Elizabeth Drew is a sad testament to the fact that even the NYRB has succumbed to the Clinton Rules (check out the image of HRC devilishly laughing on their front page). The article is a mixture of projection, lies, and just plain asshatery. I could only shake my head as I read the following:

The Democrats’ contest has changed from simply a fierce fight for “pledged delegates,” who are elected in the primaries and caucuses, which Obama is winning, into a battle to convince the as-yet-uncommitted superdelegates which candidate would be stronger in the general election—regardless of who has won the most pledged delegates. This is an issue injected into the contest by the Clinton campaign. Mathematically, there now appears to be no way for Clinton to catch up to Obama in pledged delegates; the final decision will be made by the superdelegates, who are under extreme pressure from both sides.

Clinton has now committed the God-awful crime of “injecting” the issue of electability—into a campaign, no less. The nerve of that wretched woman! Certainly Obama has never presented himself as the more electable candidate. Heavens no! And it’s not like the whole point of superdelegates playing the determining factor is to select the strongest GE candidate (No need to mention that Obama is outspending Clinton 3:1 in purchasing befriending them).

In this fight, the Clinton camp is the more aggressive of the two, and it’s adept at what might be called molehill politics: making a very big deal in the press about something that’s a very small deal—such as a single word in a mailing or a slip-up by an aide. Clinton’s strategists pounce on whatever opportunity presents itself to attack Obama, and try to knock him off his own message, and his stride. Clinton’s approach resembles her tactics in the White House, in which her inclination was to attack (which caused a number of problems, and was one of the reasons her health care bill was defeated). The Obama camp has sometimes been slow, and even reluctant, to respond, because if he attacks her personally (which the Clinton campaign would like him to do), he’s not Barack Obama anymore. Moreover, Obama takes care not to come across as the “angry black”—a stereotype he does not fit, but that could be imposed upon him by others.

If there’s one candidate who has engaged in “molehill politics” it is certainly Clinton! So true. Barack runs an honest, ethical campaign. He would never—ever!—attack Hillary in such a way because he wouldn’t be Barack anymore.

While it’s true that the two remaining Democratic candidates have few substantive differences, they have very different approaches to campaigning, which give us clues about the differences in how they would govern—and that, after all, is what this whole thing is, or should be, about. It’s useful to try to imagine these people in the White House, and, from their campaigning, to try to figure what they will be like there: how they will use power; how well they would sustain their appeal over a considerable period of time.

It’s been long said among politicians that “the Clintons will do anything to win.” Unfortunately, they are increasingly proving the point. As the primaries in Texas and Ohio approached, the Clinton campaign, which has a tendency to announce its next steps, said that it would use a “kitchen sink” strategy against Obama—and so it did: with the famous and apparently effective “red phone” ad questioning his fitness to be commander in chief; and in frequent and heavy-handed conference calls to reporters (an innovation), in which Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson makes charges against Obama, raises questions about him, or moves “goal posts” designating what Obama has to do to win. (Obama “has to win Pennsylvania,” which few think is likely.) This propaganda makes its way onto cable and other news outlets. But where does, or should, a “kitchen sink” strategy belong in a presidency?

Hillary Clinton is employing conventional politics, while Obama is trying to create a new kind of politics.

Exactly. How you can argue with this truth is beyond me.