CLINTONS NO LONGER THE LIFE OF PARTY

January 4, 2008 -- DES MOINES, Iowa - Awaiting her coronation here last
night, Hillary Rodham Clinton instead faced a seething revolt within her own
party.

More than 70 percent of Iowa Democrats rejected her bid to get back into the
White House.

And so, after 15 years of domination, the Clinton dynasty has finally lost
its grip on the Democratic Party.

More than anything else, Clinton's campaign was built upon the aura of
inevitability.

That's now shattered and left in Iowa's frozen cornfields.

What's devastating to her is that she lost so badly to such a political
novice.

Sure, Barack Obama is an incredibly impressive and appealing figure. He has
magically turned the nasty politics of race on its head here in a state with
a less than 3 percent black population.

His hopeful determination to end the sordid politics that the Clintons are
such masters of has even lifelong Republicans eager to vote for him.

Still, Obama has four years less experience in the Senate than Clinton.

And he didn't spend eight years in the White House as first lady like she
did. He hasn't met one-tenth of the world leaders that she's met. Whatever.

Adding insult to Clinton's real campaign injury is that she also lost to
John Edwards, a retread loser from four years ago running a nasty
class-warfare campaign that ultimately won't do any better this time than it
did last time.

It's certainly conceivable that Clinton can go on to stage a dramatic
comeback in New Hampshire just as her husband did in 1992, forever billing
him the "Comeback Kid." She maintains a solid lead there.

But the same dynamics that worked in Iowa are now at work in New Hampshire.

Carrying high the flag of "change," Obama will again attract all those
people who are just sick and tired everybody in Washington. Add to the mix
that Clinton goes there as a fallen star and Obama goes there as a rock
star.

The problem with caressing the jewels of the crown before the coronation is
that it's really embarrassing when it turns out that the coronation goes to
someone else.

Clinton's invincibility has turned into inadequacy. She stumbled from
Almighty to also-ran.

The only question that remains now is whether she will be able to recover
enough to go on.

But does she really want to spend the rest of her viable political career on
the national stage tearing down the man who is poised to become America's
real first black president?