Change afoot in the Democratic Party
I'm talking out my ass here, admittedly, but I think we're seeing a shift in the Democratic Party. I think the Clinton machine, started in 1992 as a scrappy, go-for-broke operation, mortally wounded by Bill's dalliances in office, missing-in-action for Gore in 2000, and sullenly unsupportive of Kerry in 2004 (after Clinton Golden Boy Wesley Clark crashed and burned), is now facing the end of its days. Hillary Clinton's desperate endgame scrabble for any sort of handhold on the new Democratic train, and Bill's wanton burning of all his political goodwill is telling of their slip into irrelevance. My kids will ask me about this, I think, when they study American History.
Did you see Spielberg's remake of War of the Worlds? It was flawed, but there is some great imagery including a runaway train, engulfed in flames, racing through a railroad crossing as bewildered people look on. That's the Clinton Machine in 2008.