This is an election about who we are, who we want to be. If America does not regain its can-do, no man is an island spirit in its greatest traditions, it will soon fade into a shadow of its former self.
The Clintons continue their drive to not talk about race, race, race, race, race, race. Before South Carolina was over Bill Clinton was comparing Obama to Jessie Jackson. Last time the Clintons’ campaign looked to be on the decline, on the heels of Iowa, Hillary Clinton resorted to trying to minimize the achievements of Dr. King as dependent on someone who looked more like her – an older white person. Hillary Clinton also threw in for good measure that if Obama is elected we will be attacked by terrorists. The Clintons are doing their best to drag America into the divisive, selfish, scared muck of identity politics.
It’s pretty easy to see how the Clintons are trying to frame this election. The Clintons are trying to incite women and whites to gang up for them against blacks. The degree to which the Clinton tactics mirror the Rove-Bush tactics of the past seven years is scary. Very scary. The Clintons desperately want to make the decisive element of this campaign old fashioned, dirty identity politics.
The Clintons are trying to scare America into putting aside their hopes in favor of their fears. They know that America wants change. America wants hope. America wants to work together to achieve change. In the twenty first century, America does not want to be simply divided along the lines of race, gender, sexual orientation or otherwise.
The reason the Clintons are resorting to old-style low-ball campaign tactics is they lose on substance. The Clintons set out to sell something America doesn’t need - her "experience." Even on cursory review, Hillary Clinton’s positive "experience" basically consists of her relation to her husband, which is why he is trying so hard to bail her out. Hillary’s other seminal experiences consist of colossally bad decisions, such as crafting a secretive and byzantine process to reform healthcare in the early 1990s which failed so badly that the crises has snowballed nearly a decade later; America lags pathetically far behind other first world countries in coverage, cost and quality of care. Hillary Clinton is still in denial over her horrible vote for the Iraq war. In another sign of her bad judgment and inability to recognize her mistakes, she supported the war longer than most of her Democratic colleagues well into 2005. And her decision to vote for Bush’s warmongering resolution last Fall declaring Iran’s military to be terrorists (a declaration of war), can leave no doubt that Hillary Clinton does not learn from her experience and that she continues to exercise the bad judgment. This is not to mention her bad judgment in her current campaign strategy.
On the other hand, Barack Obama, has fought for transparency in government. Unlike Hillary Clinton who still refuses to release her official records as First Lady, thanks to Obama we now have a web site where everyone can see which contractors get which projects and how much of our money from our government. Unlike Hillary Clinton who along with her husband will not reveal the records for their half a billion dollar "charity" which has employed key campaign staffers and has taken tens of millions from unnamed campaign donors including Mark Rich types (his wife I believe), thanks to Obama we now also can see on a web site what the lobbyists are up to, who they are donating to and bundling for.
Unlike Hillary who is sucking up lobbyist money in this election, Obama has set the bar higher by not taking money from lobbyists – no bundled money for him thank you very much. Unlike the Clintons who are happy to appear on the Fox News network of their new friend Murdoch, Obama prefers not to appear on that network that repeatedly confuses his name with a terrorist. And Obama showed guts by pushing back hard against the FCC’s recent attempt to gut the anti-media consolidation rules as a bone to Murdoch’s ever expanding empire – Obama did this at personal risk during this election when he needs positive media coverage.
We have not even talked about the Giant White Elephant in the Democratic Party – Hillary Clinton’s Faustian bargain. Without a doubt, the Clintons would not be here today had Hillary, the self-proclaimed champion of women, not gone to the mats countless times to defend Bill from outrageous, true charges of illegal sexual harassment and worse by his numerous women victims. The charges also came from officers of the Arkansas State Police who Bill used as unwilling accomplices to his hedonistic, illegal sexual escapades.
So really, it’s not surprising that the Clintons’ are treating Barack Obama more like a target in old style political knife fight than as a distinguished opponent in the Democratic Primary. It is even more disgusting because Barack Obama is a member of the Clintons’ own party. The Clintons have shown, once again, that they take the high ground only when they feel they don’t need to pull a low blow to get what they want. They will not hesitate to sacrifice the good of America or their party for that matter if they feel that’s what it takes for them to win. They are selfish. We have seen it over and over.
The ultimate proof of the Clintons’ selfishness lies in the answer to this question, "Where have you been Bill since you left office?" You have been MIA in helping the Democratic Party, that’s for sure (other than helping Hillary on your four-point plan to get back into the White House). We love your comment Bill the other day that you don’t plan to interfere in the day to day activities of the White House. We know what you mean. You mean that you won’t bother yourself anymore with the details of running the Administration and will be like our CEO President, only weighing in on the big decisions that you think matter in your historical scheme. You’ve said that Hillary will complete your Administration the way FDR completed TR’s, so clearly you’ve got some more plans (fairytales?) you’re not fully sharing with us.
Just as Barack Obama asked, who am I running against? We ask, who are we voting for? Hillary can’t reign you in now, and there’s no indication she will be able to if you get into the White House. America needs to get the focus back on hope. Without hope there can be no achievement and no change. Ted Kennedy has endorsed Barack Obama saying he is ready to lead like JFK from Day 1. Caroline Kennedy endorsed Barack Obama saying he is the first candidate like her father. http://www.nytimes.com/... JFK’s former advisors, includling Sorensen who helped write his best speeches, have come out strongly in favor of him saying the same thing.
It is about time we get away from bickering with each other to start asking questions like, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." This is an election about who we are, who we want to be. If America does not regain its can-do, we’re in it together, no man is an island spirit in its greatest traditions, it will soon fade into a shadow of its former self.