Hillary the Inevitable

Like the rest of us, Barack Obama learned from the media that Hillary Clinton will announce the suspension of her campaign for the Democratic Party's nomination for President this Saturday.  And while there is all sorts of gossip about what will happen next, for now the drama continues. 

Just last week, Bill Clinton complained that he'd "never seen a candidate treated so disrespectfully just for running."  Well look again, Bill.  Because your wife just succeeded in performing a 10-point-perfect double-dis against Barack Obama.  First she stiff-armed his historic claim to the party's nomination with her "victory" speech on Tuesday night.  Then the next day she ignores the most basic courtesy of telling her party's nominee she is dropping out of the race.  She even passed up the opportunity to do so in person at the AIPAC conference.  What a class act!

All's not well in Hillarywood.  The problem with this picture show is the "suspension of disbelief":

"In the world of fiction you are often required to believe a premise which you would never accept in the real world. Especially in genres such as fantasy and science fiction, things happen in the story which you would not believe if they were presented in a newspaper as fact. Even in more real-world genres such as action movies, the action routinely goes beyond the boundaries of what you think could really happen. 

In order to enjoy such stories, the audience engages in a phenomenon known as "suspension of disbelief". This is a semi-conscious decision in which you put aside your disbelief and accept the premise as being real for the duration of the story. 

Suspension of disbelief only works to a point. It is important that the story maintains its own form of believability and doesn't push the limits too far."
 

Hillary Clinton herself introduced the concept last September when told General Petreus that his Iraq progress report required "a willing suspension of disbelief."  But then so did much of her production of "Hillary the Inevitable", which regularly stretched the imagination to convince the media and public that she really had earned the nomination. 

For example, her suggestion that party caucuses are undemocratic, that caucus state voters don't count, or that popular votes including the unsanctioned primaries in Florida and Michigan determines the winner.  For five months we almost forgot that the story was all about delegates.  So we have to concede she put on a fine show.

Sure, there were those plot lines that just did not seem to work because the evidence was so obvious.  Like landing under sniper fire at Tuzla, or the policy on drivers licenses for non-resident foreigners, or the gasoline tax holiday.  But as always, the talented Clinton Producer-Director-Acting team gave us a performance that spanned the spectrum of emotions.  In fact, those scenes, from tears in NH to that distinctive laughter at the debates, will live on in memory long after show is over.

Sequel: Dream Ticket

Before we have even seen the last episode of their previous production, here comes the sequel, in which Bill and Hillary decide she would make the ideal Vice President.  But now the suspension of disbelief is really to be tested.

First item is the casting.  We don't yet know what part if any Geraldine Ferraro, who in the original production effectively portrayed the angry-older-white-woman with a hint of racist rage, will be allowed to play this time around.  It looks like Bill Clinton, who previously as the male lead pretentiously suggested Barack take the minor part as her running mate even though he was ahead by every measure, will have fewer lines and be assigned a far smaller role at best.  This is bound to make the entire story far less exciting.

BET founder Bob Johnson has already proven himself entirely miscast as the supplicant to the Congressional Black Caucus for Hillary-as-running-mate, which was just plain unconvincing.  And everyone will miss Terry McAuliffe (last seen doing shots of Bacardi with Mika Brzezinski, presumably on their way to rehab) and Howard Wolfson, both of whom should be way too busy selling their tell-nothing books in the months ahead.

However, the greatest challenge to the suspension of disbelief will be those plot lines we just skimmed over the last time around.  There is that little matter of being "fully vetted" and 35 years of experience.  For a start, the new script-writing team of Johnson, Kennedy and Holder will have to struggle with Hillary's first radical law work in San Francisco and the performance review of her part in the Watergate investigation.  And of course there are all those comments she made about Barack Obama over the past several months.

It's also not clear how the next episode will treat the problems hinted at by Vanity Fair.  Forget about undocumented sexual innuendo.  After Sex in the City and Larry Craig in the Minneapolis airport, that part is probably a sleeper.  No, I'm thinking of Bill's high-flying friends and library donors.  And those hints of influence peddling disguised as speaking and consulting fees on the joint tax returns.  Now those issues could be a real problem reconciling with Obama's political themes.  And if Obama adheres to the "no-drama" genre of inspiring documentary, the Clinton sequel could well be scrapped for a lack of both political and financial support.  Just stay tuned.

wizinit is the nom de guerre of a veteran diplomat who is a fan of the late columnist Art Buchwald and comedian Andy Borowitz.  If you would like to be notified whenever wizinit posts serious analysis or political satire, click here to join.