The American Spectator

Asked by former Clintonite George Stephanopoulos on Sunday’s This Week to name one economist who supports the suspension, she responded, “I’m not going to put my lot in with economists.”

IT HAS BECOME popular in conservative circles these days to suggest that “you just gotta admire her tenacity,” a sentiment that is advanced at her campaign rallies.

Introducing Clinton, North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley said she was “strong as train smoke.” Bill Clinton, speaking outside the campaign’s Raleigh headquarters in an 11 p.m. appearance (his ninth of the day), fed into this narrative, boasting, “You know, they declared her dead more times than a cat’s got lives.”

But what is there to admire about this so-called “tenacity”? Clinton began this campaign with a financial edge, the support of a popular former Democratic president, a built-in political apparatus, a consistent lead of more than 20 points in national polls, and more than a hundred superdelegates.

If a candidate starts off with all of those advantages and is too stubborn to drop out of the race, it’s no surprise that she is still hanging on.

There is absolutely nothing admirable about a politician so narcissistic and hungry for power that she is willing to say or do whatever suits her political interests at any given moment.

If the Republican Party has declined to the point where conservatives are so worried about defeating a freshman Senator that they are rooting for Clinton to do their dirty work for them, it is simply pathetic.

Whatever Obama’s faults, conservatives should ask themselves whether they can bear the possibility of the nation being held hostage by the psychological drama of the Clinton family for another four or even eight years.

Philip Klein is a reporter for the American Spectator.