Mistakes They Made: From Hillary to Rush to Bush

Hillary Clinton's biggest mistake was not divorcing Bill in 2001 and then pressing forward into the presidential campaign as Senator Hillary Rodham. He's a millstone, and the campaign thus far has exploded the claim that Bill Clinton is still magic as a vote winner. Many Democratic Party regulars have very hard feelings about him. Clinton was not good for the Democratic Party when he was in the White House. He triangulated with Republicans and wouldn't release campaign funds for Senate races that could have elected more Democrats in 1996 and 1998. As Barack Obama pointed out in a speech in Virginia Beach, "Keep in mind, we had Bill Clinton as President when, in '94, we lost the House, we lost the Senate, we lost governorships, we lost statehouses."

On top of that, Bill Clinton infuriated blacks in South Carolina by mildly race-baiting Obama. Clinton's little slaps, designed to ghettoize Obama, produced huge black majorities for the purveyor of change and angered many white liberals too.

Hillary as divorcée would have had real panache, a woman high-stepping into freedom on the ashes of her past, like Eva Perón. As things stand she can't even offer Obama a deal whereby she'll accept the vice presidency. Who would want Bill scampering in and out of the Old Executive Office Building, checking out the interns?

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