The Opinion Blog

Give Hillary credit for advancing feminist cause

Ripped from the wires ... Columnist Gail Collins explains why Hillary Clinton deserves respect for conducting a ferocious campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.

By GAIL COLLINS

As the sun was sinking on Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, the nation's wounded feminists were burning up the Internet.

They vowed to write in Hillary's name on their ballots in November; to wear "NObama'' T-shirts all summer; to "de-register'' as Democrats. One much-circulated e-mail proposed turning June 3, the day Barack Obama claimed the nomination, as a permanent day of mournful remembrance "like the people in Ireland remember the Famine.''

"The passion is very intense,'' said Muriel Fox, a retired public relations executive in New York who was one of the founding members of the National Organization for Women. "It's very much a feeling that Hillary has not been respected.''

Blame Bill for Hillary's nomination failure

Ripped from the wires ... Another woman writer, Kathleen Parker, offers her perspective on why Hillary Clinton didn't win the Democratic nomination:

By KATHLEEN PARKER

Hope. Change. Hope and change. Hope 'n' change. Say the words often enough and they begin to take hold, attaching themselves lichen-like to the psyche.

Soon they take on a life of their own and assume human form. He is the one Democrats have been waiting for -- the agent, the beacon, the Everyman who can change the culture of Washington and restore hope to the disenfranchised.

He even comes from Hope. Arkansas, that is. Or was. How quickly time passes, how urgently things stay the same.

Not so long ago, Bill Clinton was the man of the moment, the one who was going to put Democrats back in power and baby boomers in charge. His defeat of George H.W. Bush with 43 percent of the vote wasn't just a changing of the guard. It was a baton passing from one generation to the next.

Hillary rejection infuriates women, bodes well for McCain

Ripped from the wires ... Froma Harrop explains why Barack Obama's nomination victory raises the hackles of white female Democrats -- and how that's good for John McCain:

By FROMA HARROP

The woman who shouted "McCain in '08'' at the Democratic rules committee [last weekend] was speaking for a multitude. After mounting for months, female anger over the choreographed dumping on Hillary Clinton and her supporters has exploded -- and party loyalty be damned. That the women are beginning to have a good time is an especially bad sign for Barack Obama's campaign.

"Obama will NOT get my vote, and one step more,'' Ellen Thorp, a 59-year-old flight attendant from Houston told me. "I have been a Democrat for 38 years. As of today, I am registering as an independent. Yee Haw!''

Democrats disband circular firing squad at last

Ripped from the wires ... Bob Herbert notes that the Democrats have done more harm to their presidential chances than the Republican could ever have done:

By BOB HERBERT

Talk about self-inflicted wounds.

The Democrats may finally be stepping away from their circular firing squad. It took them long enough.

There are so many things that the Democrats need to do to have any chance of winning the White House in November, and it's awfully late in the game to begin doing them.

Whites morphing into a social interest group

Ripped from the wires ... Gregory Rodriguez explains how the 2008 presidential campaign has given white voters a new visibility. But to label this phenomenon racist is incorrect:

By Gregory Rodriguez

Hillary Rodham Clinton is right. She has the broader and whiter political coalition, so she should, by all rights, be the Democratic presidential nominee.

After all, in other realms of the political process, we routinely refer to "black districts'' or "Latino districts'' and speak of the necessity of those jurisdictions to be represented by black or Latino elected officials. Well, then, because the American population is 66 percent white, maybe the United States is a de facto white district that should be represented accordingly.

Don't scoff at the idea. Ethnic and racial self-determination have been underlying factors in the formation of modern nations. Israel is one example, along with anti-colonial revolutions and states in the Third World. The principle of ethnic self-determination made its way into the United Nations Charter, and it lurks in contemporary domestic discussions about the political and cultural rights of every kind of minority.

Six weeks of pain may mean victory for Barack

Ripped from the wires ... Author and pollster Douglas Schoen explains why the controversies and losses of the past six weeks have actually been good for Barack Obama:

By Douglas E. Schoen

Conventional wisdom suggests that these last two months have been bad news for Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. He hasn't been able to close the door on Democratic rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, who swept West Virginia on Tuesday. He's been dogged by controversies over his words and associates. Meanwhile, Republican Arizona Sen. John McCain has been getting a jump-start on the fall campaign.

Although those things may be true, so is this: The last six weeks have been a great benefit to Obama and may emerge as the most important period of his quest for the presidency.

Rove offers Obama triumphalists some good advice

Ripped from the wires ... Columnist Froma Harrop tells "Obamites" why bagging on the apparently defeated Hillary Clinton is not smart.

Bu FROMA HARROP

Many in the Obama camp, having outfoxed the apparently not-so-formidable Clinton machine, can't seem to get the hang of winning gracefully. They feel a need to drive a stake in Hillary Clinton's reputation, then dance. If they were smart, they'd heap praise on Clinton and let her finish out the race, however she chooses to do so.

That's sage advice, even though offered by Republican mastermind-turned-pundit Karl Rove. Treat Clinton shabbily, he says, and many of her supporters "will remember it by November.''

McCain to gorge from Democrats' lunch pail?

Ripped from the wires ... Contrarian columnist Froma Harrop explains why the Republican presidential nominee is angling to enjoy a Big Mac Value Meal at the Democrats' expense.

By FROMA HARROP

John McCain has used these weeks of Republican calm to dive into the Democratic lunch pail. This strategy clearly assumes a Barack Obama candidacy. If demographics are destiny -- as the political sages keep telling us -- Democratic demographics may offer some choice cuts to the presumed Republican nominee. By dumb luck, Republicans have chosen their one candidate who projects a moderate image, hasn't alienated Latinos and offers an appealing life story to boot.

The core problem for Democrats is that Obama's backers are reliable Democrats, whereas Hillary Clinton's are unreliable Democrats. Less than half of the Clinton voters in Indiana said they would support Obama in a general election, which is a very bad sign. Add these largely blue-collar and rural whites to some swinging independents and you have a potential Big Mac Value Meal for McCain.

Hillary R. Clinton, will you please go now!

Ripped from the wires ... Maureen Dowd of the New York Times explains why Hillary Clinton's Pennsylvania Primary victory Tuesday is gloomier news for Barack Obama than you may think.

By MAUREEN DOWD

He's never going to shake her off.

Not all by himself.

The very fact that he can't shake her off has become her best argument against him. "Why can't he close the deal?'' Hillary taunted at a polling place on Tuesday.

She's been running ads about it, suggesting he doesn't have "what it takes'' to run the country. Her message is unapologetically emasculating: If he does not have the gumption to put me in my place, when superdelegates are deserting me, money is drying up, he's outspending me 2-to-1 on TV ads, my husband's going crackers and party leaders are sick of me, how can he be trusted to totally obliterate Iran and stop Osama?