Jesus, Noam, get some sleep. This post is a nice counterpart to Jonathan's ridiculous post on the Plank the other day about whether Hillary had gotten a raw deal. I find both of these posts the worst kind of condescending.

If Mitt Romney (or any of the male candidates) had had a Muskie moment today, would he have earned your respect? Of course it's not easy campaigning (or losing), but it's not easy for any candidate, and you can bet the Clintons would be merciless if it were someone else in her shoes.

"It's also heartening to know that she's a human who takes these things personally, because running for president should be very personal." What kind of analysis is that? Have you been reading high school newspaper editorials today? What's wrong? Snap out of it.

It's official, Noam.  You have been captured.  Every candidate looks like this when they're circling the drain.  Why are you so soft on her?  I feel bad for her too and admire her as a person -- A+ for effort--  but she gets points for being human?  Talk about lowering the bar.  Save this sob story for the day after she pulls out of the race.

I can't stand to watch either of the Clintons right now because it breaks my heart - and I'm an Obama supporter.  I respect and adore them both.

mefestus - I appreciate what you said and I don't mean to be condescending, I can see how it could come across that way.

But not everything has a one to one comparison and compassion for a human being crying is not a bad thing.  

And there is no such thing in any way as Romney = Clinton. This isn't gender related. People are allowed to have different emotional responses to individual candidates.  I feel sad for her because I have a great deal of admiration for Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton and I am sorry things have to be this way, but they do.  

I think this quote also highlights one of Sen. Clinton's most alarming failings as a candidate, namely her campaign's attitude that it is self-evident that she is the best candidate running.  When I first saw this post over at Politico, I was glad to hear she'd let her guard down and shown some passion for this fight.  However, she lost me when she said that "some of us are ready and some of us are not.  Some of us know what [we] are going to do on day one, and some of us haven't thought that through enough."  On top of playing into the talking points she now has about Obama, which undermines how genuine a moment this truly was, it also shows that Hillary thinks it is her decision to decide who is ready and who is not, or who will be best to hit the ground running and who isn't.  Her role in this race is to talk voters into believing that's true, not merely asserting it is true and moving on.      

Sen. Clinton's (genuine, I think) tears today, as well as her so-called outburst at the debate, have really provided a certain context for this whole campaign.  Back when Hillary and the Baby Boomers were coming of age, they spurned the common-good political style of the "Greatest Generation" and replaced it with confrontational, identity based politics (which ultimately took root on both the Left and Right).  This shift was probably necessary to sufficiently address problems that were glossed over by the old-style politics (such as racial and gender discrimination, and an overly hawkish foriegn policy.)  But as the shift was underway, the previous generation must have felt a lot like Hillary does now: "Look at the change I've brought you - we got this country through a World War.  How can you turn your back on me?"  And the Boomers weren't exactly kind in getting the message across ("Something is happening but you don't know what it is.  Do you, Mr. Jones?")  I think that accounted for a lot of the generational strife of that era.

Now, Hillary's brand of politics has reached a point (just as the "greatest generation's" politics did) where its no longer suited to address the problems we currently face (threats whose impact we all must fear: terrorism, global warming, etc.)  The country can only solve its problems by moving away from the confrontational stlye, and back towards a broader, common-interest style (but this time one that incorporates the achievements of the Baby Boomer generation.)  The country knows this, and its drawn towards Obama's message.  And its walking away from Hillary.  Like her parents' generation in the 1960s/70s, she can't understand why a record of achievement isn't enough.  Its sort of poignant actually.  

I feel compassion for her, too. I like and respect the Clintons, too. But it's the middle of the campaign. What "public beating" are you talking about? The caucus she lost in Iowa and the odd way her campaign handled it? Why shouldn't she be poised? Hillary's been up and now she's down. Her campaign says she's in the fight for the long haul. The Clintons are fighters and need none of our pity right now. Same goes for the other candidates.

Noam,

Part of Clinton's appeal was that she was a relentless, take-no-prisoners, knock-down drag-out political fighter. That was supposed to be the only kind of Democrat who could win in the Swift-boat era.

Remember how everyone was wondering whether Obama had the "killer instinct" necessary in this day and age?

No one doubted that Hillary has a killer instinct. Think of "Barack Hussein Obama," and the leak of his elementary school papers.

Think of all the associates over the years that she tossed overboard. Think of how they must have felt. Think of their  tearful frustration and disappointment.

They weren't up in front of a crowd when the tears came, but they were no less real.

she had me with this, until she fell back on her usual talking points, about how she's ready on day one, etc....   Cry me a river, but when you use the opportunity to break the same old cliches, you lose me.

This story is all over cable news. They LOVE it.

I'd appreciate it if someone could explain why this matters. Noam's suggestion is that this shows Hiilary's personal involvement with her campaign. But has anyone ever doubted that she really, really wants to be president? I just don't get it.

I wasn't at the Hillary event Noam mentioned below. And if Ben Smith says she choked up, I'm

She's a mom, after all. If she were to focus like the proverbial laser beam on why politics matters-- to be precise, why intelligent, targeted state intervention domestically and tough, smart statesmanship abroad matters so hugely to working FAMILIES, then she'd have a shot at pulling this election out.

Help the puppies, not the yuppies. A tough-minded woman who understands in her heart the unique challenges faced by working families is a good formula for a superbly effective leader in a democracy.

I felt bad for her too when I saw the tears....but...then she pivoted into ridiculous attacks on Obama...and I realized those tears were tears of frustration - power would not be hers. The power would be someone elses.

I'm a boomer and I agree with bkowalski44 that Hillary's left over 70's political style is a part of the problem she has in getting any message across.  That, and the fact that she has never managed to publically deal with the beating she took at the hands of the "right wing conspiracy", left many a voter here in Iowa searching for an alternative.  

I've talked to former Clinton supporters that just don't want to see the fight with the right reengaged using the same strategy and tactics we have all seen for the last way way too many years.  Human feelings are fine, but how about some sign that you've learned something, rather than just feeling something.

HRC won't win any favors from me for such an emotional display.  I'm supposed to get choked up because a severely sleep deprived 60 year old tears up over the public beating she's taken over the past week?  Please.  

"It's not easy, it's not easy, and I couldn't do it if I didn't passionately believe [that I'm the only person on earth who can save the United States from utter disaster.] "

WTF?  For that you give her a gold star?  I agree with mefestus, Noam, get some sleep.  And I'd recommend that Ms. Clinton do the same.  She needs it.

Better headline for this story: Crocodile Tears?

Here's something I've been thinking about over the past week, not perfectly relevant to the discussion at hand, but now's as good a time as any:

Can someone please explain our nation's reverence for gray hair in selecting our presidents?

In my profession, medicine, there is a fairly clear divide between doctors in their prime (40s) and those past it (60s).  This has actually been studied.  Physicians peak at about 15 years post receipt of their MDs.  Any younger and they still lack some relevant experience, any older and their habits congeal, they're less apt to keep up with scientific developments, their powers of observation are diminished, and their thinking slows and loses flexibility.  

Obama can't go public with the assertion that his relative youth gives him an advantage over Clinton for fear of being labeled ageist (and for fear of losing all those silver foxes who just LOVE to vote ) but I reckon the case can be made.

walto - spot on re the professions. Certainly mathematicians, probably research scientists and economist do their best work when their minds are supple and open and young. Most investment bankers start to lose their edge when they get into their late 40s, and this is probably true of many lawyers as well. Programmers' creative output follows a long slide downward as they age; perhaps the same's true of engineers.

But for _American_ politicians, the problem is the reverse: not seeing the world afresh but in coming to grips with this vale of tears that every political realist knows is the natural human state, and the political jungle of selfishness, greed, oppression and cruelty that mark most political interactions on this planet.

Every American pol likes to think of himself as we think of our idealized American, as dewy and fresh as Adam, ready to remake the world in our image, reinvent government, reinvent ourselves, create the Politics of Meaning, bring us Morning in America blah blah blah.  

What we desperately need to see in our pols is not brains but maturity. Gray hair signifies not that an American pol has grown old but that he's grown up.

Sleep deprivation makes you a sucker for two things - getting a cold and crying.