Peggy Noonan Agrees with Tina Brown: Hillary's Being Sidelined

Peggy Noonan, no stranger to needless provocation, has jumped on Tina Brown's bandwagon: She agrees that Hillary "got rolled" by agreeing to be secretary of state and thinks Brown telling Hillary to take off her burqa was "witty." But Peggy thinks it is all part of Hillary's wily plan to eventually become president:

One thing Mrs. Clinton's learned is how to wait. Things turn on a dime, you wake up in the morning and there's a new headline that changes everything. Sooner or later Mr. Obama is going to get in trouble, sooner or later the trouble will take hold and settle in, and sooner or later she will be the unsullied one who quietly did her duty in spite of the slights to which she's been subjected. And when that happens, she will emerge—reluctantly, painfully—as the Democratic alternative. The one who almost won, who knew—who learned the hard way—that you can't do everything all at once, that it's the economy, stupid.

According to Peggy, Hillary is distancing herself from the drama, not because, as Sara argued this morning, she doesn't want it to seem like Tina Brown has inside information. Hillary is staying quiet only because she wants to be back in the Oval Office sooner rather than later.

I don't buy Noonan's claims. Not that I don't think Hillary is calculating, but I don't believe her current stance is exclusively selfish and manipulative. Clinton knows she took a job that requires her to be part of a team, and she is merely respecting the limits of her position.

Photograph of Hillary Clinton by Prakash Singh/AFP/Getty Images.

Tags: Hillary Clinton, Obama, peggy noonan, secretary of state, Tina Brown

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Jessica Grose is the managing editor of Double X and the co-author of Love, Mom: Poignant, Goofy, Brilliant Messages from Home. Click here to follow her on Twitter.

Comments

Repeat After Me

By: Queen Alli | Sun, 07/19/2009 - 09:39

Hillary. Lost. Obama is President.

Hillary addressed this ridiculous issue. Know what she said? "I broke my arm, not my larynx." She said everything was fine. Why can't the media stop picking fights.

To the other poster who said the media is basically still on Obama's side - I strongly disagree. Sure they may ask him about basketball and fluffy stuff, but trust me, the slightest hint of anything that could take him down and they'll grab it. The best proof of that was the Blago affair. Not even a month into the administration and the press was acting like this was Watergate. "What did Obama know and when did he know it." Now they are making up trouble between Hillary and Obama. Earlier this year, it was said that Nancy Pelosi was making trouble for Obama. On and On and On - it's getting ridiculous.

It's Peggy Noonan.

By: Punditus Maximus | Sat, 07/18/2009 - 14:59

By definition, she's wrong. There, that was easy.

yes and no

By: GingerB | Sat, 07/18/2009 - 09:32

I think she may have been sidelined but the stuff about her waiting for an opportunity is wishful thinking.

Unless some disaster happens and succession runs down to the Sec't of State she's not headed for the Oval Office. If the love-fest with Obama sours it'll be over the economy and the county will not be looking to another Democrat for salvation. He may not deliver all everybody hoped but I don't think you'll see the media turn against him enough to do him in.

Clinton has a sphere to be effective in and she will do that.

If Hillary Clinton was really this savvy...

By: Foobs | Fri, 07/17/2009 - 16:49

She would be president right now...