WHAT A TEAR REVEALS:

Hillary's Moment (Howard Kurtz, 1/08/08, Washington Post)

My reaction was thus: Hillary Clinton might have done better to let the voters see this side of her months ago, rather than the steely front she keeps up most of the time. The calculation, undoubtedly, was that a woman--a potential commander-in-chief--can't be perceived as weak. But the alternative was that she is seen as a tightly organized policy wonk running against a man who embodies inspiration, both through his rhetoric and his life story.

Think about Bill Clinton. He could ramble on about Medicare reform with the best of them, but he would bite the lower lip, feel voters' pain and otherwise connect on an emotional level.

Hillary Clinton isn't built that way. That's why her friends keep telling us she's funnier in person than she is in public, and so on. But yesterday, in that diner, she gave us a glimpse of the real person. I'm sure she'll be criticized for that. But not by me.

Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush teared up at the pain of others. Ms Clinton teared up at her own. Thereby lies the entire tale.

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 8, 2008 11:12 AM