The Waxwork Candidate

Michael Goodwin points out that things just are not going the way Hillary Clinton had planned. He says that the unraveling of the Clinton plan is at least partly do to with her style.

According to the plan, next week is when she was scheduled to secure the nomination.

Oops, it's not gonna happen. At least not yet.

One month of voting has shattered the plan. She got rid of the Gray Men, but Obama won landslides in two of four contests, Iowa and South Carolina. Nevada was a solid victory for her, but it came after New Hampshire, which she won because she teared up and women rushed to defend her.

South Carolina was the worst. The Clintons used up their entire supply of mud and most of it ended up back on them. Bubba is tarnished as a race-baiter and the bulk of black voters are lost, perhaps forever.

Part of her problem is generational. She's 60, about the same age as the last two Presidents, and iconic images are working against her. After the Iowa loss, the stage around her looked like a wax museum. Madeleine Albright and others from her husband's administration were yesterday's leaders, not tomorrow's.

Her personal style is old-school. Just as Obama was being swallowed by the exuberant crowd after the Kennedy coronation, Clinton was giving a speech to an audience that was kept far away from her by steel barriers. She might as well wear a sign that says, "Look, Don't Touch."

Even the crux of her case, that her experience means she is ready to be President while Obama is not, is under attack. Ted Kennedy went right at it Monday, saying of Obama, "I know he's ready to be President on Day One."

Those unexpected dynamics explain why the Clintons have resorted to tactical battles, such as leaking Kennedy's endorsement before Obama could. She has tried to bring Obama down from the pedestal by nitpicking at his words about Republicans and drawing distinctions about whose health care plan is more extensive. She's willing to be a dream-deflater by saying he's peddling "false hopes" about politics.

That sounds about right. Clinton has violated her pledges on Michigan and Florida because she absolutely will need those delegates to secure the nomination. Although she is polling ahead nationally at the moment, she has lost momentum. In the end, she is likely to prevail - but the cost is going to be very high.