By any means necessary

OPINION:

Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream. Barack Obama has the audacity to hope. Hillary Clinton, well, she’s proven that she’ll get what she wants by any means necessary.

Sure, the infamous motto was first adopted by Malcolm X as his argument for, if necessary, violently defending the rights and freedoms of blacks in the 1960’s. But it fits just as tidily for Sen. Hillary Clinton in her quest for the presidency. Forget the rules, the truth, the record, whatever it takes. From her constant contradictions, to the incessant whining, subtle race-baiting, blatant pandering and trouble with truth-telling — it’s a sordid pattern of deception that rings Clintonian.

Let’s start back in January when Sen. Clinton threw Black Entertainment Television founder Bob Johnson on a South Carolina stage to prove that there were some real black people who supported her. Mr. Johnson’s ill-thought remarks drew almost instant criticism: “And to me, as an African-American, I am frankly insulted that the Obama campaign would imply that we are so stupid that we would think Hillary and Bill Clinton, who have been deeply and emotionally involved in black issues since Barack Obama was doing something in the neighborhood”and I won”t say what he was doing, but he said it in the book”when they have been involved.”

Sen. Clinton seemed surprised at Mr. Johnson’s remarks, as if his presence in South Carolina weren’t a carefully crafted strategic set of circumstances. First of all, we can “see” that Mr. Johnson is black. Secondly, what “black issues” have Bill and Hillary been so involved in? Thirdly, what did Mr. Obama’s self-described drug use have to do with the Clinton campaign? Sure, Mr. Johnson was shooed away from the campaign after the press scrutiny”but the damage was done and race had officially entered into the race. That was followed by Sen. Clinton’s infamous president-husband-turned-surrogate’s “fairy tale” remark when referring to Sen. Obama’s campaign. The racial undertones couldn’t be more apparent, as they were when Bill Clinton dismissed Mr. Obama’s South Carolina primary win as the equivalent of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton’s wins. A little race baiting? By any means.

Fresh off the heels of a stunning Iowa loss, Sen. Clinton decided to pour on the Super Tuesday waterworks in New Hampshire and it worked. No matter that she’s quick to decry anyone who suggests she’s not (wo)man enough to be president. On one hand, she says she should be allowed to cry. On the other, she’s being “bullied” by the big boys. Double-speak? By any means.

Turning back to fairy tales, Sen. Clinton has now shown that she is not above stretching the truth to get what she wants. Case in point: the story (and I do mean “story”) she told about her March 1996 trip to Bosnia in an effort to appear polished on foreign policy. Mrs. Clinton: “I remember landing under sniper fire.” Fact: No sniper fire. Instead, she posed for cameras at two army outposts and then joined troops and celebrities for a few songs at the base. Mrs. Clinton: “There was supposed to be some kind of greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles.” Fact: The greeting ceremony happened-as we’ve seen in video news footage all week. These are the makings of fairy tales. It’s not a lapse in memory or sleep deprivation as Ms. Clinton offered in response. It’s make-believe. Truth-bending? By any means.

Let’s not forget Sen. Clinton’s whining during CNN’s March debate, because she “always gets the first question.” Or the flip-flops on Iraq and NAFTA. With Iraq: she was for it before she was against it, then voted for spending despite being against the package and while she supports the troops she’s against the war again and of course condemned the surge strategy before even giving it a chance to work. With NAFTA: She was for it when her husband hawked it, but now she’s against it because she wants to appeal to blue collar Ohioans. Scrap free trade for a few more votes? By any means.

Most recently, we’ve watched the absurdity of Sen. Clinton offer the vice presidency to “the one who is in first place,” as Mr. Obama put it, the Democratic candidate who leads in the delegate count and by most measures should be their nominee. Not surprisingly, pressure has been building for Sen. Clinton to call it quits. It’s not Republicans who are calling for Mrs. Clinton to withdraw (of course they’re having too much fun watching the Democrats go blow to blow), but members of her own party. Sen. Patrick Leahy, Vermont Democrat, declared: “There is no way Sen. Clinton is going to get enough delegates to win the nomination.” But Ms. Clinton has roundly rejected the calls for her to drop out, saying she “won’t be bullied out of the race.”

Ironic, since it’s her own bullying that has kept her in it. She bullied Michigan by trying to force a primary re-vote — despite the fact that, early on, she told Michiganders that the “votes won’t count anyway.” She bullied Florida to do the same. She bullied the national Democratic Party to change the rules. Now she’s bullying the superdelegates. No matter that the superdelegates were never meant to overrule the delegates in the first place. By any means necessary.