Monica Crowley

The McLaughlin Group

Please join us this weekend for another freewheeling edition of "The McLaughlin Group." Check your local listings for time and channel, or visit www.McLaughlin.com for more information.

And The Dog That DID Bark

While his wife was busy putting distance---both political and literal----between herself and President Obama, former President Bill Clinton was busy showing him how "loyal" they really are.

Hillary opted to stay far, far away from The Bama's State of the Union address on Wednesday night, choosing to remain in London. Her devoted life partner, Bill, countered that dis with active lobbying on behalf of The Bama's choice to continue to lead the Federal Reserve. Chairman Ben Bernanke suddenly looked vulnerable as he prepared to come up for a re-confirmation vote in the Senate this week. So, Captain Bill rode to the rescue, writing a letter to key Senators calling for his re-appointment. Bernanke more than survived the vote, winning re-confirmation 70-30.

Mixed signals are what the Clintons do best. Confuse the enemy. Deny, and stonewall. On the one hand, the Mrs. is prepping a primary run against The Bama. And on the other, her lovemuffin is fighting The Bama's battles for him.

Nicely played, Clintons. Nicely played.

The Dog That Didn't Bark

Forget Obama's shameless, petty, and all-over-the-place speech last night. It was full of desperation and lies. My three favorite moments were 1. when he blamed the Republican minority for his failure to get anything (especially health care) done---despite the fact he's had Democratic super-majorities in Congress; 2. when he bashed President Bush for the gazillionth time for the economy that existsed "before I walked in the door;" and 3. when he violated presidential decorum and the separation of powers by slamming the Supreme Court for last week's decision to lift the ban on corporate and union campaign spending.

So let's see: he managed to attack his predecessor, members of Congress, and the Supreme Court. A petty, below-the-belt, thuggish trifecta attack.

Classy!

But forget all that for a moment and focus on the dog that didn't bark:

Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Last summer, I was the first one to tell you EXACTLY what her game plan is. (See my column on July 22, 2009 in "The Washington Times:" ( http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jul/22/hillary-suits-up-for-a-rematch/ ) I now see that others are jumping on the bandwagon and picking it up. As the first person to identify her plan, let me reiterate it for you.

Hillary is running for president. She will resign her Secretary of State job over a critical matter of national security---Israel, Iran getting nukes---and then deliver a well-modulated speech about how it was an honor to serve this president, she remains a loyal Democrat, but she cannot in good conscience continue. She will then re-assemble her 2008 campaign team, which shouldn't be hard because most of them are still around her. Bill probably has already started making fundraising calls on the down-low.

Last night, she gave us even more evidence: she skipped the State of the Union address. They already had a Cabinet member selected to sit it out for security reasons: HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan. With two wars ongoing, you'd think Rodham would be there.

But no: she chose to remain in London, where she was in talks about Yemen, al Qaeda, and Afghanistan. Guess what kind of issues those are? CRITICAL NATIONAL SECURITY ISSUES.

Right now, Rodham sees an incredibly weak and ineffective and vulnerable Democratic president and a flailing economy with an astronomical unemployment rate. Those things could improve, which might change her calculus.

But remember: her ambition to be president remains unchanged. Watch Hillary.

She's running.

The Speech The President SHOULD Give Tonight

Here it is. He can thank me tomorrow:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jan/27/the-speech-the-president-should-give/?feat=home_columns

The O'Reilly Factor---TONIGHT!

I'll be on with Bill O'Reilly TONIGHT on "The O'Reilly Factor" on the Fox News Channel at 8pm and 11pm ET. Please tune in.

LBJ, Part Deux

In 1968, President Lyndon Baines Johnson withdrew his bid for re-election because of upheaval in the country that he was unable to quell and chaos in his Democratic party that he could neither calm nor find his way out of.

Sound familiar?

Yesterday, President Obama was asked by ABC's Diane Sawyer about his own re-election chances. His reply was illuminating, and very LBJ-esque. LBJ knew he was unelectable, primarily because of his leadership during the Vietnam War. Further, his own party had bolted from him, and without a base of support, his presidency could not survive another campaign.

Obama told Sawyer: "I'd rather be a good one-term president than a mediocre two-term president."

At this rate, he's well on his way to becoming neither.

Me, Myself, and I

Marion Berry just announced his retirement. No, not THAT Marion Barry: not the crackhead former mayor of Washington who spoke the most infamous and hilarious political quote of all time: "B-tch set me up!"

No, not him, although it would be fun to have him back in the news.

This is Democratic Congressman Marion Berry of Arkansas, who, like 11 Democratic Congressmen before him, have seen the writing on the wall in NJ, VA, PA, and now MA, and have decided they'd rather bow out gracefully than risk getting clobbered right out of a job in November.

Berry reports that in his discussions with the White House over health care, cap and trade, taxes, and jobs, the President and others seemed frighteningly delusional.

"They just keep telling me how good it was going to be," he said. "The President himself, when that was brought up in one group, said, "Well, the big difference here and in '94 was you've got me.""

Somewhere, Bill Clinton plots his revenge for that one.

The malignant narcissism that inhabits The Bama makes Clinton's narcissism look amateurish. The Bama still believes in the power of his own persona? Let's see what the "one we've been waiting for" has produced so far:

Failure to secure Democratic election victories in the aforementioned states.

Failure to bring the Olympics to his hometown of Chicago.

Failure to produce a global carbon deal in Copenhagen.

Failure to produce a comprehensive health care bill.

Failure to pass cap and trade.

Failure to stimulate the economy.

Failure to produce jobs and lower unemployment.

Failure to get Iran to give up its dogged pursuit of nuclear weapons.

Failure to get Russia to "reset" its relationship with us and the West.

Failure to get the Israelis and Palestinians to the table for any "peace" talks.

Failure to get North Korea to give up its nukes.

Failure to get Islamic terrorists to stop attacking us.

Failure to get the Muslim world to respond more peacefully to us.

Failure to nail Osama bin Laden.

I could go on, but the internet has limited space.

If The Bama truly believes that his mere presence can make things safe for Dems heading into 2010, they ought to take a look at the above list. It's not a very good track record. That's why Congressman Berry is hightailing it outta there. He doesn't trust The Bama to be anything other than the kiss of death.

Run, Fredo, run!

The McLaughlin Group

Please join us for another wild edition of "The McLaughlin Group" this weekend. Check your local listings for time and channel, or visit www.McLaughlin.com for more information.

Pelosi Officially Goes Nuts (Again)

Yesterday Nancy Pelosi was asked about how she planned to move health care through now that the Democrats have lost their 60 vote steamroll in the Senate.

She replied----and this is not a joke: "We're not in a big rush."

And then she added: "Pause, reflect."

If you haven't died of laughter yet, you may ask the obvious question:

"Since when????"

Since Tuesday. Since Scott Brown. Since the 21st century Revolution swung into full gear in 2010.

Pause, reflect.

Mr. Brown Goes to Washington

Today was Senator-elect Scott Brown's first day on Capitol Hill. He paid some courtesy calls: first, to Senator John McCain, who backed Brown when no one knew who he was and who beamed with pride today. Then, to Senators John Kerry and Harry Reid, who looked like they would have rather have been deep-sea diving without an oxygen tank. The Democrats forced smiles and pretended everything was working according to the democratic way. But they all looked like they were ready to jump out of their skins.

Meanwhile, over on the House side, Nancy Pelosi warned that she doesn't have the votes to pass the Senate health care bill. For Democrats, that was the only way to get around the Scott Brown "problem." Since it now looks like they cannot, the current health care monstrosity is dead. This is not to say the Dems won't try to end-run the thing by breaking it into parts and trying to manuever them around the system and adding them later. But the revolting health care behemoth---over which Democrats have wasted an enormous amount of time and political capital---has just met its end. Just because one man arrived on Capitol Hill today.

It's only his first day----and he's not even in office yet. Now THAT'S what I call success.