Hillary Nixon Clinton

My name is Ed and I'm a computer nerd. Or a recovering nerd, as I like to say. I don't NEED computers, I just WANT them. I can quit anytime. I think. However, being a nerd does equip me to discern patterns amongst seemingly dissimilar data. For example, show me a list of random customer names and I can write a database program that orders them and highlights any linkages that may exist between them. Show me two political candidates and I can pick out patterns and similarities that might surprise the candidates themselves.

For instance, Hillary Clinton and Richard Nixon share a common campaign strategy. Those of you old enough to remember the 1960s (or not high enough to have forgotten them, but that's another story) may recall one of Nixon's campaign promises was to get our boys home from the war. Peace with honor, as it were. You'll need to remember also that it was back in the days when Democrats started wars, e.g. Truman == Korea and Kennedy/Johnson == Vietnam, while Republicans ended wars, e.g. Eisenhower == Korea and Nixon == Vietnam. Things have changed a bit in the intervening years, it seems, but then again, 9/11 changed everything.

In the current presidential campaign, candidate Hillary "Nixon" Clinton tells us the war in Iraq will last at least through 2013. Coincidentally, 2013 is the year Hillary will start her second presidential term. Compare that to Nixon, who finally managed to end the Vietnam war in 1973. Coincidentally, 1973 was the year Nixon started his second presidential term.

You may recall that Nixon's nickname was "Tricky Dick", meaning he was a wily old politician who could trick voters into supporting him even if it was against their own best interests. Perhaps Hillary's nickname should be Hilly Vanilli, after Milli Vanilli, the infamous pop duo of the 1980s caught lip-syncing their hit tune because they couldn't sing. After all, Hillary is lip-syncing Nixon's 1968 campaign by promising to bring our boys home from the war. Of course, it might take 5 or 6 years and another 10,000 or so dead American soldiers and hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis (and Iranians, anyone?), but that's a price she's willing to pay.

Edits and Addendums

For those commenters who claim Nixon didn't use ending the war as part of his campaign, consider this:

Richard M. Nixon, March 1968, campaigning in the Republican primary in New Hampshire says "If in November this war is not over, I say that the American people will be justified in electing new leadership, and I pledge to you that new leadership will end the war and win the peace in the Pacific."

For those who think Democrats can't critique Democrats because "they" will use it against us, get a life. No Repug is gonna evoke the memory of Richard Nixon in their campaign. Likewise, for those who troll label anyone not kissing the arse of the candidate you support, God bless you and go forth and prosper, because when my candidate f**ks up, I'm going to call him or her on it.