What Hillary Believes
(4 of 4)
Photos
Photos: Hillary Clinton Campaigns in Iowa
Two TIME photographers trail the Democratic front-runner during a four-day 12-city tour of the critical mid-western state
Podcast
Podcast: Hillary Clinton
TIME Political Columnist Joe Klein talks with Sen. Hillary Clinton about what she really believes
"She's run what Washington would call a textbook campaign. But the problem is the textbook itself," says Obama. There is something to that. The prospect of a woman President is so unusual that there is a real need to sell a textbook political image, the notion that Clinton wouldn't be much different from, or less tough than, any of her male opponents. There is a need to show her as solid and personally conservative — the sort of person who won't go crazy on us. And there is the ever present all-too-textbook reality of the Clinton machine: a campaign awash in the dark arts of polling, market-testing and fund-raising (although Obama's groundbreakingly cool campaign is just as stage-managed). Edwards is right to raise the red flag over Clinton's successes in milking the health care, insurance, defense and other rancid lobbying sectors for contributions — although Edwards is no boy scout, given his history as a hedge-fund rainmaker and his closeness to the trial lawyers' lobby.
As I've watched Clinton perform over the past year, it has been hard not to admire the sheer effort she's made — to know the issues, to become a more effective speaker on the stump, to be more personable, to loosen up a little. It is also hard not to admire the sheer, pellucid quality of her intelligence. She has already proved herself an indefatigable campaigner and a deft debater, with a personal confidence that Bill — who always seemed desperate for approval — never had. Rather than collapse under the pressure of what promises to be a tense and thrilling campaign, she seems more likely to break free from the cocoon of her stereotype and emerge from the shadow of her husband's brilliance. The biggest decisions about Hillary Clinton have yet to be made, and they are largely out of her control. Do people really want a woman President? Do they want the Clinton circus back in town? Do they want to keep trading the presidency between these two weird families? "Who knows?" said Karl Rhomberg, a former Scott County Democratic chairman, after watching Clinton perform in Davenport, Iowa. He pointed out that four years ago, in November, Howard Dean was inevitable, and John Kerry was over. "But 40% were undecided going into the last week of the caucus. It'll be the same this time. Hillary is 20% smarter than the guys, but a woman has to be just to pull equal. And I can't stand thinking about what Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity are going to do to her. People are just sick of that. They love Obama. He's very inspiring. But in the end, Iowans vote on electability. I hate to say it, but my guess is they'll vote for the white guy — Edwards — this time, just like they voted for the war hero last time."
It was a chilling thought. I'm sure Edwards wouldn't want to win that way, and I'm not so sure he will. But Rhomberg's scenario wasn't at all implausible. It certainly raises the central issue of this Democratic campaign: whether Hillary Clinton's excellence as a candidate will be enough to overcome her family's garish political history, the undiluted hatred that will be directed against her and the demons that still haunt our nation.
Stephenie Meyer
Musharraf in the Crosshairs
Pictures of the Week
Elegy: Death Becomes Them
Should Clinical Trials Be Outsourced?
Airline Fees: Who's the Stingiest?
Have the Clintons Gotten Over It?
Who Can You Sue? Click Here
Songwriter/Activist Janis Ian
Who Gets Billed for a New Baghdad?
