Schneewittchen

The latest debate demonstrates that Hillary Clinton is best when she's on the attack, when responding to a sense of victimization or outrage. This is the Clinton modus operandi. Let's take the charge she announced early in the debate (with an allusion to SNL), that Obama has been coddled by a fawning media. Let us assume this is true. What might she gain from making this claim during a debate? Her commanding performance last night may gather votes from those who share this perception and thus shift empathetically towards the underdog (if Hillary Clinton could ever be considered the underdog). Feminist appeals might tilt the 60+ set, who feel Hillary's pain, more solidly into the Clinton camp. So there is something to be gained by this performative gambit. 

However, there's another, larger reality that the claim of "unfairness" in media coverage does little to counteract.

1. Her message that Obama is inexperienced (generous) and full of hot air (ungenerous) hasn't made a difference. If she intends to compete with Obama, the emphasis on experience needs to be replaced by one that emphasizes that she is not just qualified, but that she is the right person for the job.

2. Her beseeching the media to go after Obama is basically asking the media to do what she has failed to do: pierce his aura. She really should ask the cable networks not to televise any speech by Obama. 

3. Politics is about managing perceptions as much as it is about action. In the campaign so far, Clinton has failed miserably to regain the aura of inevitability since her defeat in Iowa. 

I remember the fanfare that came with the selection of the Clinton campaign theme song (has it even been played on the campaign trail?): the Sopranos motif, the coverage of the event as a sort of Hollywood premiere. There was an air of invincibility around the campaign. In December 2007, the story was Hillary and the Seven Dwarves. Now, Snow White has tasted the poisoned apple of public rejection in 11 straight primaries. Will she be able to save herself?