Reading the dozens of blog posts about the apparent and imminent demise of Hillary Clinton’s campaign, you notice immediately how most writers tend to fall back on cliche infested encomiums or sometimes humorously imaginative “Ding Dong the Witch is Dead” screeds of hate-spewing bile. There doesn’t seem to be much middle ground when talking about Hillary Clinton which is the way its been since at least her crack about not staying at home and baking cookies for her man during the 1992 presidential campaign.
That utterance placed her firmly on one side of the great cultural chasm that the man who vanquished her now promises to bridge. From what I can gather, the way Barack Obama intends to do this is by showing the rest of us that we are a bunch of red state goober chewin’, tobacco spittin’, flag wavin’, gun carryin’, bible thumpin’, interbreedin’ morons who cling to religion and hate the coloreds because we have yet to have experienced the healing powers of the messiah-lite.
Gee. I can’t wait.
Hillary actually made a more spirited effort to bridge that chasm during her campaign than Obama ever imagined. Yes, she may be a born again populist in the best sense of the word in that she attempted to speak to the concerns of the vast middle of her party and much of America. And yes, she sometimes shamelessly played the class card, trying to pit one class of Americans against another. But she was actually in the process of building an entirely new Democratic party coalition – one that resembled the old FDR New Deal grouping with not urban elites as the centerpiece of the machine but rather lunch pail Democrats and seniors as her base.
She would have returned the Democrats to advocating a strong national defense, a muscular foreign policy, and a newly discovered fiscal sanity. Hillary Clinton demonstrated over the course of this campaign that she has no illusions about the nature of our enemies nor does she share Obama’s faith in the efficacy of discourse unless the ground is well and truly fertilized beforehand.
Of course, national health insurance and other programs more identified with socialism would also have come along for the ride – reason enough not to vote for her from my point of view. But at least her policies would have been grounded in reality and not the pie in the sky, feel good rhetoric of Flim Flam Man Obama.
If it sounds like I’m sorry to see her retire, you’d be half right. A Clinton-McCain race would have been a barnburner, one for the ages. Both candidates would have been trying to appeal to basically the same voters while paying lip service to their rabid base. As a result, the hard left and right would slowly become unhinged – the entertainment value of such an occurrence worth charging admission for. The spectacle of both candidates being skewered by their own while fighting tooth and nail for the great middle of the American electorate would have been good for the country.
On the other hand, I can honestly say I am sick to death of the Clintons and their tactics. And the prospect of Bill Clinton slinking in and out of view during the campaign is enough for me to be grateful the Clintons will now be forced into a secondary role – even if by some miracle Obama were to offer her the Vice Presidential nomination.
Despite being imbued as he is with an elevated sense of his own abilities, Obama would be absolutely nuts to choose Hillary as a running mate. As Dick Morris has rightly pointed out, you wouldn’t just get Hillary in the deal. It would be a Menage a trois with Bill Clinton the wildest wild card who ever attached himself to any campaign in American history running loose and fancy free among the electorate.
Lock up your wives and daughters and hide the silverware if that were to happen.
But I don’t think we need worry too much about a Obamahill fusion ticket. There appears to be genuine animosity in the Obama camp directed against Clinton not only for their tactics but because she didn’t concede the race earlier despite having no chance at overtaking the frontrunner. The Obama camp was forced to spend tens of millions of dollars and maintain a schedule that concentrated on winning primaries rather than being allowed to pivot and start gearing up for the general election.
The only way a “Dream Ticket” will emerge is if Obama is absolutely convinced that he can’t win without her on the ticket. Despite some troubling numbers in blue states like Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York that show McCain very competitive against Obama, there is no proof that Obama will go down to defeat if he fails to add Hillary to the ticket. Hence, a more likely pick would be a national security Democrat or another woman.
So despite a valiant effort that has earned her the respect of some conservatives like myself, Hillary Clinton has come up short in realizing what is probably a life long dream to be President of the United States. Those of us who have had our dreams shattered can empathize with how she is feeling right about now. Some may enjoy kicking her when she’s down but that’s not for me. I will fight her hammer and tongs over what will be an effort to pass national health insurance regardless of who wins in November and her other schemes. But I will do it with a new found appreciation for her tenacity and a recognition that she is more than just an empty pantsuit.
9:43 am
Two observations: first, Obama is so liberal that he makes Hill look moderate in comparison. But she is more socialist/taxer/spender/big gov than just the healthcare policy- one example, she proposes raising capital gains tax to 29%, whereas Obama wants to raise it higher than that (I think in the 40’s). So she’s not moderate, she’s just less socialist. Second, I don’t believe she is a “born-again” populist, but rather a simple opportunist- she believed these mainstream (and sane) policy stands would win her votes. To me, that makes her less attractive, in the sense that Obama at least believes in his silly lefty policies- Hill puts her finger in the wind and decides what she thinks will garner votes.
Note also that it would have worked for her if the MSM had not deserted her, and if she could have raised even 50% of Obama’s campaign contributions- she was outspent 3, 4, and 5 to 1 in some cases, yet won 7 out of the last 10 (as well as the popular vote by some counts). Career politicians know that this is the single biggest factor in winning (which does NOT bode well for McCain, btw).
10:16 am
Obama would appear weak and compromised if he selected the disrespectful Hilary as his VP. She had the audacity to suggest that he is a flawed and inexperienced candidate. It would also be a concession that he lacks appeal with the Democratic base.
Ding dong the witch is dead. But before she melted, she helped pull back the curtain on the great wizard Obama!
11:54 am
(1)Another advance for the permanent campaign. The 2012 presidential season opens Saturday – 4 years and 5 months before the day. Ignore anything that happens this Novemeber as inconsequential…....
(2)Obama and Axelrod are not stupid (which is somewhere above not clever but below not wise). It’s not too late to stop by Intrade and put money down on Kathleen Sebelius (D-KS) for veep. Assuming, of course, that Michelle approves…..
1:30 pm
Insightful article.
Since she became New York’s junior senator, I have contended that HRC resembles no other politician more than she resembles her own great satan, Richard M. Nixon. Shared qualities:
fierce intelligence
great skill at political infighting
persistence
masters of intrigue
borderline paranoia
pragmatic
1:46 pm
If there are any middle or high school teachers out there, I would suggest they present the following quotation to their students, and ask them why it is so funny:
“That utterance placed her firmly on one side of the great cultural chasm that the man who vanquished her now promises to bridge. From what I can gather, the way Barack Obama intends to do this is by showing the rest of us that we are a bunch of red state goober chewin’, tobacco spittin’, flag wavin’, gun carryin’, bible thumpin’, interbreedin’ morons who cling to religion and hate the coloreds because we have yet to have experienced the healing powers of the messiah-lite.”
In the mean time, perhaps Rick Moran, or others would care to define what exactly is meant by “Socialized Medicine”, or why “National Health Insurance” poses such a threat the “red state, goober chewin, tobacco spittin…”
Woops, almost gave one of the fun bone ticklers away, found in the full quotation, above. (So R.P. are you implying more than one fun bone in the full quotation? Asked the man with the tobacco stained handle bar mustache).
And so Rick, sooner or later you will have to defend McCain’s Health Care Plan. Keep in mind that Health Care is among the top three concerns when the voting American Public, is polled…
2:28 pm
A preview of Hilary’s coming statement scheduled for Saturday:
“On Saturday, I will extend my congratulations to Senator Obama and my support for his candidacy. This has been a long and hard-fought campaign, but as I have always said, my differences with Senator Obama are small compared to the differences we have with Senator McCain and the Republicans.
I have said throughout the campaign that I would strongly support Senator Obama if he were the Democratic Party’s nominee, and I intend to deliver on that promise.”
Many thought Hilary was pushing for the VP spot (she has 8 years experience at it) but she seems content to get back the money her campaign owes her through the help of the DNC.
2:43 pm
Of course, Bolingbroke didn’t have the MSM helping him seize the crown, but he may have had an uncle that helped liberate Elsinore (okay, wrong play, but it seems so right).
4:32 pm
[Hillary] was actually in the process of building an entirely new Democratic party coalition – one that resembled the old FDR New Deal grouping with not urban elites as the centerpiece of the machine but rather lunch pail Democrats and seniors as her base.
Another reason I’m happy she lost.
She knew she could never seal the deal with anyone other than uneducated racist senior citizens, and so she went about deliberately trying to alienate as many Democrats and independents as possible, so that only the die-hard identity crusaders would care enough to stick around and vote. It would have been the only way for her to win.
We face unprecedented challenges. Our young creative classes are saddled with unheard-of educational debts, the housing crisis, the near-certainty that we have already passed Peak Oil, and the looming end of longstanding political / economic entitlements such as Social Security, pensions, and retirement. With that in mind, it is folly to try to reorient politics around the sensitivities of of 80-year-olds. They’ve already had their lives; they already have their homes; their children are already fed; their Social Security payments are assured. They don’t understand modern problems, and it would be little less than perverse to give them a disproportionate voice in picking the one who will have to deal with those problems. Speaking of senior citizens, let’s not forget it was McSame who actually boasted of being “a 20th-century kind of guy.”
And what’s so bad about the 50+% of Americans who live in urban areas?
4:39 pm
I agree, I’d much rather had a Clinton v McLame battle.
5:16 pm
The world reaction to the Obama nomination should be a message that he could be the best thing to happen to American foreign policy in a very long time. The fact that a major party will nominate an African American (who is really as much white as he is black) man indicates to the world that the US is a diverse nation ready to embrace a diverse world. Yes, win or lose, there is a new day in America.
This is about “content of his character,” not his race, and the fact that he is being nominated by the Democratic Party speaks loudly that a lot of Americans are ready to practice what Martin L. King, Jr. preached.
5:43 pm
Thurs. evening links…
Rick Moran on Hillary. A quote:I will fight her hammer and tongs over what will be an effort to pass national health insurance regardless of who wins in November and her other schemes. But I will do it with a new found appreciation for her tenacity and…
7:08 pm
our paul,
such an inane question that it can almost completely be ignored, but alas i can’t. have you ever read the name of this website? rightwingnuthouse, yep that is the name. not much imagination is needed to understand that it is a conservative website (when is that next installment of what ails conservativism?). that being said what you silly stupid leftards can’t understand because as usual it is hitting you in the face, much akin to can’t see the trees because of the leaves. anywho, we conservatives believe that the more aspects of our lives the gov’mnt is in control of, the less control we have over our lives (common sense). thus, since RP is too much of an adult to answer your sh%t question i will. less government is better gov’mnt! that is why we are disenchanted with GWB, and why we friggin don’t answer your prig arse progressive questions. truth be told you don’t like us, and we don’t like you(sound of spit hitting spitoon, bible hitting you in the face, yeehaw gun shot in the air) jackball
10:39 pm
#10 The world reaction to the Obama nomination should be a message that he could be the best thing to happen to American foreign policy in a very long time.
Really? He’s not even president yet and he’s already angered the Palestinians for declaring that Jerusalem “must remain undivided”. And he also recently changed (again) his policy on Iran. Now it’s indistinguishable from Bush’s. Despite what your liberal heart and mind might tell you his words and lack of experience and lack of judgment will matter more in how he’s seen internationally than the color of his skin.
Is it worth celebrating that a black man is the nominee of a major political party? Sure. But if that’s all he’s running on and he wins then we’re all in trouble.
12:11 am
My Dear Jambrowski,
Pardon me for interrupting your deadly serious conversation and conservative love fest on our host Rick Moran’s blog. My grievous mistake, a thousand Mea Culpas, may my chest grow raw as with head bowed, my fist beats its penitent tattoo.
It was my really foolish supposition that the Web was a bit like the old time Public Square. A place for discussion, a local where minds could collide, and learn from each other… It was in that sunny square that ironic political speech was born. Or are you going to argue that Mr. Moran’s post of 06/01/08, titled: A LITTLE ALTERNATE HISTORY: ‘HOPKINS SLAMS FDR IN NEW BOOK’ is a marvelous and insightful exposition of a book describing the FDR Presidency?
In view of the fact that it is late at night, I will answer the question that the man with handle bar mustache posed:
(1)I do believe it was John McCain who apologized to the Great State of West Virginia for implying that their state population did a tab bit of “interbreedin’ ”. Obama never made such a statement, as most high school students could tell you…
(2)I do believe Mr. Moran’s finger slipped at the key board when he wrote “that we are a bunch of red state goober chewin’…(etc). There we have to go to middle school, for that age group has an affinity to body parts and body function jokes. Check out Urban Dictionary, or a Web search engine. If you are from a red state, you really do not want to chew on a goober, I do believe Mr. Moran’s magic finders meant booger… Ah yes, from such transpositions are fun bones tickled…
I remain hopeful that Mr. Moran will discuss Health Care. Surely he knows that if he drags a box into the Public Square and mentions Health Care, with a sneering glance to Hillary or Obama, he has to present some solution to the problems we face…
1. I do believe it was Dick Cheney who mentioned incest in W. VA. But that’s alright since like members of another race, all Republicans look the same to you.
2. A “goober” is a pea – as in “Eatin’ Goober Peas” which was a famous Civil War song and as in “pea brain” which describes the exact amount of gray matter you carry around in your skull. And where in God’s name you see “body function jokes” in the post above, I can’t imagine – unless your body works a little differently than the rest of us.
3. As for health care: http://rightwingnuthouse.com/archives/2008/02/12/mandate-me-baby/
ed.
7:43 am
Kindof a sidenote: the joke was probably not offensive to W.Virginians (I have several friends from WVA that make the same self-deprecating joke), although it was certainly not presidential (or even vice-p).
Also, for clarification, ANYBODY from the south knows that a goober pea is a peanut.
I knew that too – but needed reminding.
Ed.
8:56 am
OP,
Thing is we don’t re-write history to fit our beliefs (as you just did)... as I said there is no need to argue with you, because you and your ilk will just re-phrase, re-write, or adjust reality to your reality.
out,