Richelieu: Penn Out

I won't kick Mark Penn now that he's down. I kicked him months ago for running what I think was a near hapless strategy and I've been a fierce critic of the Clinton campaign since the beginning. But for all Penn's mistakes and fumbles and difficulties there are two things worth remembering. First, despite the loud recriminations directed at Penn from nearly all quarters, only those very few people who were really in the small room at the top of Hillary, Inc. know the truth of who decided what, who really made the big calls, and who really made the big errors. The truth may be a lot more complicated that we will ever know. Second, despite the Clinton campaign's many shortcomings, at least Mark Penn was in the arena and in the fight with a lot of skin in the game. Believe me, that's a much tougher place to be than on the sidelines second guessing the guy on point.