Snipers and Secrets

With Obama off at the beach for another day, it seems that the media has wasted little time in turning its attention (and its wrath) toward Hillary Clinton. It might be to his advantage to take a longer vacation.

ITEM ONE!


It's no secret that a cornerstone of Hillary's campaign has been experience. "Ready on Day One" has been a rallying cry among her supporters, not to mention a subtle dig at her opponent. But as the months have passed, the Obama camp has ramped up the pressure for Hillary to demonstrate some examples of this experience, especially after Hillary's famous "3 AM" ads went public. Obama has charged that the former First Lady has just as much real foreign policy experience as he does: next to none (an argument which must make the thoroughly experienced John McCain smile.)

Perhaps it was out of that pressure to show off real foreign policy chops that Hillary made the now-infamous Sniper Comment.

During a speech last week, Hillary spoke of a trip to Bosnia in 1996. "I certainly do remember that trip to Bosnia and ... there was a saying around the White House that if a place was too small, too poor, or too dangerous, the president couldn't go, so send the first lady. That's where we went. I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base."

It sounds like a good example of showing strength under pressure. The problem is that it's not true.

Hillary did arrive in Bosnia, but she was not met with sniper fire. No one ran with their heads down. And in fact, it was bad weather which made the President cancel his trip there, not security concerns. And that greeting ceremony went just as planned.

What's interesting is that once the press (and the Obama campaign) called Hillary on these inaccuracies, she stood by the story. Only when video of the landing appeared did she admit she made a mistake. The Obama camp was quick to point out that she had made this claim at least twice before, on March 17 and February 29.

So why didn't Hillary admit to the inaccuracy right away? It might have kept the story from ballooning the way it has. Perhaps she did not think it was that big a problem. But in refusing to admit to the misstatement until she'd been caught in it, Hillary only added fuel to the claim that she has trouble admitting mistakes; a trait which has already helped Barack Obama on the campaign trail, as he has continuously asked why she won't admit her vote in favor of the Iraq War was wrong.

Even worse, the sniper flap hurts Clinton's credibility, and as the candidate with the lowest trustworthy rating out of the remaining three, that's a problem she cannot afford. What can Hillary do to reverse this problem? Make sure she doesn't exaggerate again, and swallow her pride and admit to mistakes when she makes them. As Hillary herself put it, "Occasionally, I am a human being like everybody else." Only occasionally? I guess gaffes travel in pairs.


ITEM TWO!

Hillary has contended all along that she has no intention of dropping out until everyone has voted. Obama, of course, isn't dropping out either. Which leaves the Democrats with a serious problem: McCain is coasting undisturbed as presumptive Republican nominee, collecting money and remaining relatively unscathed while the two Democrats attack each other. The prospect of this primary continuing right up until the convention -- a mere two months prior to election day -- is pretty unnerving to most Democrats. After all, this election was supposed to be a cakewalk for them. But as time goes on, the old joke, "how will the Democrats blow it THIS time?" seems to be getting a clear answer.

But the Democratic power players recognize this problem and seem to be cooking up a solution. What sort of solution? Well...that's a secret. But Senate Majority leader Harry Reid has cryptically stated that "things are being done" to wrap this process up before the convention.

What sort of things? He won't say. But the prevailing scenario among commentators and pundits calls for the Dems to hold a "delegate primary" right after the final primary contest on June 5th. All the delegates would cast their votes then instead of at the convention, thus crowning a nominee in early June rather than late August. This might technically rob the convention of its purpose, but in practice it would simply make it the same as it usually is: a glorified coronation party for the already-determined nominee.

Of course, Reid's comments might be just talk designed to calm a jittery electorate. The exact nature of the plan -- if there even is a plan -- remains a secret.