Ah, yes, the old familiar Clinton 2-Step: Mitigate your flaws by pointing to the flaws of others. It worked in the 1990s; maybe it will work now. Bill used to point out the personal failings of others, such as Thomas Jefferson, to dissipate his own personal failings.
But one problem is that Jefferson also had acts of greatness to balance out his failings. I guess when you can’t point to your own positive actions, you have to point to something else to justify your behavior.
But then there’s another problem: It works on an individual basis, but it doesn’t on a cumulative basis. For example:
“Yes, I lied, but so did Larry.”
“Yes, I cheated, but so did Chester.”
“Yes, I stole, but so did Stan.”
Individually, it doesn’t look so bad. But cumulatively, it looks more like this:
Larry lied.
Chester cheated.
Stan stole.
Bill/Hill lied, cheated, and stole.
So rather than balance the negatives with positives, you end up with all the negatives rolled into one package. That’s hardly a rousing endorsement.
I, for one, would strive towards something better, but if you’re satisfied with the same-ol’ same-ol’, don’t complain when that is what you get.
Moving on ...
I will take back something I posted earlier. I no longer believe Hillary has planted the seeds of her political derailment with the planted questions. In fact, I’m now wondering if that issue isn’t a rather brilliant strategic move. In the political world, the planting of questions is a relatively mild failing. But if it gets enough air time, it’s a useful smokescreen to mask the real problem Hillary faces: Her stance on drivers licenses for illegal aliens.
That issue is one of the few on which a majority of Dems and Repubs agree, and with a high level of emotion. The last poll I read showed 68% of Dems and about 80% of Repubs are against Hillary’s stance on this issue. For the moment, it is Hillary’s Achilles Heel. Her best bet is to get the buzz going on the planted questions issue until the drivers license issue becomes stale as old news.
I doubt Obama will push her very hard on it. He has a long-term future with the Democrat Party, and he knows it. It’s a future he could lose if he pushes too hard. However, it may be Edwards’ last chance. He doesn’t have a long-term future with the Democrat Party, and he knows it. The only way the mainstream media will stick with this issue is if Edwards pushes it.