The Penn's Ink

Josh Green's mammoth piece about the fall of the Clinton campaign is up, as well as this stock of memos that reveal a chaotic, backbiting, and downright angry group of advisers. Chief strategist Mark Penn's strategy to target Barack Obama's lack of American roots is obviously the bombshell here.

I don't think it's that crucial to talk about this; campaigns falter for all sorts of reasons, and this case appears to be a factor of a little over-confidence, a little internal conflict between powerful forces and a whole lot of not knowing the rules of the game they were playing (Harold Ickes Cassandra-like cries about delegate counts have a wistful quality to them, like the movie you watch where you know all the characters should be listening to one guy's warnings but they never do). What I do think is crucial is to formally and totally discredit Mark Penn, who spent the entire campaign dominating internal rivals, producing magic polling to cement his own preconceptions, pushing bullshit narratives like the "Obama isn't American" nonsense, and generally shitting on everyone inside or outside the campaign. The man should never approach a Democratic campaign as long as he lives.

I could care less about why this was leaked this week or who fought with who inside the campaign or whatever; it's all catnip for the traditional media but meaningless to me. What stays with you is Penn, in all his shabby glory. He's a pathetic figure, and I hope that remains his legacy.