For the past couple months I've been seeing predictions saying "Hillary will end her campaign on date X" and invariabley these predictions turn out to be wrong. The mistake people seem to be making is that they are talking about Hillary as if she were an ordinary candidate. In reality, Hillary possesses an almost superhuman level of ambition, and has had her eyes set on being president for God knows how long (probably since she was a teenager). She has invested her entire life into that goal, even giving up her own career in politics, probably under the assumption that the only way she could get to be president was by helping her husband become one first. I think all along the plan has been "8 years for Bill, 8 years for Hill."
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They thought they had everything all figured out. Hillary would corner the female vote with her professional woman and loving wife and mother superwoman persona, and Bill would capture the black vote with his soul brother routine, and blacks would be so greatful to have a white president give them a bit of attention. Together they would be unbeatable. They knew they might face a challenge in the general election, but never in their wildest dreams could they have imagine that they (the heroes of the Democrats, the most powerful brand in Democratic politics) could have been beaten in their own party. One probable reason why Hillary was so hawkish in the senate was that she assumed her only challenge when running for president would be from republicans who would try to paint a woman as not tough enough on national security. Bill Clinton reportedly told friends that the first woman president would be in the tradition of Maggie Thatcher, so that was probably who they started to model Hillary after. Never in their wildest dreams did they imagine this strategy would backfire and that they would be challenged from the left by a charismatic anti-war candidate. Never did they dream that after a decade and a half of being worshipped by African Americans, that a black would dare challenge Hillary, essentially negating the historical nature of her candidacy.
Nothing makes people angrier than that which violates their expectations, and there has been nothing the Clintons have been anticipating for longer and with more enthusiasm than Hillary becoming the first woman president. Now that they, and especially she, has been denied this long held dream, I predict they are going to do everything in their power to make Obama pay. She will stay in the race and continue to inflict damage on Obama. Not to long ago Obama was beating McCain in general election matchups, but thanks mostly to Hillary turning bittergate into a media frenzy, that advantage has vanashed. Hillary doesn't know if she'll ever become president, but she does know that by staying in the race and causing trouble, at least she'll have the revenge of stopping Obama. It doesn't matter how much damage it does to her reputation and finances. She's untouchable because Obama has already taken from her the only thing in life she really wanted: To be president; and if Obama loses not only does she get revenge, but also the opportunity to run in 2012. I think the only way Obama can stop her from sabatoging him now is by offering her the vice presidency, so she'll at least be able to say she was the first woman vice president, and also because it's an efficient path to the presidency in 2016. If he doesn't, I predict she will continue to damage his campaign.