Spin Cycle

Yesterday Bill Clinton was critical of Obama for "whining" about the Philly debate, forgetting his own intermittent whining. Today, Hillary latches on, contending in a morning TV appearance in Philadelphia that Obama's "complaining" means he's not ready for the heat of the White House.

She's even issued a press release flagging the issue. Notice how she pivots, awkwardly, off of a newspaper headline, that says, "Viewers Upset With ABC Debate." Viewers -- not Obama. But she wants to attack Obama, so she has to act like the debate was fine, so the actual question and the headline and the viewers get screened out:

Here's video of Obama yesterday. And, for those with short memories, here's video of Hillary in Ohio on Feb. 26, complaining during a debate that it's unfair that she always gets the first question, and the moderators are going too easy on Obama -- in other words, doing during the debate exactly what she is now trying to turn into a talking point against Obama:

Does this prove that Hillary is not ready for the White House? Of course not. What it proves is that much of what she says on the trail is not believed in, it's just available to score a point on a given day even though it focuses on behavior that she herself has engaged in. Principled people seek to be consistent. No such effort is evident in stuff like this.

The reality of this campaign: Clinton and Obama and Edwards and the others campaigned on serious issues and broad positive themes -- mandates vs. no mandates, experience vs. change. Clinton lost, or began to lose, that race. Since she realized that, the race has become completely tactical -- whine in February, whine about whining in April -- with dramatically reduced substantive content.