WILL NEW HAMPSHIRE FINISH OFF THE CLINTON MACHINE-- AND THE DEMOCRATIC ESTABLISHMENT'S COWARDICE?

How predictable was the momentous unraveling of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, once seen as a stately procession to a coronation, now a shambles? How predictable was it that the moment the rubber met the road, her overconsulted, out-of-touch Insider Establishment campaign would completely collapse and just disintegrate?

Well... very predictable, but not predicted by me. I fell, ruefully, for the inevitability the Clinton Machine was doling out. How predictable was it that Democrats-- the real ones, not the whores in DC-- would have grown sick of the Clintons, with their self-serving and greasy triangulation, policies and strategies that led directly to George Bush?

Maybe it would have been more easily predictable if I had read the insightful soon-to-be-published book by netroots legends Lowell Feld and Nate Wilcox, Netroots Rising. Feld and Wilcox write eloquently about the seemingly irreconcilable differences between the grassroots heroes of the Draft [retired Gen. Wesley] Clark movement in 2003-4 and the very same Insiders and hacks who are currently presiding over the painful demise of the Hillary campaign.

Yosem Companys points to the top-down vs. bottom-up culture clash:

"Professionals are trained in perfectly calibrating the message and controlling every aspect of the campaign, while grassroots organizers are all about openness and participation."...

According to Donnie Fowler [short-lived original Wes Clark campaign manager], "The decision for General Clark not to compete in Iowa typified a disdain for local people... and a belief that if you live in Washington you know everything that there is to know."

Hillary did compete and was thrashed. The day of these top-down Insiders-- at least in the Democratic Party-- is coming to an end. They are dinosaurs whose day has passed. Rahm Emanuel, Chuck Schumer, the DLC, the Clintons, Lieberman, Harold Ford... they are not part of the solution. Quite the contrary.

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