I find this to be reasonably in line with what I think, but I'm not exactly sure that Clinton is much of a partisan Democrat. She's a leader of the DLC, after all, and my impression is that she's all too willing to jettison the elements of the Democratic base that are, shall we say, harder to love when such things suit her. Andrew Sullivan reported a while back on the Clinton I-era advertisements bashing gays, and I mentioned his mention here. I do think she thinks that an Obama nomination would be a disaster, but I find it hard to believe that it's more about doing right by the Democratic Party than about the Clintons' seemingly sincere conviction that only Hillary Clinton can be president because her experience being married to Bill Clinton uniquely qualifies her to be president.
I'm not entirely unsympathetic to Hillary Clinton's perspective--this is a woman that had to endure years of humiliation--her health care plan failed, during Bill's presidency she became the key object of right-wing hate and was accused of all manner of heinous offenses, and all those late-night talk show jokes during the early 90s about Bill's philandering had to seem directed at her--she was the one whose being played for a fool moments got continually mocked. And then there was the Lewinsky scandal. Clinton no doubt feels that she's paid her dues and that she's owed this, but she's the one who screwed up health care and nobody forced her to stick with Bill. It's clear that the man has a problem. But when you hear people like James Carville calling Bill Richardson a Judas, well, it's that entitlement factor coming to the top again. How much of Clinton's support comes from women who feel sorry for her? I'd imagine if that chunk were gone, her campaign would be ancient history. It also explains why her campaign just saps one's energy.
