The Great Media Pile-On

Finally, what the media have been panting after, lusting after and devoutly wishing for: a crack in Hillary's armor!

A couple of stumbles in the Dems' seventh debate, and the journalistic sharks are circling. If not for that, all we'd have to work with is Dennis Kucinich's UFO sighting. Roughing up a presidential front-runner is so much more down to earth.

Hillary Clinton actually had a pretty smooth night, but her botching of the Spitzer question was a clear mistake. The substance--whether she backs the New York governor's plan to give driver's licenses to illegal immigrants--is not insignificant. But it was her utter inability to take a position that will launch a thousand stories on the media's most negative rap against HRC:

She's a triangulator. A trimmer. A carefully calculating pol who says what people want to hear. A canny candidate who is allergic to specifics.

That image could damage Clinton long after everyone has forgotten about her specific answer on MSNBC. Remember the Bush ad that showed John Kerry windsurfing left and right in a flip-flopping metaphor?

The media are piling on, in part because journalists believe White House aspirants should be seriously scrutinized, and in part because they are desperate to turn this into a horse race.

I was more troubled by Hillary's response on Social Security, when she rejected Barack Obama's proposal to lift the tax cap on income over $97,500 but had little to offer beyond "fiscal responsibility," saying: 'I think for us to act like Social Security is in crisis is a Republican trap. We're playing on the Republican field, and I don't intend to do that.'

Well, it may not be in crisis, but everyone knows the system needs shoring up before the boomers bust the bank, and Hillary apparently wants to avoid any unpopular proposals.

But that's substance, and the chatter is all about style.

"A day after she appeared to struggle to give her views on the subject," the New York Times says, "Hillary Rodham Clinton offered support today for Gov. Eliot Spitzer's effort to award New York driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, as her campaign sought to contain potentially damaging fallout from a what her own supporters saw as a tense and listless debate performance.

"Mrs. Clinton's statement affirming her support of Mr. Spitzer in his office came less than a day after she offered a muddled and hesitant position on the bill, prompting a round of denunciations by her opponents. It signaled the extent to which her advisers viewed that moment as the biggest misstep she made in the debate, and one with long-term potential to undermine her candidacy. 'Senator Clinton supports governors like Governor Spitzer who believe they need such a measure to deal with the crisis caused by this administration's failure to pass comprehensive immigration reform,' her campaign said."

Crystal clear, right? Hmmm.