HILLARY, MARTIN, AND BRIAN

(Hillary, Martin, and Brian aren't to be confused with Abraham, Martin, and John.)

This morning's Huffington Post contains an article from the Washington Free Beacon about the papers of the late political science professor Diane Blair, which are housed at the University of Arkansas where scholars can get at them.  Hillary Rodham Clinton regarded Blair as her closest friend, and the papers contain their correspondence.

We find that some of what Hillary said privately contradicted what she said publicly, as when she privately said that single payer was necessary for healthcare but publicly said she had never considered it.  We expect a little hypocrisy from our leaders.  But the over-all picture, painted by her own words, is of someone easily construed as cold-blooded, high-handed, and inclined to be vengeful.

What I think is the worst revelation from a political standpoint is the indifference with which the former first lady regarded her husband's infidelities.  She obviously didn't care about them.  She made excuses for him (pressures of the presidency), credited him with trying to limit the damage, and blamed the women.   People had picked up on that tendency of hers already, but in the papers it's made so explicit that there's no way she can say, "But I was crying on the inside."  On the other hand, Bill's indecisiveness and ineptness drove her up the wall.

And most people just can't relate to her attitude, whether it's attributed to sophistication or whatever.  The perception  is going to be, "She isn't like me."  That's damning. The voters will now know that they're looking at someone they don't understand and who probably doesn't understand them.

There are also the rumors, some from things Bill allegedly told people on several occasions, that Hillary is basically a lesbian.  Those add to the sense of her as alien.  By contrast, Senator Tammy Baldwin, an acknowledged lesbian, is very much "like us": a person of enthusiasm, lively warmth, and strong convictions.

With these disclosures, I'd say the chances have improved that Hillary won't run.

Now I want to say a little about the rest of the Democratic field for '16.  So far, that consists of Vice President Joe Biden, Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley and, maybe, former Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer.

Biden's recent statements have been parsed by one journalist to mean that he won't run if Hillary does. He would be competing with her for the support of the Democratic establishment.  Obviously he's in no position to run as an outsider.  He was born November 20, 1942, which could spell "too old", and he strikes many as somewhat erratic, though he's undoubtedly able and capable of boldness.  

O'Malley is clearly running.  He says he won't if Hillary does, which should tell us something about him.  It says that he wants to be the establishment candidate.  He's hoping that Hillary will bow out and that the Clintons will support him or at least not make a point of wrecking his chances.  If he openly ran against Hillary, they'd never forgive him.  If she does run, he can find an excuse for not deferring to her, maybe citing her stand on some issue and a need for new thinking.  What he's really like remains difficult to judge confidently at this point, but one has to suspect that he's more of the woeful same.

Schweitzer may or may not be running.  He has fun with whatever he does - he once used a branding iron to veto a bill - and, if he wants it, he'll be the most colorful and outspoken of the candidates.  Journalists have looked at his refusal to run for the Senate this year and have wondered if that signals that he won't go for president.  But there's another way to look at it.  If he's going to run, he naturally doesn't want to be associated with Washington, D.C., which stands in the public mind for pure dysfunction  He's the outsider's outsider, as he has underscored with his inability to find anything favorable to say about Mr. Obama and his recent swipe at Hillary.

On inauguration day, 2017, Hillary Clinton will be 69, Biden 74, Schweitzer 61.  O'Malley will be in his middle fifties.  The Democratic party is the party of the young and the future.  Why does it have no youthful presidential candidates?  People in their forties or even their late thirties ought to be charging onto the scene, proposing new leadership and a fresh vision.

Someone young, perhaps back from the wars and unwilling to put up with more nonsense, might be able to offer action and an end to the prevailing passivity.  One can but watch and hope.