David Jacobs

The Hillary Clinton campaign keeps trotting people out to go on the cable and national news to argue she still has a chance to win the Democratic nomination. It’s a twisted bit of insane math and suppositions. If you believe in fairies, you might believe Hillary Clinton can still win the nomination. Frankly I think it makes her and her surrogates look foolish and  unprofessional.

So much complaining and blame from the Clinton campaign now as well. They have nobody to blame but themselves. Clinton was so far ahead for this race at one point it was her race to loose, and loose it she did. Obama came out of nowhere, completely unexpected, like a 3am phone call. And how did she handle the 3am Obama crisis? Terribly. Now who do you want answering the phone at 3am?

Obama has run a smoother campaign, has raised far more money and has handled several big crisis moments. Don’t tell me Hillary is the stronger candidate. Clinton complains of sexism but her campaign has shamefully used race against Obama several times in this campaign. People who live in glass houses shouldn’t through stones.

The worst thing Obama could do now is offer her the vice presidency. Who wants that kind of domineering personality around not to mention an ex-president skulking around the white house. What a nightmare. Obama doesn’t owe her a thing and he should set out to find the best possible VP for the job.

In the end Hillary’s last mistake may be not finding a graceful way out of the race. If she scratches and claws till the bitter end she will validate every negative thing people have said about her. Give us a surprise Hillary and do something classy.

Hillary Clinton is bringing daughter Chelsea out on the campaign trail in Iowa but won’t let her speak to the press. Predictably and quickly, this has lead to the absurd as she turned down an interview request from a 9 year old Scholastic News reporter.

Thus is the politics of control. In a hot presidential race, one statement, one moment can change fortunes forever. Just ask Howard Dean. The Clintons have always sought to protect and shield Chelsea from the press and I understand and empathize with that but if you don’t want to get shot, don’t go near the battlefield. If they are going to bring Chelsea along and make her part of the campaign in that way, than she is in the game, like it or not.

I don’t like the overly controlled and manufactured politics we have today. It’s almost impossible to get any kind of real read on a candidate. I’d love to hear from Chelsea and I’m sure other young people would too. She’s a smart girl for goodness sakes, let her speak. People are so afraid of making a mistake and the press is too quick to judge.

I has been said this is the YouTube campaign, but don’t let that fool you into thinking this is a new media campaign. We have had some “YouTube debates” but that’s just window dressing on a campaign that is still controlled by and manufactured for the old dog media. If anything, new media has intensified the control because of the way bad news can spread like wildfire across the Internet. We will not have a new media election until candidates are allowed and are courageous enough to let down their hair and let us see their real selves. Until control is broken down. Not until blogs, audio and video podcasts are treated as equals in the process and not a side show like the YouTube debates were. We’re getting closer every year and I hope someday we are able to break through and have a true new media election.