Eight More Years of This?

There’s a reason that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s (D-N.Y.) poll numbers have swiftly dropped following her performance at the Drexel University debate in Philadelphia last week. Everyone has a bad night here and there, and Clinton has run a relatively incident-free campaign thus far.

No, the drop in the polls (down to a 10-point lead over Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., in New Hampshire and down nearly 10 points nationally, according to the latest Rasmussen Poll) is due to the Clintons being the Clintons. I can’t help but suspect the American people are now asking themselves: Do we want four or eight more years of this?

To recap: Sen. Clinton was asked last week whether she supported New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s (D) proposal to grant illegal aliens driver’s licenses — a proposal that is very unpopular with New York residents. Rather than answer a simple yes or no, Clinton engaged in all-too-familiar Clinton-speak; it sounded like she supported the proposal but didn’t want us to confuse the fact that she wasn’t supportive of it. When called on the carpet by NBC News moderator Tim Russert and fellow Democrats, the Clintons did what the Clintons do best: They cranked up the War Room and the Spin Machine.

After blaming the media and fellow Democrats for “piling on,” former President Bill Clinton complained the other day that his wife was being “Swift-Boated” on the issue. Even the Obama campaign had enough with the Clintons and their parsing by noting (according to spokesman Bill Burton): “It’s absurd to compare a simple yes or no question about immigration that Sen. Clinton still won’t answer seven days after the debate.” Exactly.

The cloak of invincibility that has surrounded the Clinton campaign in her quest for coronation as the Democratic candidate for president in 2008 has been irreparably pierced. Running neck and neck with Sen. Obama and former Sen. John Edwards (N.C.) in Iowa and down to a 10-point lead in New Hampshire, this is still anyone’s race.

I just can’t help but imagine that the more Sen. Clinton parses and blames everyone else in the world for her troubles rather than looking in the mirror, her poll numbers, credibility and likability will continue to plummet.