Hillary The Old Dragon Lives

Last night, New Hampshire taught us (and taught Barack Obama) how much Hillary Clinton is like Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) in 3:10 to Yuma--not to be underestimated.

Maureen Dowd attributes a significant part of her success to her tearful reflection in the café. But she's unimpressed and she's not buying it.

What was moving her so deeply was her recognition that the country was failing to grasp how much it needs her. In a weirdly narcissistic way, she was crying for us. But it was grimly typical of her that what finally made her break down was the prospect of losing.

She lets Hollywood comment on the old weapon of womanhood that puts her male opponents at a distinct disadvantage.

As Spencer Tracy said to Katharine Hepburn in “Adam’s Rib,” “Here we go again, the old juice. Guaranteed heart melter. A few female tears, stronger than any acid.”

But she doubts that that ole Hill can "cry her way back to the White House." Unlike in relationships, it may be a weapon you can use only once in a political campaign to be commander-in-chief.

For more on Hillary's strategic use of her womanly prerogatives, go to "Hillary Clinton - A Woman of Convenience."

So what else do we make of this interesting providence?

A Hillary Clinton presidency would certainly be a safer one--though still not a good one--from a foreign policy standpoint. But we would pay high price domestically to be saved from Obama's utter naiveté in dealing with our foreign enemies.

I speak this way because, according to what AEI's Norman Ornstein has observed, the prospect of Republican victory in November are not good. The New York Sun reports,

Lopsided turnout in favor of Democrats at the Iowa caucuses, a huge fund-raising
advantage for the Democratic presidential campaigns, and an atmosphere of
dissatisfaction among the Republican base are prompting warnings that any
Republican presidential nominee could struggle to win in November....In Iowa
last week, about 221,000 people turned out for the Democratic caucuses, despite
the fact that those sessions tend to be more lengthy and involved than the
Republican ones. On the Republican side, about 116,000 Iowans voted. That figure
was up more than 30% from the last contested primary in 2000, but nowhere close
to the Democratic number.

Ornstein goes as far as saying, "if the Democrats can't win this, they had better find a different line of work."

On the other hand, if the Republicans were to nominate John McCain, the GOP's grumpy old man is more likely to beat the Democrats' nasty old woman than he would their hopeful young prince.