Analysis: Hillary's curtain call

Hillary Clinton won wild, wonderful West Virginia Tuesday night, but it was really nothing more than an opportunity for her to preview her exit strategy: she'll go quietly, despite the fears of left-wing pundits who say she's "sowing the seeds of destruction." Such melodramatic opinions at this stage in the game are overblown. The damage to Democratic party unity has already been done. In her W.V. "victory" speech, Clinton expanded on a series of conciliatory talking points she first brought up after narrowly eking out a win in Indiana last week. "I want to commend Senator Obama and his supporters," Clinton began. And then, refusing to stop the political spin that comes with decades of politicking, she went on to describe her relentless battle with Obama with these words: "Yes, we've had a few dust-ups along the way." And then, the clincher -- her next sentence all but but blared her intention to ride out the remaining primaries to a surrender with head held high.

What was that sentence? "Our commitment to bring America new leadership that will renew America's promise means that we have always stood together on what is most important," Clinton said of herself and Obama.

Pundits are likely to dissect this a dozen ways. Why, it could mean that Clinton's shopping for a vice presidential spot on an Obama ticket, using her solid base of support and close primary finish as leverage. Or mayhaps it means she's finally ready to help unify the party and salvage what's left of her reputation so she can return to the Senate as a major player.

If you ask me, given how intensely Clinton has run her campaign, I think the carrots in this speech were designed to ratchet down the steaming piles of er, rhetoric, that she's hurled at Obama over the last five months.

It just wouldn't seem believable for her to roll over and proclaim her undying support and confidence in Obama as president. She has to do it in steps, just because of the wide-ranging perception that this intra-party conflict has been so damaging to the Democrats.

That's an argument I barely buy, by the way. Sure, there's some division, but look at the cold, hard facts: Democrat turnout skyrocketed in every state, while every state has gotten its day in the limelight, a far cry from most primaries, in which only the first handful of states matter. I bet Florida and Michigan are kicking themselves in the balls for breaking party rules to move up their primaries, when it turns out they could've decided the game if only they chose to play by the rules.

In addition, both Clinton and Obama have become better candidates as a result of their dueling. Embarrassing debacles like Snipergate, Pastorgate and Bittergate were all aired long before November. Imagine how the Republicans could've made these things linger if they had a target early on. I'm not the only one who believes that long is good for the Democrats, by the way. Numerous others have said so as well.

A tribute to Hillary
As a conservative, I've got to hand it to Hillary Clinton for running one hell of a campaign. Though her campaign organization was dreadful and she picked deeply flawed people to run it, she's also survived, and I mean survived setback after setback.

Barack Obama may have a monopoly on his so-called "new politics," but when it comes to the old-fashioned, tried-and-true, slash-and-burn, pander-and-attack OLD politics, Hillary is up there with the best of 'em. And I'm only being partly sarcastic -- these tactics have been winning elections for decades. And really, what is Obama's so-called "new" politics beyond a thinly-veiled and highly cynical version of the dirty stuff?

He claims the high road until he's attacked, then boom, he's hitting back and saying you started it.

Besides, it's Hillary that's given us the most memorable remarks of the primary season, with zingers like "the Republican idea of cracking down on illegal immigration would make every good Samaritan a criminal, including Jesus Christ himself!" And of course, "Dick Cheney is the fourth branch of government," and my personal favorite, "After the last eight years, the Republicans should just be handing over the White House to us. But of course they won't."

So I'll just take it, is Hillary's unsaid conclusion. Now that's some steel. Farewell, dear Hillary, and may your time behind the curtain be brief. We all know you'll be peeking behind, biding your time and waiting to strike like the political tigress you are.