Missing Her Already

The John McCain blog laments Hillary's exit:

Senator Clinton has really grown on us over here in Crystal City over the past few months. She ran an impressive campaign, and proved herself to be an impressive candidate and as John McCain has said, inspired a generation of women. Ultimately, and ironically, it seems she fell victim to a vast left-wing conspiracy that resented her generally centrist foreign policy views (early support for the Iraq war, support for Kyl-Lieberman, unwavering support for Israel, etc.).

And so it was interesting that she barely touched on foreign policy in her concession speech today. She mentioned Iraq only twice, she mentioned terrorism only once, and she didn't mention Iran at all. After all, her serious approach to each of these issues proved liability in the Democratic primary. She spent years building a strong record on national security, and in the end her party opted for a candidate with no national security experience at all.

Senator Clinton also didn't mention John McCain once during her speech. This came as something of a surprise over here, and a pleasant one at that. But it's clear that John McCain and Hillary Clinton respect each other -- and there is a genuine affection for her here at McCain HQ. During her speech there was no small amount of pleading with the TV: 'Don't do it, you can still win!'

Is this a signal that they intend to go after disaffected Hillary voters? Mr. Goldfarb certainly seems to be leaving the door open for them. Or it could be just professional courtesy and respecting the need not to kick someone down unnecessarily. It is also helpful to remember that they did work together in the senate and voted the same on not a few of the Iraq votes plus immigration reform.

One concern of mine is that if this is a hint that they will go after Obama's national security record, well, we know how well that worked for Hillary. I think Americans care about national security, but right now, concerns about their home values and $4 a gallon gas are trumping anything that might happen in a sandbox half a world away.

One thing we do know for sure. McCain wanted Hillary to go on and on and on.