Strategery

The word "strategery", made famous by the Saturday Night Live parody of the 2000 presidential debates, has become the title of Bill Sammon's new book about President Bush. I've read several of Sammon's other books (including his devastating takedown of the Gore campaign during the fateful recount period in 2000), and this one should be pretty good too.

Drudge is reporting some of the information coming from this new book:

President Bush and his top strategist, Karl Rove, say Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton will be tough to beat in the Democratic presidential primaries of 2008 -- but not in the general election!

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Reporter Bill Sammon, who joins the WASHINGTON EXAMINER as Senior White House Correspondent, is set to launch his new book, STRATEGERY.

In the Book, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned, Rove is quoted on the-record and is unleashed on Hillary:

There is a “brittleness about her” that could prove a weakness in November 2008.

But Rove added that the “hard-driving” Clinton will easily vanquish Democratic primary rivals like New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, who are merely “preening for the vice presidential slot.”

President Bush cautioned that Hillary Clinton should not be underestimated.

“She is a smart person, and obviously has got a lot of experience,” the president said in an exclusive interview for the book STRATEGERY, which is being published Monday. “It is helpful, to a certain extent, to have seen the presidency and presidential campaigns firsthand.”

It will be fun to watch the mainstream media reaction to this one.

In other Hillary news, a Tampa, FL newspaper today ran an editorial almost begging Hillary not to run for president in '08. It closes this way:

Fair or not, you are identified with the far left, and you are not the person to convince voters that Democrats have ideas for keeping families safe and the country secure.

You are not the one who can assure Americans they will have a chance to get ahead.

You may be a champion for women's rights and a strong advocate for children, but you are too much the Washington insider to convince voters you would fix a political system that seems remote from everyday life.

If you run, you'll position yourself from the center, knowing full well that even if you alienate your base, they'll support you, because they have no one else to turn to.

But even if you moderate your positions, you do so at some political risk. When you suddenly support a constitutional amendment to ban flag-burning, your changing position seems superficial and self-serving. Hillary the "moderate progressive" candidate would be a hard sell.

Although you apparently work well with your Senate colleagues, your candidacy would remind voters that you are not a consensus builder. Your health care plan failed during your husband's first term because you were largely tone-deaf. You shut people out, and when things went awry, you blamed the media.

By the time George Bush leaves office in 2009, this country will have had 20 years with either a Bush or Clinton at the helm. Citizens want a break from that White House tradition.

Think, Hillary, not about what you want, but what's best for your party and country.

Please, don't run.

I think you're going to see a lot of Republican reaction as in the new book above (such as Rove's "angry Hillary" remarks), and Democratic reaction as in the Florida editorial. I think most serious political observers will agree that as of this point, Hillary can probably win the nomination in a walk, but cannot win the general election. And just as Jeb Bush would probably be doomed to failure if he ran (thanks to his last name), so too would Clinton. The American presidency is not a dynasty to be shared by only two families, and I think the voters will be looking for a new name in the Oval Office first time since 1988.