Obama and the trasformation of Hillary

Rich Lowry:

When Hillary Rodham gave the commencement address at Wellesley College in 1969, extolling the virtues of "human liberation" on behalf of a restless generation of left-wing youth, did she have any idea one day she'd be the champion of old white beer-drinking Democrats everywhere?

Oh, what tangled webs we weave. And what strange transformations are wrought by presidential primaries. Candidates are often driven by their constituencies and the logic of their campaigns into unexpected places. In 2000, John McCain -- hitherto basically an orthodox conservative -- ended up a populist reformer alienated from his party. In 2004, Howard Dean -- hitherto a wonkish moderate -- ended up an antiwar fire-breather. And in 2008, Hillary Clinton -- part of the McGovernite takeover of the Democratic party -- is representing the Democrats' culturally conservative wing (such as it is).

It's only as compared to Obama, of course, that Clinton looks like a curmudgeonly traditionalist. Only he could have given her such wide openings to defend small-town mores and (gingerly) chastise a black nationalist preacher. It's not policy differences on cultural issues that divide Obama and Clinton, but differing sensibilities.

A push-pull dynamic has redefined Hillary. As the mainstream media, the left-wing blogs and latte liberals have turned on her, she has held all the more tightly to her down-scale constituency and reacted against her critics. She has lashed out against MoveOn.org and husband Bill has dissed "upscale culture liberals." She has defied the precious rules of liberal politics, referring to Osama bin Laden in a TV ad, threatening to "obliterate" Iran and -- even worse -- sitting down with Bill O'Reilly for a cordial interview. The same people who spent a decade defending her and her husband howl betrayal.

Every politician becomes a function of his constituency, a particular peril this year. Both Republican and Democratic primary races have been exercises in electoral tribalism: the evangelicals have voted for the evangelical, the Mormons for the Mormon, the southerners for the southerners, the blacks for the black, the youth for the young guy, the old white people for the old white people. The easiest way for Hillary to grow her support has been to get even more of her -- older, poorer, less educated -- white voters.

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What you look like compared to others sometimes determines your destiny in politics. That is why political campaigns are constantly trying to drive up their opponents negatives. It is why the Democrats have been shameless pushing a fraudulent ad saying McCain wants a 100 year war in Iraq.

It is why patriotism issues will haunt Obama if he gets the nomination. They always haunt liberals because they are always critical of the US instead of our enemies. It is in their DNA to think that if only we had said this or done that that our enemies would not be enemies. When it comes to our current enemies the fact that they became religious bigots on their own never seems to cross the liberal mind. They think only southern conservative Christians are that way.