xtracts:
Hillary Clinton is over.
Her electability is over.
Bill Clinton’s political invincibility is over.
… (only) whacko ultra-left Madison
college population …(will vote Hill-a-ry)
Hillary did a hard-left imitation of John Edwards’s
populist and demagogic soak-the-rich rhetoric …
(old) White women did in fact lean toward Hillary, by a
small 52 to 47 percent margin.
But Hillary only got 31 percent of the male vote while
tying the female vote.
White males? They went with Obama by a full 29 points.
Obama won both married men and women, and
he tied on unmarried women -- a heretofore Hillary
stronghold.
If Hillary wants to preserve her career as a
professional politician her best bet is to pull back in Texas and Ohio as
a prelude to withdrawal.
Bill will say no, ’cause his career is even deader than
hers.
But Hillary has more class than her husband.
She also has some vague sense of reality -- of the
difference between right and wrong.
Not even Bill can raise enough money in Dubai to keep
her out of bankruptcy.
The market has officially pulled the plug on Hillary,
terminating her campaign.
_____________________________________________________________________
It's (ALL)
Over (for HILL-A-RY)
Allow me a dose of hardened market realism concerning
Barack Obama’s landslide victory in Wisconsin.
The race is over.
Hillary Clinton is over.
Her electability is over.
Bill Clinton’s political invincibility is over.
The Clinton Restoration is over.
It’s over.
Obama got to the far left faster than Hillary did. He
out-organized her, out-fundraised her, out-speechified her, out-hustled
her, out-dressed her, and out-presidentialed her. He outbid Hillary for
votes, one promised government check at a time. His 17-point margin of
victory in Wisconsin was incredible. It says he can’t be stopped.
Outside of the whacko ultra-left
Madison college population, which is even worse than the Ohio State
population, Wisconsin is a lot like Ohio. And Ohio campuses will go for
Obama. Think faculty voters, grimly determined for a left-wing takeover of
America “from the bottom up,” to use the Saul Alinsky community-organizer
phrase. As goes Wisconsin, so goes Ohio.
Not even Hillary’s last-minute bashing of business, free
trade, and free-market capitalism -- which was a complete repudiation of
her husband’s presidency -- could save her. Obama got there first, with a
style and elegance that Hillary simply couldn’t match.
And it came out of nowhere. On the eve of the Wisconsin
primary, Hillary did a hard-left imitation of John Edwards’s populist and
demagogic soak-the-rich rhetoric. She trashed some of the greatest
businesses in America -- oil, credit-card, insurance, and pharmaceutical
firms. Wall Street and lending firms. It all must have come as quite a
shock to the alumni of the Bill Clinton White House who are working for
her campaign.
Robert Rubin may have been too busy tending to
Citigroup’s sub-prime collapse to keep Hillary on the reservation. But
where were Wall Street’s Roger Altman and Washington’s Gene Sperling when
Hillary discarded the pinstripes for the polyester lefty-union pantsuit?
Bashing business comes naturally to Obama. But for
Hillary it was a complete failure. Exit polls from Wisconsin say the
trade protectionists went with Obama. Union members?
Obama. People who think the economy’s in trouble? Obama. Folks who don’t
think it’s in trouble? Obama. People making less than $50,000 a year?
Obama. More than $50,000 a year? Obama.
And it only gets worse.
Voters went with Obama on healthcare by 8 points, on the
economy by 16 points, and on Iraq by 20 points. Churchgoers and
non-churchgoers went with Obama. Most qualified to be commander-in-chief?
Obama. College degree or no college degree? Obama. Democrats, Republicans,
and independents went with Obama. So did blacks and whites.
White women did in fact lean toward Hillary, by a small
52 to 47 percent margin. But Hillary only got 31 percent of the male vote
while tying the female vote. White males? They went with Obama by a full
29 points.
Obama won both married men and women, and he tied on
unmarried women -- a heretofore Hillary stronghold. Most likely to unite
the country? Obama, by almost 30 points. Most interested in improving
relations with the rest of the world? Obama, 56 to 40.
You think these trends are going to change in Texas,
Ohio, and Pennsylvania? I don’t -- no matter what last-gasp
neutron-negativism tactics the Clinton team employs.
Bash Obama for plagiarizing Deval Patrick? That
negativism backfired. Go after Michelle Obama’s incredible
anti-American speech? Women are coming ’round to Obama, so try again. Go
super-negative over the next two weeks? That’ll mean Obama beats Hillary
by 35 points instead of 20. Lift the sanctions on
the Michigan and Florida delegates? That’s an Obama trump card. Bribe or
rent the super-delegates? Make my day, Obama is thinking.
If Hillary wants to preserve her career as a
professional politician her best bet is to pull back in Texas and Ohio as
a prelude to withdrawal. Bill will say no, ’cause his career is even
deader than hers. But Hillary has more class than her husband. She also
has some vague sense of reality -- of the difference between right and
wrong.
The Intrade pay-to-play prediction market showed Obama
with a 10 point gain after Wisconsin, giving him an insurmountable 81 to
19 lead. It’s as if Hillary has suddenly become a steeply inverted yield
curve, with a rapidly declining credit rating and a liquidity pool that’s
quickly drying up. She won’t be able to raise two wooden nickels going
forward. Not even Bill can raise enough money in Dubai to keep her out of
bankruptcy.
The market has officially pulled the plug on Hillary,
terminating her campaign. What’s left for her now is to muster some grace,
humility, and character and begin the process of pulling out. To do
otherwise will destroy the Democratic party, and what’s left of the
Clintons’ badly tarred and tattered reputation.
By Lawrence Kudlow
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Lawrence Kudlow is host of CNBC's Kudlow & Company
http://www.townhall.com/Columnists/LawrenceKudlow/2008/02/20/its_over