Spin Cycle

Hillary strategist Howard Wolfson, now blogging for himself and for the New Republic, is getting some notice today for arguing that latent sexism is the true reason behind people asking if Hillary will take on Sarah Palin:

"The questions are fair, but what undergirds them is an obsession in our popular culture with the 'cat fight,' an offensive term that describes the spectacle of two well known women fighting with one another."

So, let's see. Palin is a white woman. McCain picks Palin. Ten percent of white women shift their loyalties in a week according to ABC, from 50-42 for Obama to 51-43 for McCain. Hillary Clinton is a white woman. Hillary Clinton is the best known, most popular Democratic white woman. Hillary Clinton is the most popular Democrat among white woman.

But, it's just an obsession with cat fights that is causing people to ask about Hillary taking on Palin? Do we think maybe Howard hasn't gotten over the primary yet, and sees just about everything through the lens of a purportedly sexist media?

As night follows day, his cat-fighting theory leads to this conclusion on Clinton-Palin: "It's not going to happen. It's not in Hillary Clinton's interest, and its certainly not in the interest of Barack Obama and the Democratic party."

Clinton remains Wolfson's most valuable client, even as a blogger, so his post makes it clear that Hillary doesn't think it would be good for her to go after Palin in any special way. And, having been beaten by Obama and then passed over by Obama, she's not obligated to. But, being Hillary, she wants it both ways: She doesn't want to do it, but she doesn't want to be blamed by Dems for not doing it -- ergo, operatives like Wolfson sally forth with arguments about why it would be a bad idea.

He makes the legitimate point that Obama is running against McCain, and should not become fixated on Palin. That's good advice. But right now, Sarah Palin is launching two well-covered negative tirades a day against Obama. It is well documented (see Lazio v Hillary) that there are dangers in a man attacking a woman.

So, if Palin keeps tirading and keeps getting big coverage, why would it be such a bad idea for a female surrogate -- like, the Democratic Party's best known white woman -- to take her on?

Not that it's a cure all, or a magic bean. But it seems to make a lot of sense, unless Sen. Clinton doesn't want to spend her political capital on a guy who beat her, and thinks her own political interests will be best served if he loses.