The Clintons have always been cynics. They invented a brilliant formula for competing with the Republicans in the big-money era of politics. They brought people like Goldman chief Bob Rubin into the tent to implement enough deregulation to score vital fundraising dollars, while electorally, they used welfare reform and remarks about Sister Souljah to triangulate back just enough of those Southern "silent majority" votes (the ones seemingly lost forever in the Nixon days) to rework the electoral map in the Democrats' favor.
It worked. It was ingenious. But over two decades into our relationship with the Clintons, it's still really hard to know what motivates them, beyond getting off on being smart politicians.
They're not idealists. In fact, they were pioneers of a sneering attitude you find everywhere in Washington these days, one that rolls its eyes at "purists" who don't have the stones to do what it takes to win (like voting for the Iraq war so as not to look "soft on defense").
They clearly love the game and they love winning. They're both masters of it, Hillary maybe even more than Bill. But that's not the same as having a belief system. It might be for a football coach. But a president needs something more, and it's hard to say what that something is for Hillary.
