Adventures in My Mind
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Jan 22, 2008
Same Shit Different Day/Color
Let's not kid ourselves about the upcoming presidential election and think that anyone other than another Republican will do (that is for those of you who are not wearing blinders while reality is a conveniently ignored oddity left for those other than you). The last couple of months of the Democratic nomination process has shown that thought to be somewhat myopic. The last couple of weeks has shown it to be patently false.
The coming election is about much more than just replacing the old with the new or simply putting a Democrat, any Democrat, in the White House. It is about a fundamental mind shift - a movement away from the petty bickering, cold political calculus, and outright lies of the last 30 years.
No clearer example can be found than last night's Democratic debate in South Carolina. As I watched it, I could only ask myself "What kind of candidate do you want?" The answer was clearly not Hillary Clinton. Watching her smug satisfaction at repeating baseless lies, distorted truths, blatant fabrications, and spineless accusations was not unlike watching Karl Rove and the Bushies for the last seven years. And, oddly enough, the Clintonistas the eight years before that.
And when you add in her pit bull husband, Bill "I did not have sex with that woman" Clinton, it's clear that the Clintons will do and say absolutely anything to get elected. Is that what we want? Is that what we need?
Democrats are in danger of doing exactly what Republicans did seven years ago. Their anyone-but-Clinton (then Gore) attitude is what gave them, and us, the liars, swindlers, cheats, and moral midgets that have plagued us since the Rehnquist court forced W. on us in 2000.
My exhibit A from the debate is Clinton's characterization of comments that Barrack Obama made about Ronald Reagan and the last 28 years of Republican politics. Obama was speaking about how to energize the electorate in November, and not just the Democratic base, but independents and moderate Republicans as well. He spoke of the transformative nature of Reagan's presidency and how the country was ready for the change that he spoke about. Comparing his candidacy to Reagan's, Obama said that after years of problems the country, then as it is now, was ready for change.
Here is the exact quote:I don’t want to present myself as some sort of singular figure. I think part of what’s different are the times. I do think that for example the 1980 was different.
I think Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America in a way that Richard Nixon did not and in a way that Bill Clinton did not. He put us on a fundamentally different path because the country was ready for it.
I think they felt like with all the excesses of the 1960s and 1970s and government had grown and grown but there wasn’t much sense of accountability in terms of how it was operating. I think people, he just tapped into what people were already feeling, which was we want clarity we want optimism, we want a return to that sense of dynamism and entrepreneurship that had been missing.
I think Kennedy, twenty years earlier, moved the country in a fundamentally different direction. So I think a lot of it just has to do with the times.
I think we’re in one of those times right now. Where people feel like things as they are going aren’t working. We’re bogged down in the same arguments that we’ve been having, and they’re not useful.
And, you know, the Republican approach, I think, has played itself out.
I think it’s fair to say the Republicans were the party of ideas for a pretty long chunk of time there over the last ten, fifteen years, in the sense that they were challenging conventional wisdom.
Clearly he is talking about how Republicans, regardless of whether you like their politics or not, did not stand still or expect the status quo to be good enough. They were energized. They were active. And, as a result, they've made some serious political hay since 1980.
The Clintons, both Hillary and Bill, immediately jumped on the statements and said that Obama was praising the politics of Reagan and his predecessors. And that, by association, he was an Uncle Tom to the Democratic cause.
Have some quotes. Bill Clinton:(My wife's) principal opponent said that since 1992, the Republicans have had all the good ideas....I'm not making this up, folks.
Hillary Clinton:My leading opponent the other day said that he thought the Republicans had better ideas than Democrats the last 10 to 15 years.
"Oh, big deal," you say. It's no worse than anyone else would do. After all, you've got a political opponent talking somewhat positively about Republicans. And not just anyone Republican, but THE Republican, Ronald Reagan. That's pure political gold. She and Bill should milk it for all that it's worth. Right?
Wrong!
That's exactly my point. These two are no worse than all the Swiftboaters and heathen scum who painted former senator Max Cleeland with an unpatriotic brush. They are the same ones who dissmantled John McCain in South Carolina eight years ago and the same as the swindlers at the Rose Law Firm.
Hillary Clinton, and all those like her, is the reason why Ralph Nader had a semi-serious bid as a presidential candidate. She, Bill, Rohm Emanuel, and all the other DLC corporate Dems are exactly like Rove, Bush, DeLay, and the Swiftboat Veterans. They will win at any cost: truth, reality, morality, ethics, etc.
That's why this vote is so important. We need to back a candidate that doesn't want to address past insults or restore some imaginary balance of power between the Reds and the Blues. We need a candidate that isn't looking to legitimize a spouse's tarnished legacy. We need a candidate who is not caught up in pseudo-intellectual pursuits or class warfare or still wishes they were protesting the war in Vietnam. We need a candidate who is not a lightening rod for dissent and across-the-aisle warfare.
That's why I feel that Barack Obama is the only true choice for president in 2008. I want to make a choice that shows that I care more for who is president than who isn't. I want to know that the person representing me as president is, despite the inevitable necessities of politics, will not always take the most expedient or politically favorable path. That he/she will seek to make some allies in order to pass badly needed legislation and not continue to make enemies simply by walking into the room. That the winner take all mentality of Washington politics is poisonous and unhealthy for America.
Hillary Clinton is not that person. Hillary Clinton cannot be that person. Barrack Obama is.
0 Comments | Link to this post posted by Teddy 3:59 PM
