I think it was Saturday Night Live.
I haven't nailed down the timeline, but it seems to fit. The SNL skit, which I watched again today, said it all. If she thought that some "majority" somewhere was being taken in by her machinations, the SNL guys gave her just the tough love she's needed. No one else has been able to get the message through to her, and much wailing and gnashing of teeth has ensued over the fact that no one seems to have any good ideas about how to go about doing it. And then comes the SNL skit.
It was brutal. Given her inhumane treatment of all who stand between her and Pennsylvania Avenue of late, I’ve almost quit seeing her as "human." I should know better, but it’s been so hard to stand by and watch her spinning her yarns and thinking she might just be able to "change history" on the back of that nonsense. I think it brings out the worst in people. It does me. Suffice it to say, though, if she has an ounce of "human-ness" left in her, the SNL skit was brutal. "I have no ethical standards." "To those of you who say, 'She won't do that, it doesn't even make any sense,' I say, 'You don't know me.'" "Even her critics will admit that she will do anything--absolutely anything--to win this election." The writers left no aspect of the cravenness she's employed in going after the nomination unaddressed.
Hillary thought she was invisible. I believe she so successfully shielded herself from any contrary sentiment that she did not know we were all onto her. And it does matter. Hillary was still playing by the old rules where you say something that serves your purpose with no regard to the factual/moral/ethical basis of it, feed it to the media in just the right way, and boom! -- enough people are at least arguing over whether it's legitimate that the general consensus becomes "it was at least a wash," and you have effectively gotten away with it. We who watched the Clintons do it during the impeachment debacle and are now offended by her campaign tactics were trembling while we watched her spin first one theory and then another because we know it can happen. But it doesn't work anymore.
Hillary probably accidentally watched SNL. They've been her saving grace at least once already during this election process, and she may have honestly thought they were in her corner as squarely as Bill, Carville, and she, herself, were. Given her pattern, I have no doubt that if she had thought SNL might "turn" on her, she would have made sure she missed it. The only way she could possibly continue on the way she has with any measure of authenticity is to shut out all voices that disagree with her world-view. And she seems to have genuinely believed herself ... to some extent. But finally, and unequivocally, SNL held the mirror up and forced her to look at the image of what she's become.
I've had great respect for Hillary at various times of her public career. She was wrongfully attacked for not much more than being a strong, tough woman when Bill started running for the Presidency in the early 1990s. Her marriage was attacked. The "hounds" were merciless to her during the early years of Bill's White House tenure. It seemed to me that, in fact, the reason she was being singled out and pilloried was because the Good Old Boys could not abide the idea that a woman would be wielding serious influence in the most powerful office in the world. The impeachment scandal was horrific for her. From her perspective, having done nothing wrong, she was savaged by a world of "haters."
But times have changed. No one's taking pot shots at Hillary anymore merely because she's the wife of Bill or because she's a woman who doesn't "know her place." She fought a good fight in the primary race (once she realized a fight was going to be necessary). Barack Obama is not a part of any vast conspiracy. She's fighting her own now, and she hasn't seemed to be able to come to terms with that for weeks on end.
SNL may just have done it. She's talking with some measure of sanity. She has a look about her that seems to acknowledge she's lost. Her "Thank-You Message" to her supporters sounded more like a swan song than a call to arms.
We've watched her moon, give the finger to, and thumb her nose at any and everyone who has dared or deigned to doubt her. There was Bill Richardson. The voters through and to Super Tuesday. The Superdelegates. Party leaders. Obviously, Barack himself. The "pundits" who called the fight last Tuesday night. "The African-American" community. McGovern. ... But finally. Could it be that the straw that broke the back of the Beast was a comedy variety show?
Hillary, we're sorry it took such brutal treatment to get you to see reality. It apparently had to be done. You fought hard, you did a brilliant job, and you barely lost the liveliest Democratic battle in memory. You made history. Now, you know what we think. You know what's right. You know what you have to do. Your strength will serve you well because this is going to be tougher than anything you've done yet. Thank you, in advance, for rising to the challenge.