June 5, 2008
Hillary Is "A Tortured Person"
Columnist Sally Quinn: Clinton Doesn't Know Who She Really Is Or What She Wants
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Hillary Clinton addressing supporters at her Montana and South Dakota primary night event in New York Tuesday (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
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Did Clinton Suffer From Image?
Sally Quinn tells Harry Smith she believes Hillary Clinton doesn't really know what she wants, and suffers from a constantly changing persona.
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Does she want to be Obama's running mate? A spot on the Supreme Court, should he win? Another crack at the White House, should he fall short this fall? The post of Senate majority leader? Something else?
The subject was raised with Washington Post columnist Sally Quinn on The Early Show Thursday by co-anchor Harry Smith, and Quinn minced no words, saying, "I've been intrigued by the questions in the last couple of weeks, 'What does Hillary really want?' And I think that the answer is that Hillary, up until now, has wanted what she thinks she should want. And what I think is that Hillary doesn't know what she wants. And she doesn't know who she really is.
"From the very beginning, when she married Bill Clinton, when she moved to Arkansas, she gave up her lucrative career, she changed her name during the campaign, 'I'll stand by my man' -- her personality changed. You remember when she first came into the White House and she had a different hairdo and a different outfit? She looked completely different. And people kept saying, 'Who is she?'
"And, even during the campaign this time -- during the Monica (Lewinsky) thing, when she stood by Bill Clinton, she was the health care maven. She was the strong one and the weak one.
And, during this campaign, she allowed him to, on some levels, sabotage her. She was feisty at some point and even shrill, and then she would cry.
"And then ... she said (after winning the New Hampshire primary), 'I found my voice.' But I don't think that she ever did find her voice.
"And I think that what she needs to do now -- and I know this sounds really strange, but -- if I were Hillary Clinton, I would go off to a retreat somewhere. ... A silent retreat. And I would stay there, I would take a sabbatical and stay there for three months, and not talk, and meditate, and think, and try to figure out who I really was and what I really wanted. I'm serious.
"I think that this is a tortured person who has run and run and run and gone for it and gone for it, and it's power, and it's this and it's that, 'I've got to be there.' There's never a moment where you see her relaxing, where you see her really stopping to smell the roses, stopping to say, 'Who am I and what is it that I want?'
"Maybe what she really needs is a wonderful, loving relationship with somebody instead of just going after power and being this ambitious person that I think she thinks she oughta be."
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See all 192 CommentsThen there is the hubris. How to gigure??
It will be interesting to see what she does. On the one hand, she feeds on being in charge, which might mean a less than easy exit from the stage. On the other hand....three big blows in the past week may change things for her:
1/ The Clintons used to be the big insiders of the DNC, they could roam freely within reason....not last weekend however, changing times, the Clinton name was not enough.
2/ Supposed support from the Delegate Elders was not as strong as she thought.
3/ The group of lawmakers that called her yesterday strongly suggesting she hang it up.
All three were harsh reminders of how things have changed. Lets see what she does.
He is quick to point out that, "He was once a Muslim, but that he also attended Catholic school." Obama''''s political handlers are attempting to make it appear that Obama''''s introduction to Islam came via his father, and that this influence was temporary at best. In reality, the senior Obama returned to Kenya soon after the divorce, and never again had any direct influence over his son''''s education. Lolo Soetoro, the second husband of Obama''''s mother, Ann Dunham, introduced his stepson to Islam. Obama was enrolled in a Wahabi school in Jakarta. Wahabism is the RADICAL teaching that is followed by the Muslim terrorists who are now waging Jihad against the western world. The terrorists that crashed into the Twin Towers were once all enrolled in the study of Wahabism..just as Obama was!!
Since it is politically expedient to be a CHRISTIAN when seeking major public office in the United States, Barack Hussein Obama has joined the United Church of Christ in an attempt to downplay his Muslim background.
Clinton is just HISTORY-
An ex-democrat . . . McCAIN 08
All the while, behind the scenes, she''s attending fundraisers & plans to be your presidential candidate in 2012. Obama cannot win, Obama cannot win. Its all about me, wheeeeeeeeeee, send me the money. So sad.
Lets show her up by electing Obama in 2008. What a basket case. So immature, greedy, divisive & unpresidential.
I''ve actually been thinking something similar... because I''d like for Hillary...to actually be happy. INTERALLY happy. And I tend to agree: My sense is, Ms. Clinton has been "running" so long, "jumping through hoops" for so long, "doing what she thinks she should be doing" for so long that she''s lost touch with her very Soul.
I wish her...peace. And contentment. And joy.
By doing the retreat thing...not answering phones, not talking with Bill, not meeting with anyone, but simply quieting down and listening to herself...for an extended period....it might possible for her to really "see," may be for the first time in her life, what''s truly most important to her heart.
Ms. Clinton, I send you love, and kind thoughts, and the highest regard...for yourself.
A middle aged, female Obama supporter
I would more expect to have read this in the comment section - I think CBS, you should be ashamed for pushing this type of baiting and personality critique. This is not news!
This democratic presendential bid has been surprisingly marred by "side taking" and name calling, with many people refusing to vote for the other if their choice did not win. This side taking is very strange - and I suppose this is encouragement for someone like Sally to express herself in such a manner - people get caught up in it.
It provides a huge distraction to what is really at stake, what issues are really coming to the forefront and what policies will be taking shape that affect our lives and our place in the world. Exciting stuff, Really!
This was alleged to be Al Gore''s problem when he ran in 2000, despite the fact that 2000 was his fourth national election effort, and Hillary apparently had the same problem in this her third national election.
Grown-ups are probably better bets for the American presidency.
And shame on CBS and Harry Smith for letting you make the remarks you made and not cutting you off. I watch the show regularly and I have seen them politely steer the conversation in another direction when it is clearly inappropriate. This was not a 60 Minutes tell all--it was a 2 minute stint on The Early Show!
From my perspective, this was just one more example of the disrespect that seems so prevalent in our society today. Whether you like Hilary or not, the woman did a h**l of a job getting to the place she did. Celebrate that and if you can''t, remember the adage about saying something nice...if you can''t, then don''t say anything at all.
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