Hillary Rodham Clinton blew into this tiny island town like a fast-moving hurricane yesterday, creating a commotion at the Bunch of Grapes bookstore, where hundreds of admirers waited for hours in the rain for a glimpse of the woman who they hope will be the next president.
“When I heard Hillary was going to be here, I literally started crying,” said Lily Richards, a 17-year-old high school senior from Greenfield, Massachusetts, whose high school thesis paper argued for Clinton’s election as president. “Oh my God, I have to go!”
Up island from the hubbub, President Barack Obama is vacationing at a sprawling shingled home, still setting off friendly waves from locals when his motorcade glides by. But after six years, energy here and elsewhere appears to be shifting from Obama towards Clinton, as the former secretary of state moves away from the president’s orbit towards her own political future, generating tensions that are spilling out in unusual ways.
Obama is fast becoming the past, not the future, for donors, activists and Democratic strategists. Party leaders are increasingly turning towards Clinton and her husband, former president Bill Clinton, as Democrats face difficult races this fall in states where the president is especially unpopular
. And her aides are making plain that she has no intention of running for “Obama’s third term”.
The moment is an awkward one, and some moves by Hillary Clinton are reopening wounds from the 2008 primary contest. Her blunt public criticism of the president's foreign policy in the Atlantic this week touched off frustration among Obama's advisers and supporters, especially her suggestion that under Obama, the United States lacked an "organizing principle" in his approach to international relations.
“ ‘Don’t do stupid stuff’ is not an organizing principle,” said Clinton.
Christine Pelosi, a longtime Democratic activist and daughter of House minority leader Nancy Pelosi, said her phone and email "just exploded" after Clinton's remarks.
“Now is not the time to second-guess the commander in chief, particularly when you’re a former member of his cabinet and national security team,” said Pelosi.
The sharpest response to the interview came from David Axelrod, who helped Obama crush Clinton in the primary six years ago in part by calling attention to her support for the Iraq war.
“Just to clarify: ‘Don’t do stupid stuff’ means stuff like occupying Iraq in the first place, which was a tragically bad decision,” tweeted Axelrod on Tuesday.
Clinton then issued an unusual public statement, saying that she had called the president to reassure him that she had not intended to attack him and that she looked forward to “hugging it out” with him at a party hosted by Vernon E Jordan jnr on Martha’s Vineyard last night.
Clinton and Obama sat at the same table during the party, a birthday celebration for Jordan’s wife, Ann, at the Farm Neck Golf Club. The president and his former top diplomat ate surf ‘n’ turf and pasta, but White House officials declined to say whether they hugged.
When Clinton arrived to begin signing copies of her latest book, Hard Choices, she paused to respond to reporters who called out questions about her relationship with Obama. She answered without missing a beat, saying: "We have disagreements as any partners and friends, as we are, might very well have. But I'm proud that I served with him and for him."
Then she turned her focus to her waiting fans, greeting them with a big smile, a “thanks for being here” or “hello, sir, how are you?” and a quick flick of the pen as she signed their books. Owners of the bookstore said they had sold more than 1,000 books in advance of the event.
“Awesome. I just talked to the 45th president!” said Cynthia Woolbright (63) who pumped her fist in the air after the former first lady signed her copy.
Some Obama administration officials complain privately that Clinton is already making the president’s job more difficult. As Obama navigates multiple foreign crises abroad, they say, he finds few vocal supporters in the Democratic foreign policy establishment because would-be diplomats and advisers have their eye on jobs in a future Clinton administration and don’t want to be seen as taking sides in a dispute between Obama and Clinton.
Even before Clinton’s critique of Obama, some of the president’s original loyalists were questioning the wisdom of her high-profile book tour, which has been likened to a trial run for a national campaign.
“I don’t even understand why they’re doing this,” said Axelrod in an interview earlier this summer. “If I were her I would be so sparing. With this, she makes herself a candidate and a target. Why she’d want to be out there so early is beyond me.”
Robert Gibbs, another former adviser to Obama, said Clinton risked being drawn into an extended media examination that will not benefit a potential candidacy. Plus, noted Gibbs, Clinton is inevitably going to draw attention from Obama's agenda in the small window that exists between now and when the 2016 campaign is fully engaged.
“There’s no doubt that there’s a certain amount of news that you’re going to cede each day,” he said of Obama.
Officially, Obama’s aides dismiss the notion that there is strain between the president and Clinton or their staffs and insist that their two staffs have worked hard to develop trust. Moreover, they say it is natural for Clinton to stake out her own positions.
Still, the role reversal between Obama and Clinton is a striking reminder that nothing in politics is fixed. Obama eclipsed the Clintons in 2008 as the fresh, new face of the Democratic Party, portraying them as baby boomer relics. Now, Obama is in danger of becoming a lame duck and his party has
started thinking about tomorrow, with the Clintons in mind.
Many of those who lined up for the book signing in the steady rain, patiently submitting to secret service screening and following lines marked with yellow police tape, were women.
“I love Obama,” said Patti McGrath (72) of Harwich, Massachusetts. “But I want to see women leading countries.” – (New York Times)
