In today’s OpinionJournal, Peggy Noonan writes about Hillary Clinton:
No one doubts Mrs. Clinton’s ability to make war. No close or longtime observer has ever been quoted as saying that she may be too soft for the job. Instead one worries about what has always seemed her characterological bellicosity. She invented the War Room, listened in on the wiretaps, brought into the White House the man who got the private FBI files of the Clintons’ perceived enemies.
This is not a woman who has to prove she’s tough enough and mean enough; she is more like a bulldozer who has to prove she won’t always be in high gear and ready to flatten you. In private, her friends say–and I have seen it to be true–that she is humorous, bright, interested in the lives of others. But as a matter of political temperament and habit of mind, she is neither patient, high minded nor forbearing. Those who know Mrs. Clinton well, and my world is thick with them, have qualms about her toughness, not doubts.
But she is making progress. She is trying every day to change her image, and I suspect it’s working. One senses not that she has become more authentic, but that she has gone beyond her own discomfort at her lack of authenticity. I am not saying she has learned to be herself. I think after a year on the trail she’s learned how to not be herself, how to comfortably adopt a skin and play a part.
Personal note: there is no possible way for Hillary Clinton to present herself that would make me sympathize enough to vote for her as President.
I don’t want her and her allies telling me what’s best for me and my family.
Technorati tags: Election 2008, Hillary Clinton, Peggy Noonan, Politics.
Tags: election 2008, hillary clinton, peggy noonan, Politics
