No, he’s saying that to try to rally her supporters, and perhaps to lower expectations.
I’ll agree with the last half of that statement - to lower expectations. She not going to win by a large margin, if at all really. And Bill can see that now.
I fail to see how the expression “do or die” time lowers expectations.
Here’s something interesting from the Financial Times today: Clinton must step aside today to win tomorrow I don’t think there’s a chance in Hell this’ll happen but, as I said, interesting.
Well, everyone, thank you all for making this thread by far the longest I’ve ever started. Twelve pages. Sheesh!
I’ve been following it (or more usually, trying to catch up) and haven’t had much to add as I things are pretty much going as I discussed in my first post and followed up in post 38. To me, the two keys are (1) the exit polling from Wisconsin which Obama shows that he won virtually every demographic group except the oldest voters and older white women and (2) her aura of inevitability has been not only been broken, but she’s now seen as having fallen behind. The first means that the differing demographic profiles of the remaining states are unlikely to give a big win to Clinton, and also answers the question of whether he would appeal to a broad enough base to be elected in the general election. The second cuts off those voters who might have voted for a leading Clinton just to continue to support the presumed winner and to bring end the internal battling (and inded reverses this), and also neutralizes Clinton’s ability to appeal to uncommitted superdelegates, who having waited this long, have no reason to jump onto the sinking Clinton ship.
Two reasons. It introduces the idea that “dieing” is a real probability, and therefore becomes an expected result. Also, if the win is by a small margin, the campaign can then say, “See, we did it! We didn’t die!”.
It turns out Clinton’s money problems are much worse than she’s let on. It looks unlikely she can make it through the end of March (unless a miraculous 70/30 split occurs for her in both TX & OH).
Oh, and one other financial matter (from The New Republic):
Ya know the birds are sing’in and no one’s home to listen!
It’s supposed to lower people’s expectations for her performance, so that if she won, she could say “We needed this win to have a chance!” and convince some people that that is the truth - when in fact, she may not have a chance even if she wins.
So ironic…I initially was leaning toward Hillary, and then was put off by the financial disclosures and how much she had raised from “lobbyists” and “special interest groups”. And it turns out that she hasn’t raised enough, it seems.
I never cared for Hillary, but I always respected Bill as a straight shooter and genius political tactician. But he hasn’t adapted. He’s still partying like it’s 1999. Except that he looks old now. And haggard. And comes across as almost senile.
I agree. When he was at the top of his game his political instincts were as sharp as they come. He was brilliant in his ability to read a room, sense the public pulse, and always know which way the cat was going to jump. He didn’t make the kind of mistakes he’s making now, and didn’t let his bursts of temper get he better of him in public.
Now he seems not just rusty, but somewhat blinded by his emotional bias in favor of his wife. I think that advocating for Hillary is clouding his instincts in ways that didn’t happen when he was advocating for himself. I know a lot of people are probably too cynical to believe this, but I think he really does sincerely respect her and care about her and wants this badly for her own sake not for his (and that he honestly thinks she would be good at the job).
In one of Dick Morris’ books, he said that when he was working for the Clintons that he never heard Bill say a bad word about Hillary, that he genuinely thought she was great and that he wouldn’t tolerate anyone in the room saying anything critical about her. To the point where he almost had a screw loose about it. I think we’re seeing flashes of that in this campaign.
I believe I saw Bill on the news yesterday say that if they didn’t win Texas she wouldn’t get the nomination. Quite true. I think they are trying to make a goal line stand.
I agree - and barring the unforseen redheaded illigitimate Obama child, I doubt their goal line stand will do much. Nice analogy though, the Clinton’s are like the Patriots and Obama the Giants - we know how that turned out. 
And as long as we’re speculating… perhaps there’s a bit of attempted atonement going on as well?
Since I’m from New York -
I agree with you completely…I think he’s absolutely feeling more emotionally beat up, seeing his wife go through it than even at the worst times in his presidency. It’s very interesting to see this side of Bill, and although it may not be the best thing in the world for her right now, it lends a huge amount of insight (for me, at least) into him and who he is personally. Although I never did buy into the idea that it was just a convenience marriage, that they had an understanding, that it’s not a “real” romantic relationship, etc. He certainly seems to have some kind of problem with keeping it in his pants, but I don’t necessarily think that’s a reflection on their relationship, as odd as that may sound. I sincerely think that it is just that…a problem, which he may very well have had no matter who he was married to. She may have chosen to overlook it for whatever reason, or maybe every time she caught him he swore it would never happen again and she believes him (or wants to believe him), I don’t know what, but that doesn’t mean they don’t sincerely love each other.
It also makes me wonder if there is a different dynamic for a man to support his wife in such an endeavor than there is for a woman to support her husband. I mean, no one likes hearing their spouse get beat up by the media, I’m sure, but I wonder if there’s more of a “protective” element to it that makes it harder for a guy. I also wonder if that will be different in younger generations who have have grown up in a different time than the Clintons did.
[ul][li]Barack Obama won the Democrats Abroad Global Primary, making it his 11th straight win.[/li][li]21 year old superdelegate scmoozed by Chelsea, backs Obama.[/li][li]Massachusetts Superdelegate Margaret D. Xifaras endorsed Obama. [/li][quote]
“From a decisive win in Iowa to the last ten wins after Super Tuesday, Obama and his campaign have shown their strengths organizationally, financially, issues-wise, and certainly strategically. If they had just said those words about change, it would not have been enough – the campaign would have stalled or peaked long ago. But they have tapped into so many more important lines: financial support, relevant issues, and superb training and reaching out through community based organizers rather than just the same old political establishment.”
[/quote]
[li]Change to Win endorses Obama.[/li][*]Cleveland Mayor Frank G. Jackson announced his endorsement of Senator Barack Obama for President at a community gathering in Cleveland with Michelle Obama today.[/ul]
Yes, definitely. I have no doubt he feels like he owes her.