Dowd: "Hillary Battles Bernie Sanders, Chick Magnet"

[Mufaddal]

And she’s still not likable enough for the young women who were supposed to carry her forward as a Joan of Arc. According to an NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll, Sanders won among young men and women in Iowa by 70 points. And in New Hampshire, going into the weekend, polls showed him leading with women, racking up yawning margins with women under 45 and with both sexes under 30.

Sanders’s populist surge — he raised $20 million last month, $5 million more than Hillary — has led some top Democrats to wonder if President Obama will have to step in and endorse her.

Wouldn’t that be rich? The Wellesley idealist-turned-realist needs the Chicago idealist-turned-realist who beat her last time to save her from the Vermont idealist clinging to a simple reality: Wall Street fleeced America and none of the big shots got punished.

Read the full op-ed: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/07/opinion/sunday/hillary-battles-bernie-sanders-chick-magnet.html

Of course, anyone who knows Maureen Dowd is aware that she has a special loathing for the Clintons (one I personally share, but hey, obviously not everyone does), and the remainder of the article savages Hillary pretty badly. She's not especially kind to Sanders either, but it provides some interesting suppositions about the psychology at work behind his opponent (particularly the whole childhood fear of poverty bit).

On her final point--"none of the big shots got punished"--this is something Warren is more than happy to hang on Obama (again, I personally share that view), but Bernie seems unwilling to make the full leap, as opposed to just pointing everyone in the direction of that conclusion. That's a little sad to me, but I get it.

[DonCoquixote]

1. dowd, stay home

the left does not need or want your help. You attacked Obama in ways that really did dance with racism. Go..TO....HELL.

[Mufaddal]

2. Yeah, she's far from a saint

But even a broken (not to mention especially nasty) clock is right twice a day. I would say the same goes for Bill Maher, who has apparently thrown in with the Bernie camp now. One of the last people with whom I would want to be associated.

[grasswire]

3. Hey....Joy Behar thinks he's hot. nt

[grasswire]

4. would Obama endorse Hillary to save Wall Street?

Wow.....that's some heavy stuff.

[draa]

6. Yes.

It's not about protecting Hillary Clinton, it's about protecting the system and the establishment that profits from it. That's all that matters.

[PoliticAverse]

5. "anyone who knows Maureen Dowd is aware that she has a special loathing for the Clintons"

that's an understatement even.

[Mufaddal]

8. I mean, heck, we could hold a contest for most accurate depiction of Dowd's anti-Clinton animus

I was just going for brevity

[Hydra]

7. The point about there being no sparkle in her campaign really hits the mark

She and Team Hill are shiny, polished...and seemingly devoid of any sort of hope or good will to normal people. "The 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' campaign" and "No we can't!"

She could win if she was still an honest idealist. She could have decades ago had that been the case. That said, I can't blame her for signing on the dotted line- Chelsea and her grandkids will be set and safe for life. I don't have to support that though.

[Mufaddal]

9. Forget idealist, I think she could win if she was just an honest establishment candidate

And that's something Dowd points out. There are ways she could have reclaimed the "establishment" label brilliantly, and it probably would have worked for a lot of people (not me, but then I'm a lifelong Bernie booster). She could, I dare say, even pull some kind of reframing of her Wall St. connections, but all of these things requiring owning up to the person she is. If she just campaigned on "I'm a moderate, I'm okay with being a moderate, and here's why you need a moderate," then I think she'd be doing much better. Instead, she just triggers the "phony alert" with so many people.

[Hydra]

10. Possible, but unlikely

The problem isn't her messaging, it's her message. The problem isn't that we don't think she can run the show effectively, it's that she wants to do things that help only the 1% and their lackeys. Her campaign is falling flat because we've been running on the same policies for 35 years now, and she is offering more of the same.

Candidate Obama spoke of "The Hunger for Change" and "The Audacity of Hope." That's why she lost last time, and that's her weakness now. She's not about a better future...and that's what everyone is daring to hope for.

[PoliticAverse]

11. "The problem isn't her messaging," - yeah it partly is. She just isn't as good a speaker/campaigner

as a "natural" like Barack Obama or Bill. When she gives speeches she sounds like she's giving a speech
whereas Obama or Bill Clinton sound like they are talking directly to you.

[LiberalElite]

12. "sounds like they are talking directly to you-"

yeah, like the 1970's hit "Killing Me Softly with His Song" and just as in the song, it's all an act.

We are fortunate Hillary doesn't have the gift of gab like the other two.