To Strive, Seek and Not Yield
Just by announcing his candidacy for the presidency of the United States, he was thought to have the election in the bag.
That was the conventional wisdom after Senator Edward M. Kennedy announced his bid to unseat President Jimmy Carter in the 1980 election.
Everyone, it seemed, knew it was a foregone conclusion. There was even a Chrysler commercial that featured a presidential motorcade, and the faux chief executive who waved to the crowd from his shiny Chrysler vehicle looked strikingly like the senator from Massachusetts.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the Democratic nomination. The country rallied, at least for a time, around an embattled President Carter, who was trying to retrieve Americans being held hostage in Iran.
The Kennedy team was also caught believing the fawning press coverage it received before the campaign started, with commentators speculating the country would be swept off its feet by Kennedy's bid to renew Camelot.
The Kennedy campaign forgot that Jimmy Carter knew how to win, having built an organization that enabled Carter to come from nowhere to win the White House in 1976.
As it turned out, the much-touted Kennedy machine was nothing like the slick operation that got Jack Kennedy elected in 1960.
Add to that Kennedy’s stumbles on the campaign trail, and Teddy was utterly doomed. The press delighted in gaffes he made on the stump, such as “I’m an uphill battle,” or, in Iowa, “We must do something to secure the future for our fam farmilies!”
In the end, Team Teddy seemed to take for granted that the golden Kennedy name would be a ticket to the nomination and White House. Instead, they were beaten by a better organization.
Fast forward to the current Democratic race, and Hillary Clinton’s campaign is starting to look like an even bigger disaster than Kennedy’s 1980 run.
Clinton's name was supposed to be political gold. She was supposed to dispatch Barack Obama with a knock-out punch on Super Tuesday, but the Obama campaign simply out-hustled its opponents.
Hillary Clinton was supposed to enjoy the advantage of having one of the great political minds of our time on her side – Bill Clinton. Instead the former president quickly turned into a political liability when things got tough.
Another peculiar development is that Clinton, who has touted herself as ready to be president on day one, has not always demonstrated the coolness under pressure of one presumably prepared to assume mantle of the presidency.
Rather, the success of the Obama campaign has prompted some bizarre outbursts from Senator Clinton.
Instead of demonstrating she’s a thick skinned, self-assured leader who can roll with the punches, she complains that the press is motivated by a preference for her opponent, including her objection that she gets all the tough questions first.
Say what? She’s one of the last candidates standing, and she’s complaining? I’d venture that Chris Dodd, Joe Biden, Bill Richardson or John Edwards would be thrilled to be in her position this late in the game.
Then there’s her snarky, sarcastic attack on Obama’s ability to rally people with a positive message.
Was she thinking she’d score points with voters, especially in a time when the public has long grown tired of the bitter tone and cynicism of American politics?
These final days may be a snapshot of the Clinton campaign: Out of time, out of money, but worst of all, out of touch.
Speaking as a political spectator, it’s really too bad. When Hillary Clinton was at the top of her game, one may not have agreed with her, but she was fun to watch, especially when she was in the groove.
Now she just seems desperate and angry.
That was the conventional wisdom after Senator Edward M. Kennedy announced his bid to unseat President Jimmy Carter in the 1980 election.
Everyone, it seemed, knew it was a foregone conclusion. There was even a Chrysler commercial that featured a presidential motorcade, and the faux chief executive who waved to the crowd from his shiny Chrysler vehicle looked strikingly like the senator from Massachusetts.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the Democratic nomination. The country rallied, at least for a time, around an embattled President Carter, who was trying to retrieve Americans being held hostage in Iran.
The Kennedy team was also caught believing the fawning press coverage it received before the campaign started, with commentators speculating the country would be swept off its feet by Kennedy's bid to renew Camelot.
The Kennedy campaign forgot that Jimmy Carter knew how to win, having built an organization that enabled Carter to come from nowhere to win the White House in 1976.
As it turned out, the much-touted Kennedy machine was nothing like the slick operation that got Jack Kennedy elected in 1960.
Add to that Kennedy’s stumbles on the campaign trail, and Teddy was utterly doomed. The press delighted in gaffes he made on the stump, such as “I’m an uphill battle,” or, in Iowa, “We must do something to secure the future for our fam farmilies!”
In the end, Team Teddy seemed to take for granted that the golden Kennedy name would be a ticket to the nomination and White House. Instead, they were beaten by a better organization.
Fast forward to the current Democratic race, and Hillary Clinton’s campaign is starting to look like an even bigger disaster than Kennedy’s 1980 run.
Clinton's name was supposed to be political gold. She was supposed to dispatch Barack Obama with a knock-out punch on Super Tuesday, but the Obama campaign simply out-hustled its opponents.
Hillary Clinton was supposed to enjoy the advantage of having one of the great political minds of our time on her side – Bill Clinton. Instead the former president quickly turned into a political liability when things got tough.
Another peculiar development is that Clinton, who has touted herself as ready to be president on day one, has not always demonstrated the coolness under pressure of one presumably prepared to assume mantle of the presidency.
Rather, the success of the Obama campaign has prompted some bizarre outbursts from Senator Clinton.
Instead of demonstrating she’s a thick skinned, self-assured leader who can roll with the punches, she complains that the press is motivated by a preference for her opponent, including her objection that she gets all the tough questions first.
Say what? She’s one of the last candidates standing, and she’s complaining? I’d venture that Chris Dodd, Joe Biden, Bill Richardson or John Edwards would be thrilled to be in her position this late in the game.
Then there’s her snarky, sarcastic attack on Obama’s ability to rally people with a positive message.
Was she thinking she’d score points with voters, especially in a time when the public has long grown tired of the bitter tone and cynicism of American politics?
These final days may be a snapshot of the Clinton campaign: Out of time, out of money, but worst of all, out of touch.
Speaking as a political spectator, it’s really too bad. When Hillary Clinton was at the top of her game, one may not have agreed with her, but she was fun to watch, especially when she was in the groove.
Now she just seems desperate and angry.