The Hillary we hardly knew, it seems

New York magazine has an article titled What Hillary Won by Losing the Democratic Nomination, by John Heilemann. Heilemann's thesis is that contrary to the view of some, Clinton did not damage the Democratic Party's chances of retaking the White House on Nov. 4 nor Barack Obama's odds of beating the Republican nominee, John McCain. She, in fact, made them stronger. Here's his core point:
"Hillary is today a more resonant, consequential and potent figure than she has ever been before. No longer merely a political persona, she has been elevated to a rarefied plane in our cultural consciousness.
"With her back against the wall, she both found her groove and let loose her raging id, turning herself into a character at once awful and wonderful, confounding and inspiring -- thus enlarging... herself to the point where she became iconic.
"She is bigger now than any woman in the country. Certainly, she is bigger than her husband. And although in the end she may wind up being dwarfed by Obama, for the moment she is something he is not: fully, poignantly human."

Rico says Hillary is certainly poignantly something, but he's not sure it's fully human...

(For a quasi-nostalgic look at the campaign, go here, but be warned: it's a campaign site that will hit you up for money to pay off Hillary's twenty million campaign debt. Note, however, the conspicuous lack of pictures of Bill...)