Hillary's war vote cost her the presidency

As this primary campaign winds down, I've written about Hillary's failure in the campaign - her failed strategy, Obama's well-executed one. But there's another reason why she lost, going back to before Obama was even elected. M.J. Rosenberg, at TPM Cafe, looks back to Hillary's vote for the war, and why this was so crucial: it gave someone else an opening to run against her from the left.

were it not for Hillary's vote for the war, [Obama] would not have run because
there was no opening. She gave him the opening by voting for the war.

He doesn't mention the fact that Hillary never apologized for that vote, which was another mistake, in my book. It made her look "tough," but not in a way that many Democrats wanted. I'm all for fighting hard in politics, but not as an end in and of itself. George Bush is tough, but I sure don't respect him for it.

Hillary is the Senator from New York. I believe that 9/11 affected her more profoundly than most people realize. I used to commute through the World Trade Center, so I could imagine myself being there that day. Still, I didn't know anyone who died that day. Hillary didn't just know of people who died that day; she represents them and their families. That had to have effected her in ways that I cannot begin to imagine.

But she never explained her stance that way, and I'm not even sure she realizes it. She voted for the war. And after all of this campaign, I can't really say that I know why she did. Politicians are paid to make tough choices. But they are also paid to explain why they make them. My opinion in that not only did Hillary make the wrong choice by voting for the war, she never justified it.