Matthews: Clinton Lost Because Of War Vote

Matthews: Clinton Lost Because Of War Vote

Late in the long night of election returns, MSNBC wrote the obituary for the Hillary Clinton campaign. No, not the one that's getting all the attention, Tim Russert's declaration that Obama is the nominee.

Chris Matthews said, directly, that Hillary Clinton's vote for the Iraq War in 2002 cost her the Democratic nomination. Which I've been saying since pre-caucus.

I'll update with the exact quote but here's the paraphrase. She calculated that voting for the war was better positioning, which historically would have been smarter. But when the war went sour this became a change election, and she couldn't be the change candidate after voting for the war.

Or, to quote the Senator from New York in February 2007:

"If the most important thing to any of you is choosing someone who did not cast that vote or has said his vote was a mistake, then there are others to choose from."

To which Democratic voters said: OK, then. That's the phrase to engrave on the tombstone:

"If the most important thing to any of you is choosing someone who did not cast that vote or has said his vote was a mistake, then there are others to choose from."

So now the Democratic race is where the GOP was after Florida, with Hillary as Huckabee, hanging on until mathematical elimination but perhaps adjusting the rhetoric.

The What Does She Want questions begin:

Veep? A poor stylistic match, which would leave her 68 years old at the time of the 2016 election.

Money? That begs another question -- can Obama get his million-plus donors to help retire the rival's debt? Especially when so much of that debt is to old-school bashing consultants? "I'm Barack Obama. Click here to pay Mark Penn."

Florida and Michigan? That buzz is already started. They'll get seated, though as an Iowan I want to see some sort of punishment.

Massive nomination reform along the lines of No More Caucuses? She would see that as helping her in the Wait Four Years scenario. But any 2012 scenario, or even 2016 scenario, will fail unless she and Bill are 1000 percent behind the ticket, with no semi-off-the record grumbling.

Backing in a Senate leadership fight? Even the strongest of presidents have failed in taking on Congress on its own prerogatives, and Obama isn't president yet.

"If the most important thing to any of you is choosing someone who did not cast that vote or has said his vote was a mistake, then there are others to choose from."