SOURCE: http://thegspot.typepad.com/blog
3-27-08

Kathy G.: How Hillary Clinton is like Richard Nixon (hint: it's not what you think)

[Kathy G. is a shrill feminist, bleeding heart liberal, hardcore policy wonk, political junkie, ardent cinephile, and lover of 19th century novels. She lives in Chicago with her husband and two loveable mutts, where she is attempting, amidst numerous diverting distractions, to complete a Ph.D. in the social sciences.]

In a piece in the current New Republic, historian (and Nixon scholar) David Greenberg takes exception to the notion that Hillary Clinton is "Nixonian":

the charge that Clinton is Nixonian is as scurrilous as the smears that Obama is a closet Muslim or that John McCain sired a bastard child ... Unlike Tricky Dick, Hillary Clinton hasn't tapped her rival's phones or broken into his psychiatrist's office. She hasn't stolen his debate briefing book or convened a mob of rioters to shut down a vote count. She hasn't used the machinery of impeachment for partisan gain. It's been just words.

He's right, of course -- Hillary's run a rough, sometimes nasty campaign, but anyone who smears her as "Nixonian" needs to go back to the history books. Richard Nixon, of course, broke the law, violated the Constitution, and subverted the democratic process. Hillary has never done anything anywhere near as corrupt.

That said, I actually think that Hillary does resemble Richard Nixon in some important respects -- only not in the ways you might think. Hillary actually shares many of Ole Tricky Dick's positive qualities (yes, he did have a few).

Like Nixon, she's by no means a natural politician, but has gotten very far on the strength of her formidable intellect and her grinding work habits (in law school, they called Nixon "old Iron Butt" because of similar traits).

Also like Nixon, her political strength to a large degree rests on being hated by all the right people. Nixon was, and Hillary is, an outsider who was never quite accepted by the DC establishment (remember Broder's famous words on the Clintons (I'm quoting from memory here so I may have mixed it up): "it's not their place"), and was deeply loathed by the press. Yet both of them rather brilliantly turned those weaknesses into strengths. Red-baiting aside, Nixon was never super-conservative, and Hillary, in spite of her image, is not all that liberal. Yet conservatives loved Tricky Dick, and liberals love Hillary, because of the shellacking each has taken from (those who are perceived to be) their ideological opposites.

Each of them rode to power on the strength of a populist, everyman/everywoman image, and each had a gift for getting their supporters to intensely identify with them. There's the Nixon of the Checkers speech, for example, the all-American middle-class striver crucified by nasty elites and those meanies in the press. Hillary, similarly, has an everywoman image: a striver, a hard-working woman trying to make it in a man's world where she can't catch a break. All that, plus a hubby with a roving eye -- what modern woman couldn't relate?

Finally, as much as Nixon bitched endlessly about his enemies in the press, he brilliantly controlled them. And Hillary, too, has some pretty mad skillz in the media manipulation department.

Okay, now that I've said some nice things about Hillary, I will add that at this point I don't think she is doing either herself or her party any favors by remaining in the race. And though I trust things will work themselves out and predictions of a bitterly divided party and disaster in November are overblown, I do wish she 'd leave the race after Pennsylvania -- or at least cut out the negative campaigning from here on in.

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anna harris - 4/7/2008

I think that the strongest link is the manipulation. Nixon was an expert, and Hill likes that angle.
"Who do you want to answer the phone at 3 a.m.?" Seriously. Also, the point about their semi-centralism is interesting. It seems hard to tell whether Hillary is as central as Nixon was, as we approach the election and all candidates move to the center like bees to honey. This is an interesting article - I had not made that connection at all.

Jenna Tara Kammo - 4/7/2008

I would have never thought to compare Hilary Clinton and Richard Nixon because they just do not seem all that alike. This article pointed out some interesting and important characteristics that they share and that most people don't know about. I felt that this acticle was written in an unbiast way...it simply laid out the facts.

Randll Reese Besch - 4/5/2008

As I recall Nixon did all of those unConstitutional and illegal acts while in office. Unless my knowledge is incomplete.Not a good analogy by a historian such as David Greenburg for someone like me who isn't.Pathetic defence.
So far Hillary is making attack points for McCain to use in the final phase of the election against obama. Notice Obama hasn't done the same to her. Just responded where she is in the wrong.

Timothy Patrick Wallace - 4/5/2008

A very nice comparison, Kathy. Might I suggest one other quality of RN's which I believe Clinton shares-he was never a "quitter!" Also, it is debatable whether or not RN "controlled" the press, which he obsessively feared and which in the long run engendered behavior which inaugurated his downfall.