Frankly, I was impressed that a 21 year old woman could write such a sophisticated paper. Obviously I haven't read it, but from what has been revealed, its something I would very much like to read.

Entitled "There is only the fight...; An Analysis of the Alinsky Model", Clinton explores the activist tactics of Saul Alinsky, an activist pioneer. He was controversial, but effective, which in my mind means that he and his methods would have been worth studying. I could probably learn more by reading Alinsky's own book, "Rules for Radicals: A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals"

1. Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have.

2. Never go outside the experience of your people.

3. Whenever possible go outside the experience of the enemy.

4. Make the enemy live up to their own book of rules.

5. Ridicule is man's most potent weapon.

6. A good tactic is one that your people enjoy.

7. A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag.

8. Keep the pressure on.

9. The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.

10. Maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition.

11. If you push a negative hard and deep enough it will break through into its counterside.

12. The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative.

13. Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.

Peggy Noonan called it the Rosetta Stone of Hillary studies. She might be right about that. Hillary Clinton seems to have internalized the idea that the central truth of politics, is in fact that there is "only the fight..." From that perspective, her public comments in the wake of Bill's intern problem make perfect sense--blaming a vast right-wing conspiracy is what you say when its all "us and them".

The contrast with Lincoln is very high. Lincoln was as smart a political operator as there ever was, but where Hillary sees enemies, Lincoln saw potential allies and friends. Doris Kearns Goodwin's book, "A Team of Rivals" details his, for our times, astonishing approach to politics. While some might argue that that was then, this is now--Lincoln actually faced much the same kind of environment a president does today only more so.

Its not Hillary's thesis that scares me, its everything after the thesis. This is a "nasty woman" according to comments by Newt Gingrich.

"Nobody will out-mud the Clintons," said Gingrich, who added that he'll decide in the coming months whether to run for the White House.

He called Clinton's political team one of the most "talented" in U.S. history, but "endlessly ruthless."

It seems clear to me that a Hillary Clinton presidency would only escalate the current political polarization. Her ascension would recall the final scenes of the Godfather where he assassinates all his rivals.

There is no question that this is an intelligent and talented woman, but the kind of perspective and instincts she's developed over forty years of what the left would call "Rovian" political conflict, is just wrong for the country

Gina Cobb