Let the Second-Guessing Begin!

This piece is why Jonathan Alter is the finest journalist in America today and why I cherish all of his appearances on MSNBC. Thoughtful, thorough, and never spouting conventional wisdom. I remember vividly after Obama won 11 straight JA said "It's finished. Put a fork in her. Or maybe a spoon." I knew right then that it was over. The rest of the punditry, afraid to be wrong, or make an assertion that might be seen as biased, bent over backwards to pretend it was a horse race when the math said otherwise. Bravo to Mr. Alter and his fine work.

All of the post-primary commentary is fascinating read. Sen. Clinton has a "thin ear," loathe to hear contrary news, is "slow" to admit mistakes if ever, believes in punishing people (which I remember from the 1992 campaign when she said Gennifer Flowers had to be destroyed) - all traits that would emerge as she governed. Frankly, those are traits I don't want in a leader and those very traits soured me on the excitement of her presidential run. Why the press insists she began "great" these past few months is startling. She mastered "pandering," she found a voice that she felt would work and she stayed with it. We are tired of her and thankful that someone with a last name other than Bush or Clinton will occupy the White House in the fall. (No disrespect to the Elder Bush whom I admire greatly.)

Beyond arrogance and entitlement, I believe a tipping point for many voters was the fact that Hillary Clinton not once was able to admit she had ever made a mistake or was willing to concede a point. In one of the first debates, John Edwards stood up and proclaimed that he was wrong in voting to go to Iraq. He turned his head to Hillary for her opinion, but she was only able to state that she had used the facts available to her at the time. Barrack Obama, on the other hand, several times admitted that he was only human and did make mistakes, but noted that he learned from his mistakes. He was able to humorously waive off a potential powder keg in the need to "reject" vs. "renounce". The fact that Hillary Clinton was not able to relate to the people in this respect far outweighed her words of relating to the troubles of the working class.

It is so funny how these women organization just started raising money for the McCain campaign. They say they fought hard for women to vote. Now they are saying that there rights were violated. These women forget that black Americans fought hard for the right to vote. At one point, some of the same women who fought for the right to vote, also fought to see that black Americans could not vote. The only thing I can say about these women organization is, they are racist. That is the only thing I can come up with. One of the ladies, Harriet Christian was on youtube saying negative comments about Barack Obama, and then she goes on FOXNews and kept with her racist comments. If they want to vote for McCain, I hope they do. McCain already said that he will pick Justices that can review over Roe v. Wade.

Thank you Jonathan Alter for your analysis of the outcome of the Democratic Primary, I total agree and I also think their were many other reasons. I think for me the main reason Hillary Clinton lost was her campaigns mis-management whether it was strategic decisions or money. I hear she is now over $50 million dollars in debt. This was never a issue for the Obama campaign. I think in the end voters could not ignore the fact that if she ran her campaign so poorly, how could she run the government without the same issues haunting her. I use to respect Hillary and Bill Clinton, I even admired them, but know they have both lost their credibility to many Americans. However I wish them no ill will, but I don't see how they can regain a sense of honor in their political lives again. They allowed their legacy to suffer.

Your statement is so on target. He will do well for all people of all races. It is time for a change and Mc Cain and the war issue is not the answer.-nitosha p.