Suitably Flip

Where's Lloyd Bentsen When We Need Him?

With the late Lloyd Bentsen now safely out of the picture, Hillary has decided to invoke the legacy of Jack Kennedy, draping herself in everything from his charisma to his religion.

"He was smart, he was dynamic, he was inspiring and he was Catholic. A lot of people back then [1960] said, 'America will never elect a Catholic as president,' " the White House hopeful told the New Hampshire Democrats' 100 Club fund-raiser here.

"But those who gathered here almost a half century ago knew better," she said. "They believed America was bigger than that and Americans would give Sen. John F. Kennedy a fair shake, and the rest, as they say, is history."

Noting women are "the majority" of voters and are in the workforce in "record numbers," she added, "So when people tell me 'a woman can never be president,' I say, we'll never know unless we try."

Kennedy's name is most often invoked by supporters of Clinton's main Democratic rival, Sen. Barack Obama, usually comparing their charisma.

With Obama on a fundraising binge in New York, inviting ever more Clintonian scorn by continuing to dance with Hillary's rightful supporters (because she's the real New Yorker, don'tcha know), perhaps she's feeling compelled to reach into his sandbox to snatch a little of that Kennedy luster the media has lavished on this insolent newcomer.  Or perhaps she's just trying to remind the country that we do indeed love political dynasties and that her due ascension should be respected accordingly.

But if her segue into waxing sentimental for Camelot is the idea that Kennedy's Catholocism and Clinton's X chromosome co-brand them as underdog candidates, deserving of victory simply because conventional wisdom discounts it, she might want to stop and think this through a bit further.

About 25% of Americans are Catholic.  Roughly 12% are Black.  As Hillary herself notes, more than half are women.  So if she wants to play identity politics by making the case that a candidate's membership of a persecuted, downtrodden minority somehow renders that candidate more worthy, not only is that a vapid argument, it's one that likely benefits someone else.

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Where's Lloyd Bentsen When We Need Him?

With the late Lloyd Bentsen now safely out of the picture, Hillary has decided to invoke the legacy of Jack Kennedy, draping herself in everything from his charisma to his religion.

"He was smart, he was dynamic, he was inspiring and he was Catholic. A lot of people back then [1960] said, 'America will never elect a Catholic as president,' " the White House hopeful told the New Hampshire Democrats' 100 Club fund-raiser here.

"But those who gathered here almost a half century ago knew better," she said. "They believed America was bigger than that and Americans would give Sen. John F. Kennedy a fair shake, and the rest, as they say, is history."

Noting women are "the majority" of voters and are in the workforce in "record numbers," she added, "So when people tell me 'a woman can never be president,' I say, we'll never know unless we try."

Kennedy's name is most often invoked by supporters of Clinton's main Democratic rival, Sen. Barack Obama, usually comparing their charisma.

With Obama on a fundraising binge in New York, inviting ever more Clintonian scorn by continuing to dance with Hillary's rightful supporters (because she's the real New Yorker, don'tcha know), perhaps she's feeling compelled to reach into his sandbox to snatch a little of that Kennedy luster the media has lavished on this insolent newcomer.  Or perhaps she's just trying to remind the country that we do indeed love political dynasties and that her due ascension should be respected accordingly.

But if her segue into waxing sentimental for Camelot is the idea that Kennedy's Catholocism and Clinton's X chromosome co-brand them as underdog candidates, deserving of victory simply because conventional wisdom discounts it, she might want to stop and think this through a bit further.

About 25% of Americans are Catholic.  Roughly 12% are Black.  As Hillary herself notes, more than half are women.  So if she wants to play identity politics by making the case that a candidate's membership of a persecuted, downtrodden minority somehow renders that candidate more worthy, not only is that a vapid argument, it's one that likely benefits someone else.