Why They're Both Running Against Bill

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He will also be a terrific spokesman for her cause, but that is a double-edged sword--and this is how Hillary Clinton will also be running, metaphorically, against her husband. She will never have his performance skills, an especially daunting deficit because the presidency is the office where the ability to lead and inspire is part of the job description. No one doubts Hillary Clinton's substance; even potential Republican opponents like Newt Gingrich and John McCain have praised her ability to understand tough issues and find the best answers. But if being smart about policy were the most important quality in a President, Al Gore would now be completing a successful second term.

Clinton has two performance-related problems that will be difficult to overcome. She is not a very good speaker, especially in big rooms where the need to emote exposes a harshness in her voice. A more serious problem is also her greatest source of strength: she is prohibitively rational, unclouded by undue emotionality. She doesn't get misty and bite her lip in public. She doesn't feel your pain; she understands it. Rationality breeds caution, and caution breeds a lack of spontaneity, which can make her seem cold and calculating. And even if her husband puts his charisma in storage for the campaign, Clinton will be running against a politician, in Barack Obama, who has a public ease and eloquence unmatched by any candidate since ... well, Bill Clinton. To win the future, Hillary Clinton will have to defeat her own past. Because, just like the Clinton who won in 1992, Obama will represent a new generation of leadership, a freshness that Senator Clinton will not be able to claim. She will have to hope that experience trumps charisma, which isn't often a winning hand in American politics.