Apologies for the delay in producing a monthly installment of Flight KL18. But the events of the last month—a combination of a busy personal and travel schedule and an unduly rich series of occurrences in the larger world have left me a little bit breathless, if not speechless.
Speaking of breathless and speechless…I was starting to warm up to the idea of Hillary Clinton as Barack Obama’s Vice Presidential running mate, if only because it reinforces the wisdom of former US President Lyndon Johnson’s old credo—“It’s better to have your enemies inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent pissing in.”
But the one-time ‘inevitable nominee’s” comment about how 1968 Democratic frontrunner Robert Kennedy was assassinated late in the nominating process was effectively a justification for remaining in the race clearly trumps even the hoary wisdom of LBJ.
Forget about Hillary’s half-arsed pseudo-apology. From this side of the
I don’t care if having Hillary on the ticket would make it easier for Barack to pull in the “hard working White Americans” that she has ever-so-recently become enamored of in such places as
2 comments:
Every now and then Hillary and Bill commit a significant political blunder in a public moment of personal authenticity. There is, once again, an outpouring of generous incredulity by DC types, including George Will, for Hillary upon her suggestion that the possibility of assassination is a potential path to the nomination and a good reason for her to stay in the race through June. This generosity is not earned or deserved.
Clinton politics is solely oriented toward winning. Clinton politics hazards no clear or substantial vision or direction. Over time, it is impossible to sift out any abiding pattern of personal or political values from the Clintons' political acts other than political success. After eight years in the White House the Clinton legacy was revealed when they reported that they had made $109 million in 2007. It has taken George Bush to make the Clinton administration seem like a good memory. I argue that Americans must adopt a much higher standard.
In the US we have a kluged political system that produces Bills & Hillarys. Key Clintonian markers of the ambitious political careerist are a constitutional eagerness to do and say whatever it may take to raise money and votes; and, a supplemental facility for escaping damage for the things you have done and said by denial, pseudo-apology and, the best, simply ignoring prior deeds and statements to the contrary. Indeed, the Clintons have expressed great pride in their ability to do this. They think that they are terribly clever. I have been subject to one attempt by Hillary to 'spin' me (you just want to take a long hot shower).
Cleverness is a necessary skill for politicians, but cleverness without meaning is craven. Perhaps due to a lifetime of conditioning in their political world, neither Clinton seems capable of an authentic human feeling or thought. At least not one that isn't horrifying. To his credit, Keith Olberman has them figured out, too (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/).
The US electoral system requires fundamental democratic reforms in order to avoid producing more winners like the Clintons. Meanwhile, we have to avoid prolonging the political significance of characters like the Clintons. Bill is arguing that Hillary deserves the VP nomination. Obama is a different sort of politician and Hillary adds nothing to Obama's candidacy, so that seems unlikely. But we can be certain that the Clintons will leverage every shred of support they have through the convention to increase and extend their brand no matter how destructive their efforts are certain to be. Convention Democrats should not follow the lead of George Will. They should accept the Clintons for whom they have often enough revealed themselves to be; avoid extending undeserved polite generosities and unearned benefits of doubt; and proceed with extreme prejudice.
Michael...
An excellent comment--thanks!
Mike
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