Daily Kos

Clinton will end the Iraq War by winning it [w/poll]

Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 03:53:46 PM PDT

This new construct--that she will win the War--has been seamlessly inserted into the Clinton narrative on the heels of her obliterate-Iran threats.  Is anyone paying attention?

It doesn't seem so on DKos today, since we all seem to be nursing our bruised egos, justifying why Obama didn't 'win' a state that was unwinnable, even though he achieved MUCH strategically in the way he conducted his campaign.  As for Clinton, she is back in full neo-con mode, trying to out-gun McCain and out-man Obama, while reserving the right to play victim should circumstances demand that.

The question must be asked: why is she shifting gears at this point?  Why no more 'promises' to extricate us from Iraq, but now pledging to 'win'there?  The answer plays right into where this campaign is headed.

As long as you can stay an inch in front of a runaway train you won't be killed.  This is why Clinton is weaving this bellicose media narrative.  All eyes will stay on her, not her opponent.  She will live on in the media world, which is where she will fight the last battles of 2008.

But she will need fuel in order to keep her in front of that train--money--and her big-dollar donors are maxed, the internet won't bring in enough, so where does she get it from:  the Vast Right-wing Conspiracy, of course, with Richard Scaiffe's blessings.

Scaiffe et al don't want her to win, mind you, but they do want her to divert as much Obama $ from beating Magoo and the Repugs as possible, while dividing up the potential Democratic electorate this Fall.  And Clinton can count on most of the talking heads to put their stamp of approval on her new foreign policy tilt, which legitimizes the game of footsy they've been playing w/ the bush regime for 7 years.

So now Obama will be baited into proving he's not less patriotic [read, jingoistic] than Magoo and Clinton, by responding to her Iran pledge and her Iraq ploy.  If he agrees w/ her reframing of the issues his coalition fractures, if he backs too far off the media [except perhaps MSNBC] will beat on him for the next few weeks as a lightweight.

I have been sickened by this turn of events, thinking how Traitor Joe Lieberman must be grinning from ear to ear listening to shrillary bloviate, but I am tired of feeling angry, downbeat, scared, and vengeful.  I want to feel hopeful again about the world, and Clinton is not selling hope, in case you haven't figured it out.  She is doing her best to make people angry, scared and vengeful--even her supporters! because that is the emotional/spiritual state where Obama's message cannot break through [admit it, even now you don't feel hopeful].

There is a way out of this Clinton morass.  It is counterintuitive, but listening to Obama speak, reading between his lines, I believe HE gets it:

As long as you can deal with evil by some other means than forgiveness, you will never experience the real meaning of evil and sin. You will keep projecting it over there, fearing it over there and attacking it over there, instead of "gazing" on it within and "weeping" over it within all of us.

The longer you gaze, the more you will see your own complicity in and profitability from the sin of others, even if it is the satisfaction of feeling you are on higher moral ground.

These are words from my spiritual advisor, Richard Rohr, OFM, who I have to believe is supporting Obama [I know he sees through the Clintons].  We all have profited from the sin of the world--the System--on the material level, at least.  Realize that for all of our bitching, we Americans have it pretty easy compared to most of the world.  I lived in the poorest country on Earth for a while; we have NO IDEA how hard life really is.

Yet those poor, struggling people were not despondent, not playing the victim-card, whining about how the System wasn't working in their favor.  They were joyful, happy for what they had: their family, their faith, food for that day, and the hope that it might rain tomorrow.

In Mandinka the word for rain [samma] means tomorrow as well.  It means the future, which is all the tomorrow they hope for.  At first I didn't understand why they would use the same word to mean those 3 things, but eventually I saw the wisdom of it.

Poll

What is the best way for Obama supporters to proceed from here?

23%21 votes
18%16 votes
1%1 votes
13%12 votes
43%38 votes

| 88 votes | Vote | Results

Tags: Barack Obama, the Clintons, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Richard Rohr, 2008, election (all tags) :: Previous Tag Versions

Permalink | 20 comments

  •  tip jar? (6+ / 0-)

    ..to be healed/the broken thing must come apart/then be rejoined.

    by Zacapoet on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 03:54:07 PM PDT

  •  This whole diary is premised on a lie (0+ / 0-)

    When has Clinton said that her strategy in Iraq is to win, as opposed to withdrawing?   And please don't invoke her comments on Iran, which seems to be another country according to my map.

    By the way, what does your "spritual adviser" think of your overall mean-spiritedness?

    -5.38/-3.74 I've suffered for my country. Now it's your turn! --John McCain with apologies to Monty Python's "Protest Song"

    by Rich in PA on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 03:57:01 PM PDT

    •  That the truth can have a mean edge (0+ / 0-)

      but I agree with the diarist's premise even though I think it would be a better diary without "shillary" in it.

      NetrootNews coming soon!

      by ksh01 on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 04:07:51 PM PDT

      [ Parent ]

    •  My spiritual advisor, being myself, has decided (2+ / 0-)

      Recommended by:
      Marie, planetclaire4

      that the Clinton campaign has sold their collective souls.  Have you seen McCaulliff's new ad for Faux News?  How about Hillary's new ad featuring all of the fear tactics we used to criticize the Republicans for?  If this is true, it is sickening.

    •  Oh, yeah, PLEASE don't invoke her (1+ / 0-)

      Recommended by:
      Karma for All

      comments on Iran--people might get the idea your candidate is the femme version of McCain and every bit as crazy.  

      I don't say that as an Obama supporter.  I'm appalled that he and--to noisier extent--she are buying into the Cheney/Hadley intel re Iran, the same source of intel  that got us into Iraq (remember?) in favor of the NIE.  Iran is not a threat to us.  Why she would blurt out she'd obliterate them can only be explained as the kind of remark crazy people make like bringing up Louis Farrakhan out of the irrelevant blue.  (A crazy person or a Joe McCarthyite for the Farrakhan comment.)

      Interesting diary, Zacapoet.  My thought was that she knows how difficult it will be logistically to get our guys out of Iraq and came up with the brilliant idea that if we can attack Iran, we can just shift them there.  SO much easier.  But I think you're closer the mark.  Hey, if she has low-info Dems, Scaife and Fox News on her side, she's got it made, right?

      Please, God, don't let the Democratic party make me vote for some pinhead who believes in the GWOT. God grinned...

      by planetclaire4 on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 04:11:04 PM PDT

      [ Parent ]

      •  Don't like the Iran references. (0+ / 0-)

        Yes, that came as a big mistake, both Hillary and Barack touting that neocon crap about how dangerous Iran is to the world and our freedom.  Good grief!
        They don't understand that the public knows about the NIE on Iran?
        We don't need another president that shoves concocted enemies in our face and scares us with great threats.
        Both Hillary and Barack play too chummy with the MI complex.  Barack has said he would increase the Pentagon's budget his first year.  Oh please!

    •  since when is war-mongering not shrill? (0+ / 0-)

      ..to be healed/the broken thing must come apart/then be rejoined.

      by Zacapoet on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 04:23:36 PM PDT

      [ Parent ]

  •  Clinton won't leave Iraq ever (1+ / 0-)

    Recommended by:
    Marie

    She is so determined to prove that she is a fighter.  She has lost the primary, she cannot win it unless she wins a huge majority of the remaining contests.  She won't leave the primary race and she will never leave Iraq.

  •  Once Hillary hits Iran, Iraq will be a moot point (2+ / 0-)

    Recommended by:
    planetclaire4, rylly

    Most of the Iraqi army is highly sympathetic to Iran.

    There'll be bullets flying in so many directions it'll make Hillary's head spin, who is so fucking clueless she's apparently taking diplomacy lessons from Condoleeza Rice.

    And every single one of them will be aiming at American soldiers.

    Iranian.

    Iraqi.

    Mehdi.

    Al Qaeda.

    Sunni paramilitary.

    We're pro-choice on everything! - Libertarian slogan

    by CA Libertarian on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 04:05:08 PM PDT

  •  Oh my God. Osama in her ad, Faux news is her (2+ / 0-)

    Recommended by:
    Marie, planetclaire4

    friend, she said she'd have McCain on staff at the White House, and now she's not ending the war, she's gonna "win it."  

    It feels like March of 2003 again, puppet politicians all in order.

  •  She is going to win by... (2+ / 0-)

    Recommended by:
    Marie, planetclaire4

    putting the cackle on loud speakers all over the country and blasting it full volume until every living thing abandons the country.

  •  Forcing Obama to "we are losing the war" position (0+ / 0-)

    every time he says we need to bring our troops home?  

    Or do her remarks on withdrawal mean she is going to Win the War on Day One and therefore we can withdraw?

    Veddy eeenterestink.  EEf Moose and Squirrel want weeethdrawl, ve make zem look like zey don't beeleeve een America!

    HRC believes she's hit a national zeitgeist? That the way to win the election is to say we can win this war (which is what McCain's saying when he says it's been poorly executed but we should stay). If that's what she's up to, I'm going to start to hate her.

    She makes a better Boris than Natasha.

    NetrootNews coming soon!

    by ksh01 on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 04:16:56 PM PDT

  •  Equate winning in Iraq = Bush (0+ / 0-)

    Is that Bush's line anyway? Why is she taking his talking points?
    BO need not say we will lose Iraq, only that he will be different than Bush- or Hillary.
    Express disappointment- "I thought Hillary was better than Bush."

    -7.50/-7.90 Everyone knows I'm out in left field.

    by WiseFerret on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 04:38:49 PM PDT

Permalink | 20 comments