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Alan Lupo: No quit in Clinton

By Alan Lupo
Published: May 3, 2008

Hang in there, Hillary, just hang in there.

The malarkey and baloney specialists, those cable TV pundits, just can't cut her a break.

If she wins a primary by just under 10 points, they'll gleefully dump on her for not winning by, say, 11.7 points. It's probably a safe bet that those characters never ran for anything themselves, except maybe higher ratings.

Of course it is in Hillary's self-interest to argue that a long primary campaign is good for the Democratic Party and the nation and, hey, maybe even kids and puppies too. But it truly is in the nation's interest, if not the party's, because we're finally getting a better sense of how Barack Obama reacts to pressure.

If she had dropped out when the pundits and some easily frightened party pooh-bahs had urged months ago, when everyone was swooning over the senator from Illinois, would we have witnessed Obama react to the kind of criticism that he's been getting more recently.

If he thinks Hillary's attack ads are tough, how will he deal with the Republican wrecking crew, which has demolished the likes of John Kerry and Mike Dukakis?

Should he become president, how will Obama handle the enormous pressures put upon him by those over whom he has little or no control, be those forces domestic, such as Congress, or foreign friends and foes?

Whatever one thinks of the Clintons, one must conclude that they are tough, and that's not a bad thing to be when one presides in the Oval Office. Hillary has the instincts of what Bay State neighborhood activists call a "fightah." Knock her down, and she pops back up like a clown balloon.

But she is no clown. She is smart and tough and seems to possess startlingly well-honed political reflexes. Unlike Obama, she is not an orator. But she is a master of facts and irony, and she will know how to debate John McCain into a corner.

Equally important, if she becomes the Democratic nominee, the Clinton machine will, like a magnet, attract back most of those Demmies who have wandered away. The party is salivating for a win, so the money and organization will be there for her.

Obama, if he wins, also would have the party behind him. But the long campaign has revealed an elitism in his aura, a barely perceived flippancy that may not sit well with undecided voters in a general election. For those Americans, Obama may be seen as wearing too much of the Ivy League on his sleeve; whereas Clinton knows how to discard her pedigree when need be. To put it simply, she knocked down that whiskey shot in Pennsylvania better than he bowled.

The question now is whether the super-delegates, whose votes Clinton must have to win, share her reflexes. Can they see that she is not only a "fightah," but has the political testosterone to be a "winnah"?

Do they now worry about the once untouchable Obama's ties, tenuous or not, to an Illinois power broker now on trial, to a former Weatherman bomber with no regrets, and to a pastor who reviles white America and its ally, Israel?

None of those ties diminishes Obama's patriotism, intellect or goodness. But the Republicans will make the most of them, and they are good at that.

So then, do super-delegates simply go along with the number of votes a candidate gets, as if this were a high-school contest for the students with the "best personality"? Or do they go with their gut, their instincts?

Whether they are elected officials or not, they are very much like those we elect to any office. They should be more than parrots. They should vote their judgment.

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Alan Lupo, a veteran Boston columnist, can be reached at alupo@comcast.net.