Party at the Death Star

“Clinton upsets Obama”. That was a favorite headline in many newspapers today, and it tells an interesting story. Many pundits have been treating Iowa and New Hampshire as if they were snapshot images of the national race, which of course is not so – Hugh Hewitt observed the same thing on his radio show yesterday that I had noticed before, that if you worked nights in Iowa or were on call, like a cop or a fireman, say, you did not get a say in that caucus. And as for New Hampshire, look I’m sure it’s a nice state with many good people, but it’s still one of our dinkier states, out of the way and not really a good barometer for how places like Florida or Texas will vote.

I also find it peculiar how many pundits are calling this a “comeback”. Excuse me, we’ve had one caucus and one primary. For anyone to be impressed with someone “coming back” at this point would be like talking about a team’s amazing comeback early in the first quarter of the game. I know there is intense pressure for the paid media hacks to say something all the time, but do they really have to do Britney Spears impressions during the political analysis?

It’s also weird, how many people are surprised by the results. I mean, Obama and Huckabee, two guys who have driven their numbers by getting a few key people to the right place here and there, won Iowa by doing the same thing there. Hillary won a state close to her home state of New York, why is this a shock? John McCain grabbed Independent votes in New Hampshire, just as he did in 2000. Why does this surprise anyone? Guess what, I bet Hillary wins in New York and Obama takes Illinois, maybe that counts for a bold prediction as things go now?

But to the title. Yes indeed, She-Who-Would-Whack-Her-Enemies is greatly relieved to have won the New Hampshire Primary, which means mandatory partying throughout the Empire, or at least the Empire State. Now, that is news. That’s on a par with Tiger Woods sweating out whether he will get invited to a tourney, or Tom Brady worrying whether he will get to start on Sunday. At least, if the Machine is everything we have been told all this time. So smart, so experienced, so vital to America’s future, so … inevitable, but now we see maybe not. I mean, either Hillary was so worried about getting through an early test in a state which matters about as much to the Democratic nomination as I do to the Republican nomination that she teared up in emotion this week, or else she’s a conniving liar reminiscent of the worst dirty tricks by Tricky Dick Nixon or Lyin’ Lyndon Johnson. Either way, we’re seeing some something interesting this early in the campaign, evidence that Hillary’s not nearly in control to the degree she advertises. And this is very bad news for the Dark Side Candidate; Obama is running as the Candidate for Change, while Edwards is running as the Class Warfare Candidate. The only hand Hillary can play is the Candidate in Control. If this past week is a true indicator of how weak Hillary’s game plan really is, we can expect a truly explosive campaign in weeks to come.