Fear and loathing in Hillaryland

Two articles out today, one from the Washington Post and one from Politico, really paint a vivid picture of disarray and dismay in Hillaryland, as Senator Clinton's increasingly frustrated top tier of advisors careen madly from storyline to storyline and talking point to talking point, unable to craft a winning message and unwilling to recognize that this is primarily their own (and the candidate's) fault, not Obama's or the media's.

The inability to settle on a strategy or message helps explain why Hillary's last debate performance was so tactically incoherent, and why her public tone since then has been wildly inconsistent. It'll be interesting to see if she can pick a message, and then stay "on" it, in time for tonight's debate. I wouldn't bet on it. Her campaign now bears every indication of being a total train wreck. With each passing day, the "political genius" of Team Clinton is increasingly being exposed as a fraud -- Bill's success was due largely to his own charisma/charm and a healthy serving of dumb luck, IMHO, so when you replace Bill with his charmless wife, and when the other guy's getting all the lucky breaks, there isn't much left to work with.

P.S. Team Clinton's lashing out at the media is a sign of how unfocused they have become in their desperation and frustration. Blaming the media is almost never going to be a winning message if you're a Democrat. It pisses off the media, makes you look like a sore loser, and does nothing to win over voters (since it's Republicans, not Democrats, who instinctively mistrust the MSM).

In any event, if Hillary's political advisers were competent, they would have foreseen Obama's inevitable media advantage and would have come up with a coherent plan to combat it. They didn't, and now they're acting shocked and outraged that the media is behaving the way it always behaves. (The media loves a "change" candidate, something Bill Clinton knew well in 1992. Of course they're going to give more favorable coverage to the exciting, "inspiring" candidate over the wonky "experienced" candidate, particularly when the former has a real flair for public speaking whereas the latter toggles between preachy schoolmarm and screechy monotone. These are "facts on the ground" that Team Clinton obviously should have anticipated and planned for, and their failure to do so is particularly damning given that the ability to "fight" and win pitched political battles is a key component of Hillary's supposed appeal. How is she going to defeat the "Republican attack machine" if she doesn't understand the first thing about how the media works?)

Comments

[CORNHUSKERS 94 95 & 97]

Anyone see the video of the other former co-president telling people, "if you elect me"! these two are trying to pull the okey doke and they must be stopped

[dcl]

She could re-name her bus "the doom and gloom express" it worked for McCain.

[Angrier and Angrier]

I think it was Clarence Page who made the observation that if it had been any other candidate besides Hillary Clinton who lost 11 races in a row, the media would be calling for her to quit. If anything, the media have given Hillary just as much of a free ride as they have Obama.