Tears of the Crowned
Amid tearful moments* and primary losses, it’s ”off with her head” for the presumptive monarch’s campaign manager. Boston Herald:
Hillary Rodham Clinton has replaced her campaign consigliere and long-time confidante in a shakeup that came just hours after Illinois Sen. Barack Obama’s weekend sweep - and as the New York senator finds herself staring down the barrel of even more losses.
“It’s part of now what is almost a pattern of bad news,” said University of Massachusetts-Amherst political scientist Jerry Mileur. “First she was lending money to her campaign, and now this. Those are not positive signs.”
Campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle, perhaps Clinton’s closest adviser, will be replaced this week by Maggie Williams, Clinton’s chief of staff when she was first lady.
Doyle, a 42-year-old mother of two, was first hired as Clinton’s scheduler 16 years ago. In an e-mail to staff yesterday she wrote, “This has already been the longest Presidential campaign in the history of our nation, and one that has required enormous sacrifices from all of us and our families.”
The campaign insisted that Doyle was not asked to step down and said Doyle will remain an adviser to Clinton.
A Clinton staff shakeup was rumored after her bitter Iowa loss, but Clinton’s surprise New Hampshire victory set that notion aside, although Williams has since taken a more prominent role in the campaign.
“You could see the handwriting on the wall,” said Democratic strategist Joyce Ferriabough. “It’s interesting that the new chief is a woman of color. I think that will frankly play well.”
Recent signs of trouble - Clinton writing a $5 million check to her campaign last month, a struggle to maintain her lead in national polls and Obama’s weekend wins in Louisiana, Maine, Nebraska and Washington - preceded a report yesterday in the London Telegraph that Clinton advisers were in a “state of panic.”
“This is an acknowledgement of trouble,” said Georgetown University political scientist Christopher C. Hull. “Obama is winning caucuses; the momentum is tangible.”
In a sign of resiliency, however, Clinton’s campaign announced Saturday that it had raised $10 million since the multiprimary Super Tuesday contests last week, and after Obama raised an astonishing $32 million in January.
Polls show Obama with double-digit leads in Maryland and Virginia, which vote tomorrow.
That all sounds so horrible. Amid delegate gridlock, symbolic losses, and real $etback$, the first Latina to head a presidential campaign takes one for the team. AP, which apparently rewrote the press release, informs us Doyle nobly chose to fall on her sword:
WASHINGTON - Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton replaced campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle with longtime aide Maggie Williams on Sunday, a staff shake-up coming just hours after presidential rival Barack Obama’s Saturday sweep of three contests.
Campaign aides said Solis Doyle made the decision to leave on her own and was not urged to do so by the former first lady or any other senior member of the team. But it comes as Clinton struggles to catch Obama in fundraising and momentum and faces the prospect of losing every voting contest yet to come in February. On Sunday, Obama also won the caucus count in Maine.
Solis Doyle announced the shift in an e-mail to the staff on Sunday.
“I have been proud to manage this campaign and prouder still to call Hillary my friend for more than 16 years,” Solis Doyle wrote. “Maggie is a remarkable person and I am confident that she will do a fabulous job.”
Solis Doyle said she will serve as a senior adviser to Clinton and the campaign, and travel with Clinton from time to time.
Why? ABC says its all about the kids. Clinton was supposed to have it all wrapped up by now, longest presidential campaign in history, and Doyle wasn’t able to make it home for bath time. I’d go with the first. But there’s another consideration. Clinton is doing fine with Latinos, but facing a test of biblical proportions in the black community. I hate to ascribe base motives to anyone, but given the high degree of race consciousness, race pandering, race baiting in what has become an incredibly close race, you don’t think it had anything to do with … couldn’t be.
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Probably not. Maybe a side benefit, but there is something deeper, more fundamentally Clintonian at play than simple pandering. Clinton needs someone she can rely on, because things are getting ugly. Ariana Huffington, reprising a 1997 article, gives us a Clintonized Williams. NYT calls Doyle “almost an adopted daughter,” but Williams, “widely seen as someone who could deal frankly with Mrs. Clinton on the most sensitive matters.” NY Daily News, somewhat more tabloidally, informs us she’s “not afraid to crack heads.”
Meanwhile, Krugman at NYT offers up Clinton as victim in an Obamian Nixonland.
Gateway has just one question. Does she go out with a whimper or a bang? Hey, this is Hill, not Bill!
Speaking of which, Instapundit with a mini-roundup of Clintonian sensitivities.
Surber points to a possible answer to Gateway’s question. Clinton vs. Obama, the Lawsuit.
Toldjah with the latest on every Dem candidate’s best friend. Clue: nice hair.
Driscoll with the last word on Pimpgate.
Dr. Helen with that part of the electorate Clinton ignores to her peril. The grubby, the ADHD-addled, yearning to have Wi. “Pinky swear you’ll vote for the guy on YouTube.”
OK, enough Clintons. Vanderleun’s poignant must-read on voting for the best.
Meanwhile, the Sagacious Blonde dog-blogs the candidates. Sorry, I’m not sure Hill’s a foo-foo dog. By the way, lovely if not entirely happy in a McCain shirt, the Blonde wants cash.
* Quick show of hands. Who thinks she’s really blubbering?
Topics: Clintons
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 8:42 am on Monday, February 11, 2008
7 Responses to “Tears of the Crowned”
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February 11th, 2008 at 9:28 am
[...] Jules Crittenden channels Smokey Robinson to describe the Hill. [...]
February 11th, 2008 at 9:30 am
Hillary fired the manager for the same reason they fire the manager in baseball: You can’t fire the team. The big reason Hillary is losing is spelled: H-I-Double L-A-R-Y.
February 11th, 2008 at 9:50 am
And Billy Jeff. Don’t forget BJ! They want a co-presidency, after all. They should share the blame for her losing.
February 11th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Web Reconnaissance for 02/11/2008
A short recon of whats out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day…so check back often.
February 11th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
I wonder if Hill cried when she fired her “adopted daughter”.
February 11th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Oh boo hoo.
February 11th, 2008 at 11:59 pm
[...] I was inspired by a Jules Crittenden post: “Tears of the Crowned.” [...]