Everyone knows the anecdote that explains what chutzpah means, the one about the boy who kills his parents and then pleads for mercy before the court on the grounds that he’s an orphan. We can thank Nancy Pelosi and John Conyers and the rest of the Democratic leadership for a fresh variant: about the party that took impeachment “off the table” and then claimed, after Dennis Kucinich’s effort last week, that now it’s too late. A summary of Kucinich’s allegations against George Bush can be found at the end of this posting.
All is not lost, however. What conviction in the Senate on charges leveled by the House would have done, had Pelosi and the rest been up their responsibilities, was remove Bush from office. That will happen anyway – soon, but not soon enough. But removal from office is not nearly adequate punishment for a “commander-in-chief” who lied his country into war, with all the predictable murder and mayhem that followed. He and Cheney and Rumsfeld and the rest should be brought to justice.
It seems that, even without benefit of impeachment, once they are no longer government officials, that can happen. In The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder (Vanguard Press, 2008), Vincent Bugliosi, one of America’s foremost prosecutors, the prosecutor of Charles Manson, argues that Bush can be charged for murder by any domestic prosecutor who can legitimately claim standing (say, because Bush caused the death of someone in his or her jurisdiction). All it would take is the courage to go forward. I’d not gainsay his contention; I hope it’s true, and I hope some courageous prosecutor somewhere does too. Perhaps there are also ways, within the U.S. legal system, to charge not only Bush but also Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld and their high-ranking co-conspirators with war crimes, crimes against humanity, and crimes against the peace. People with appropriate legal expertise should work out the details; and the rest of us should start, here and now, to build a campaign to that end.
To that end, it’s time here and now to question Barack Obama whenever the occasion arises about whether, as President, his administration would block criminal proceedings against thier predecessors. There is much else to question Obama about too. Several clear examples that come to mind, thanks to recent events, are his abject groveling before Cuban-American quasi-fascists in Miami, and his self-abasement before the Apartheid advocates of AIPAC. In that regard, he should be asked especially and repeatedly about his assumption of the Hillary Clinton role in beating the war drums against Iran. He should also be asked about his plans for the many hundreds of bases the U.S. military now has in more than a hundred and twenty countries. But justice for Bush and Cheney and Company should head the list. Unless this country learns the lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan better than it learned the lesson of Vietnam, the United States is doomed not only to wage more wars of aggression (with ever more tragic consequences), but also to pollute the ambient political culture indefinitely with characters like John McCain.
Will it embarrass Obama to pound him with questions like these? I certainly hope so. There’s no doubt that the Democrats under Obama are a lesser evil than the Republicans under McCain, and there’s no escaping lesser evilism. So, of course, we should do nothing to put the near certain prospect of a McCain defeat in jeopardy. That may mean that people who know better but who live in “battleground states” should vote for Obama. For that we have our very undemocratic electoral institutions to thank. However, those same institutions may also make it reasonable for those of us who live in “safe” states to vote Green or for Ralph Nader (who should be running as a Green), if it seems appropriate at the time, or not to vote at all. In other words, the electoral college system may mitigate the depths to which we lesser evilists must sink. In all cases, though, a guiding principle should be to do whatever seems best defensively – in order not to let the greater evil (in this case, the much greater evil) triumph. However, another guiding principle, running concurrently, should be to push ever leftward, by forcing the right choices on the lesser evil. To that end, there is every reason to ask Obama hard questions – or, rather, questions with obvious answers that are hard for Democrats in the thrall of corporate paymasters and “special interests,” to answer with due respect for the intelligence and decency of the American people.
* *
Following is a summary of the allegations against President Bush that are included in Kucinich's Articles of Impeachment:
Article I: Creating a Secret Propaganda Campaign to Manufacture a False Case for War Against Iraq
Article II: Falsely, Systematically, and with Criminal Intent Conflating the Attacks of September 11, 2001, With Misrepresentation of Iraq as a Security Threat as Part of Fraudulent Justification for a War of Aggression
Article III: Misleading the American People and Members of Congress to Believe Iraq Possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction, to Manufacture a False Case for War
Article IV: Misleading the American People and Members of Congress to Believe Iraq Posed an Imminent Threat to the United States
Article V: Illegally Misspending Funds to Secretly Begin a War of Aggression
Article VI: Invading Iraq in Violation of the Requirements of HJRes114
Article VII: Invading Iraq Absent a Declaration of War.
Article VIII: Invading Iraq, A Sovereign Nation, in Violation of the UN Charter
Article IX: Failing to Provide Troops With Body Armor and Vehicle Armor
Article X: Falsifying Accounts of US Troop Deaths and Injuries for Political Purposes
Article XI: Establishment of Permanent U.S. Military Bases in Iraq
Article XII: Initiating a War Against Iraq for Control of That Nation's Natural Resources
Article XIIII: Creating a Secret Task Force to Develop Energy and Military Policies With Respect to Iraq and Other Countries
Article XIV: Misprision of a Felony, Misuse and Exposure of Classified Information And Obstruction of Justice in the Matter of Valerie Plame Wilson, Clandestine Agent of the Central Intelligence Agency
Article XV: Providing Immunity from Prosecution for Criminal Contractors in Iraq
Article XVI: Reckless Misspending and Waste of U.S. Tax Dollars in Connection With Iraq and US Contractors
Article XVII: Illegal Detention: Detaining Indefinitely And Without Charge Persons Both U.S. Citizens and Foreign Captives
Article XVIII: Torture: Secretly Authorizing, and Encouraging the Use of Torture Against Captives in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Other Places, as a Matter of Official Policy
Article XIX: Rendition: Kidnapping People and Taking Them Against Their Will to "Black Sites" Located in Other Nations, Including Nations Known to Practice Torture
Article XX: Imprisoning Children
Article XXI: Misleading Congress and the American People About Threats from Iran, and Supporting Terrorist Organizations Within Iran, With the Goal of Overthrowing the Iranian Government
Article XXII: Creating Secret Laws
Article XXIII: Violation of the Posse Comitatus Act
Article XXIV: Spying on American Citizens, Without a Court-Ordered Warrant, in Violation of the Law and the Fourth Amendment
Article XXV: Directing Telecommunications Companies to Create an Illegal and Unconstitutional Database of the Private Telephone Numbers and Emails of American Citizens
Article XXVI: Announcing the Intent to Violate Laws with Signing Statements
Article XXVII: Failing to Comply with Congressional Subpoenas and Instructing Former Employees Not to Comply
Article XXVIII: Tampering with Free and Fair Elections, Corruption of the Administration of Justice
Article XXIX: Conspiracy to Violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965
Article XXX: Misleading Congress and the American People in an Attempt to Destroy Medicare
Article XXXI: Katrina: Failure to Plan for the Predicted Disaster of Hurricane Katrina, Failure to Respond to a Civil Emergency
Article XXXII: Misleading Congress and the American People, Systematically Undermining Efforts to Address Global Climate Change
Article XXXIII: Repeatedly Ignored and Failed to Respond to High Level Intelligence Warnings of Planned Terrorist Attacks in the US, Prior to 911
Article XXXIV: Obstruction of the Investigation into the Attacks of September 11, 2001
Article XXXV: Endangering the Health of 911 First Responders
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Thursday, June 12, 2008
The Only Good Democrats
The tides may yet return the crumbs to shore, but for the time being at least, the Clintons are toast. However Clintonism – in other words, Reaganism and neo-conservatism, tailored to assuage the sensibilities of Democratic constituencies -- is alive and well, not just in the Obama campaign but throughout the party. This is why it is big news – in reality, not, of course, in our servile media -- that, at last, somebody has done what the Democrats ought to have done years ago. On Monday, Representative Dennis Kucinich, speaking on the floor of the House, read thirty-five articles of impeachment against George W. Bush!
Needless to say, the unprincipled cowards who comprise the Democratic leadership in the House, the ones who took impeachment “off the table” after the Democratic victories in 2006, will quash Kucinich’s efforts – with the support of the vast majority of their rank-and-file. Nevertheless, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (CA-8), Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (MD-5) and Caucus Chair Rahm Emanuel (IL-5) merit special contempt. They are Clintonites to the core.
Last January, Kucinich read articles of impeachment against Dick Cheney. Back then, when Rep. Robert Wexler (FL-19) called for Judiciary Committee hearings, as House procedures on impeachment require, only seventeen Democrats heeded his and Kucinich’s appeal: Neil Abercrobmie (HI-1), Tammy Baldwin (WI-2), Michael Capuano (MA-8), Yvette Carke (NY-11), Lacy Clay (MO-1), Steve Cohen (TN-9), Peter DeFazio (OR-4), Keith Ellison (MN-5), Sam Farr (CA-17), Raul Grijalva (AZ-7), Luis Gutierrez (IL-4), Barbara Lee (CA-9), Gwen Moore (WI-4), Jim Moran (VA -8) Mike Thompson (CA-1), Ed Towns (NY-10), and Lynn Woolsey (CA-6).
Will Kucinich and Wexler get support from even that pitifully small number this time around? Or are the Democrats now too focused on “change”? We’ll find out soon enough. But be sure that, whatever happens, yet again, the vast majority of representatives in the so-called Progressive Caucus will reveal their true nature. So will the go-along-to-get-along chair of the Judiciary Committee, the on-again, off-again impeachment advocate and impeder, John Conyers. How pathetic is that!
Since their constituencies handed power back to them in 2006, the Democrats in the House and Senate have performed disgracefully. Now that Obama has taken over at the helm, expect exactly nothing to change.
Needless to say, the unprincipled cowards who comprise the Democratic leadership in the House, the ones who took impeachment “off the table” after the Democratic victories in 2006, will quash Kucinich’s efforts – with the support of the vast majority of their rank-and-file. Nevertheless, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (CA-8), Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (MD-5) and Caucus Chair Rahm Emanuel (IL-5) merit special contempt. They are Clintonites to the core.
Last January, Kucinich read articles of impeachment against Dick Cheney. Back then, when Rep. Robert Wexler (FL-19) called for Judiciary Committee hearings, as House procedures on impeachment require, only seventeen Democrats heeded his and Kucinich’s appeal: Neil Abercrobmie (HI-1), Tammy Baldwin (WI-2), Michael Capuano (MA-8), Yvette Carke (NY-11), Lacy Clay (MO-1), Steve Cohen (TN-9), Peter DeFazio (OR-4), Keith Ellison (MN-5), Sam Farr (CA-17), Raul Grijalva (AZ-7), Luis Gutierrez (IL-4), Barbara Lee (CA-9), Gwen Moore (WI-4), Jim Moran (VA -8) Mike Thompson (CA-1), Ed Towns (NY-10), and Lynn Woolsey (CA-6).
Will Kucinich and Wexler get support from even that pitifully small number this time around? Or are the Democrats now too focused on “change”? We’ll find out soon enough. But be sure that, whatever happens, yet again, the vast majority of representatives in the so-called Progressive Caucus will reveal their true nature. So will the go-along-to-get-along chair of the Judiciary Committee, the on-again, off-again impeachment advocate and impeder, John Conyers. How pathetic is that!
Since their constituencies handed power back to them in 2006, the Democrats in the House and Senate have performed disgracefully. Now that Obama has taken over at the helm, expect exactly nothing to change.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Pandering to the Panderer
n recent elections, the continuator of the principles that animated that brief moment within the New Deal that reflected the best one can hope for from the Democratic Party, a real effort to supply capitalism with a human face, has been Ralph Nader. I believe that his campaign this year is ill-advised and foolhardy, not just for the usual reasons -- the grip of the party duopoly, the pro-regime bias of the corporate media – but also, mainly, because of the passions Barack Obama stirs up among those who might otherwise rally behind a genuinely progressive candidate. But, wisely or not, he is running for principled reasons, not out of a sense that high office is his due. Nader also has a lifetime of positive achievements behind him. He has been perhaps America’s greatest “public citizen.” But mention his name to liberal Democrats and watch them turn red with anger. They still delude themselves into thinking that he, not Al Gore, threw the 2000 election to George W. Bush.
On the other hand, Hillary Clinton is a genuine wrecker. Her politics, not surprisingly, are Clintonite – in other words, imperialist and anti-New Deal. Her achievements, such as they are, include permanently marginalizing the very idea of single-payer, not for profit health insurance, fumbling the 1993 Clinton health initiative so badly that universal coverage has been off the agenda for nearly a generation and, since carpet bagging her way into the Senate, supporting every military measure she can find – including, most recently, voting to authorize Cheney and Bush to do what they will to Iran. Joe Lieberman and Jon Kyle are her co-thinkers; not FDR. Throughout her days in public view, she, like her husband, has never had time for principles. Indeed, the Clintons have given opportunism a bad name. They pander shamelessly and relentlessly – wherever there are votes to be won or contributions to collect. But now that even she concedes that she lost the nomination to Barack Obama, these liberal Democrats who excoriate Ralph Nader cannot pander enough to her. A truly nauseating spectacle!
The denouement of the primary season demonstrated plainly that if Barack Obama knows anything, it is how to play out the clock. Lets hope he doesn’t forget. Within a few weeks, the calls for putting Hillary on the ticket should subside. Were Obama to accede to them, he’d demonstrate incontrovertibly, even before he’s officially nominated, that he’s not worth supporting. He’d also have to spend the rest of his days looking over his shoulder. He should keep in mind the one indisputable thing his erstwhile “humanitarian intervention” advisor Samantha Power told him – that the Clintons are “monsters” who will do anything to win.
The other suggestions for placating Hillary are even more ridiculous. Supreme Court Justice? It has been proven lately, beyond a reasonable doubt, that second and third rate minds can win Senate confirmation. But still? Hillary does have a Yale degree -- along with countless others, including Bill Clinton -- and she worked for Arkansas’ white shoe law firm. The feminist hero got that job the way she got all her others – because she was a wife. What law firm wouldn’t want a partner married to the Governor? Meanwhile, by all accounts, she did little for the Rose Law Firm except, of course, by attracting clients in need of political juice.
Maybe, instead, Obama should force the Democrats to make her Senate Majority Leader. Some pundits have said as much. But Obama would have to be as dumb as the Bush boy to push for that. It would make a mockery of the Senate’s traditions and rules. Were he to try, even the cowardly party leadership would revolt; as well it should.
What then? Maybe, Obama will just tell her to let nature take its course: to stay in the Senate and become the next Ted Kennedy. Believe it or not, there are pundits who think she can. But no matter what they tell her, and no matter how full of herself she is, Hillary is bound to see through that one. She knows Ted Kennedy, and therefore she knows she’s no Ted Kennedy. Of course, she might not know that she knows. I truly hope so: nothing would be so salutary as a good, hard fall for the House of Clinton. But, in her heart, the former Goldwater Girl knows it’s not to be. That’s why I would bet that she will just stew in place as her term winds down. Then she’ll join her husband, if that’s what he still is by then, making money the new-fashioned way – by being sleazy.
The conventional wisdom now has it that there are plenty of diehard Hillary supporters out there; enough to derail Obama’s chances of victory if Hillary won’t bring them into line. There’s little survey data supporting this conjecture, and not even much anecdotal evidence. There are just sound bites from disgruntled ladies of a certain age. But however many of them there are, they have five months to see the error – or rather the stupidity – of their ways. Let Obama pander to them, if he or his advisors think he must. But pander to the Queen of pandering? Basta!
On the other hand, Hillary Clinton is a genuine wrecker. Her politics, not surprisingly, are Clintonite – in other words, imperialist and anti-New Deal. Her achievements, such as they are, include permanently marginalizing the very idea of single-payer, not for profit health insurance, fumbling the 1993 Clinton health initiative so badly that universal coverage has been off the agenda for nearly a generation and, since carpet bagging her way into the Senate, supporting every military measure she can find – including, most recently, voting to authorize Cheney and Bush to do what they will to Iran. Joe Lieberman and Jon Kyle are her co-thinkers; not FDR. Throughout her days in public view, she, like her husband, has never had time for principles. Indeed, the Clintons have given opportunism a bad name. They pander shamelessly and relentlessly – wherever there are votes to be won or contributions to collect. But now that even she concedes that she lost the nomination to Barack Obama, these liberal Democrats who excoriate Ralph Nader cannot pander enough to her. A truly nauseating spectacle!
The denouement of the primary season demonstrated plainly that if Barack Obama knows anything, it is how to play out the clock. Lets hope he doesn’t forget. Within a few weeks, the calls for putting Hillary on the ticket should subside. Were Obama to accede to them, he’d demonstrate incontrovertibly, even before he’s officially nominated, that he’s not worth supporting. He’d also have to spend the rest of his days looking over his shoulder. He should keep in mind the one indisputable thing his erstwhile “humanitarian intervention” advisor Samantha Power told him – that the Clintons are “monsters” who will do anything to win.
The other suggestions for placating Hillary are even more ridiculous. Supreme Court Justice? It has been proven lately, beyond a reasonable doubt, that second and third rate minds can win Senate confirmation. But still? Hillary does have a Yale degree -- along with countless others, including Bill Clinton -- and she worked for Arkansas’ white shoe law firm. The feminist hero got that job the way she got all her others – because she was a wife. What law firm wouldn’t want a partner married to the Governor? Meanwhile, by all accounts, she did little for the Rose Law Firm except, of course, by attracting clients in need of political juice.
Maybe, instead, Obama should force the Democrats to make her Senate Majority Leader. Some pundits have said as much. But Obama would have to be as dumb as the Bush boy to push for that. It would make a mockery of the Senate’s traditions and rules. Were he to try, even the cowardly party leadership would revolt; as well it should.
What then? Maybe, Obama will just tell her to let nature take its course: to stay in the Senate and become the next Ted Kennedy. Believe it or not, there are pundits who think she can. But no matter what they tell her, and no matter how full of herself she is, Hillary is bound to see through that one. She knows Ted Kennedy, and therefore she knows she’s no Ted Kennedy. Of course, she might not know that she knows. I truly hope so: nothing would be so salutary as a good, hard fall for the House of Clinton. But, in her heart, the former Goldwater Girl knows it’s not to be. That’s why I would bet that she will just stew in place as her term winds down. Then she’ll join her husband, if that’s what he still is by then, making money the new-fashioned way – by being sleazy.
The conventional wisdom now has it that there are plenty of diehard Hillary supporters out there; enough to derail Obama’s chances of victory if Hillary won’t bring them into line. There’s little survey data supporting this conjecture, and not even much anecdotal evidence. There are just sound bites from disgruntled ladies of a certain age. But however many of them there are, they have five months to see the error – or rather the stupidity – of their ways. Let Obama pander to them, if he or his advisors think he must. But pander to the Queen of pandering? Basta!
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Profiles in Petulance
The word last night was that Hillary Clinton would endorse Barack Obama on Friday, three days after he won the Democratic nomination. This morning, the news is that she’ll wait at least until Saturday and then only “suspend” her campaign, while expressing “support” for party unity and Obama. She’ll not endorse him. She’ll not release her delegates either. I guess their rendez-vous at the AIPAC Love Fest yesterday didn’t quite click. Poor Hillary was still, no doubt, in shock; and Barack must have been too busy thinking up ways to seem bellicose (towards Iran), unfeeling (towards the Palestinian victims of the endless Israeli occupation) and abject (towards the supporters of both). In other words, he must have been too busy stepping into Hillary’s shoes.
Is this the start of Obama’s predictable dash even farther rightward? Time will tell. His VP selection will be revealing. It looked bad for a while. The media was full of reports that Hillary wanted the job. That nightmarish prospect still reverberates. Even this morning on NPR, pop historian Doris Kearns Goodwin promoted the idea. But the danger seems to have passed. Hillary pissed too many Obamaniacs off, and she just keeps on going. Some clever Obomaniac had an inspired idea: insist on putting her better half, Slick Willy, through the vetting process. Evidently afraid of the dirt they’d uncover, Hillary had second thoughts. Meanwhile, Caroline Kennedy, who endorsed Obama, along with her uncle Ted, after decades of having nothing to do with the Democratic Party, is on the search committee. It’s a nice gesture to her family. Lets hope she and the other head hunters have their wits about them.
According to news reports, Feminist and Working Class Hero Hillary (yea, sure) has backed down to the extent she has because the rats deserting her sinking ship, her cronies in the Congress and Senate, finally got it together to tell her to back off. They were organized, it seems, by Clinton (not Obama) advisors. Apparently, Clinton loyalists don’t want their Leader to continue to exhaust all her political capital; after all, what’s the percentage in that (for them)? I think they’re right about this. That’s why I hope she doesn’t heed their advice any more than she already has. How much better it will be if her petulance, her sense of entitlement, her gift for denial – and, lets not forget, her husband – keep her going even beyond Saturday. Let her make trouble in Denver! The party, the country and the world need the Clintons to fall hard.
Meanwhile, Obama is being Mr. Gracious by giving Her Petulance all the space she needs. Maybe that makes him look presidential or at least kindly. But there’s really no need. Hillary is no AIPAC. She’s now begging for money (to wipe out her campaign debts), not throwing it around; and the Party Elders, no longer in the Clintons’ thrall, don’t need her anymore. In a word, there’s no reason to pander to her or Bill or to be so solicitous of their feelings. Given how much harm they’ve both done, it’s downright unseemly.
What about her petulant fans? Well, maybe, they do need a little pandering, though it isn’t clear how many of them there are -- how many of the eighteen million people who voted for Hillary in the primaries actually care that Obama beat her. John McCain is such a dodo that even benighted Bush voters won’t be able to abide him come November. It’s Obama’s race to lose, just as it was Al Gore’s and John Kerry’s. But this time around, it will take some doing. As their remaining clout dissipates into the ether, dissing the Clintons won’t be nearly enough.
Is this the start of Obama’s predictable dash even farther rightward? Time will tell. His VP selection will be revealing. It looked bad for a while. The media was full of reports that Hillary wanted the job. That nightmarish prospect still reverberates. Even this morning on NPR, pop historian Doris Kearns Goodwin promoted the idea. But the danger seems to have passed. Hillary pissed too many Obamaniacs off, and she just keeps on going. Some clever Obomaniac had an inspired idea: insist on putting her better half, Slick Willy, through the vetting process. Evidently afraid of the dirt they’d uncover, Hillary had second thoughts. Meanwhile, Caroline Kennedy, who endorsed Obama, along with her uncle Ted, after decades of having nothing to do with the Democratic Party, is on the search committee. It’s a nice gesture to her family. Lets hope she and the other head hunters have their wits about them.
According to news reports, Feminist and Working Class Hero Hillary (yea, sure) has backed down to the extent she has because the rats deserting her sinking ship, her cronies in the Congress and Senate, finally got it together to tell her to back off. They were organized, it seems, by Clinton (not Obama) advisors. Apparently, Clinton loyalists don’t want their Leader to continue to exhaust all her political capital; after all, what’s the percentage in that (for them)? I think they’re right about this. That’s why I hope she doesn’t heed their advice any more than she already has. How much better it will be if her petulance, her sense of entitlement, her gift for denial – and, lets not forget, her husband – keep her going even beyond Saturday. Let her make trouble in Denver! The party, the country and the world need the Clintons to fall hard.
Meanwhile, Obama is being Mr. Gracious by giving Her Petulance all the space she needs. Maybe that makes him look presidential or at least kindly. But there’s really no need. Hillary is no AIPAC. She’s now begging for money (to wipe out her campaign debts), not throwing it around; and the Party Elders, no longer in the Clintons’ thrall, don’t need her anymore. In a word, there’s no reason to pander to her or Bill or to be so solicitous of their feelings. Given how much harm they’ve both done, it’s downright unseemly.
What about her petulant fans? Well, maybe, they do need a little pandering, though it isn’t clear how many of them there are -- how many of the eighteen million people who voted for Hillary in the primaries actually care that Obama beat her. John McCain is such a dodo that even benighted Bush voters won’t be able to abide him come November. It’s Obama’s race to lose, just as it was Al Gore’s and John Kerry’s. But this time around, it will take some doing. As their remaining clout dissipates into the ether, dissing the Clintons won’t be nearly enough.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Hillary's Nixon Moment
Will that dreadful woman never go away? She had already lost, but she didn’t concede last night in the sub- sub- basement of a Baruch College building in New York; if anything, she implied she’d fight on and on. How? She asked her voters to send in their suggestions -- recalling Nixon’s Checkers Speech, as at least one pundit old enough to remember observed. If that wasn’t pitiful enough, she did her best to steal the headlines too – on a day when, for the first time in American history, a black man won the nomination of a major party -- by suggesting her willingness to be his VP. Now is the time for all good women and men to tell the Obama campaign, in no uncertain terms, NO. No nightmare ticket! Obama needs a running mate to his left; someone who will tap into progressive white rage. What he does not need is an opportunist War Democrat and corporate flunky who taps into regressive white racism and the resentments of age.
If there’s a difference from Nixon, it’s that Hillary’s diehard supporters evince at least as much self-pity as the candidate herself. Let Obama and the Party Elders appease them, if they feel they must; the rest of us, the once and future victims of Reagan-Bush-Clinton-Bush politics, need not go along.
That politics comes in a competent version; Hillary (clearly) and Barack Obama (probably) are its most prominent, current representatives, along with almost the entire Democratic caucus in the House and Senate. We also have a doddering, brain dead version now represented by John McCain. Thanks to George Bush’s and Dick Cheney’s incompetence, we are now at a critical conjuncture – where the Democratic version, what I call “Clintonism,” can finally be overcome – despite massive resistance from the party’s leaders. But this will only happen if we push Obama and the others hard enough. Obama’s victory in the primaries, now accomplished, was an indispensable step in that larger struggle; the next, absolutely necessary step is to kick Hillary and Bill off the stage altogether. Let the day come – sooner, not later -- that we not have those wretched Clintons to kick around any more.
Remember, though: Just a few years after Nixon said we wouldn’t have him to kick around, he was back. Then he went on to do incalculable harm. We must act now to insure that in four, eight, or a dozen years nothing like that happens again.
If there’s a difference from Nixon, it’s that Hillary’s diehard supporters evince at least as much self-pity as the candidate herself. Let Obama and the Party Elders appease them, if they feel they must; the rest of us, the once and future victims of Reagan-Bush-Clinton-Bush politics, need not go along.
That politics comes in a competent version; Hillary (clearly) and Barack Obama (probably) are its most prominent, current representatives, along with almost the entire Democratic caucus in the House and Senate. We also have a doddering, brain dead version now represented by John McCain. Thanks to George Bush’s and Dick Cheney’s incompetence, we are now at a critical conjuncture – where the Democratic version, what I call “Clintonism,” can finally be overcome – despite massive resistance from the party’s leaders. But this will only happen if we push Obama and the others hard enough. Obama’s victory in the primaries, now accomplished, was an indispensable step in that larger struggle; the next, absolutely necessary step is to kick Hillary and Bill off the stage altogether. Let the day come – sooner, not later -- that we not have those wretched Clintons to kick around any more.
Remember, though: Just a few years after Nixon said we wouldn’t have him to kick around, he was back. Then he went on to do incalculable harm. We must act now to insure that in four, eight, or a dozen years nothing like that happens again.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
The End is Nigh (or Is It?)
Speaking yesterday in South Dakota, Bill Clinton said he might no longer be making campaign appearances, igniting speculation that Hillary would concede tonight. But, if we’ve learned anything since 1992, it’s that a Clinton’s, especially a Bill Clinton’s, words must be carefully parsed. This would not be the first time that what he said is amenable to many contradictory constructions. Also, the Clinton campaign vehemently denied an Associated Press report indicating that Hillary will indeed throw in the towel tonight -- after the voting in South Dakota and Montana is finished, and after bucket loads of “super delegates” declare for Obama.
Hillary does have a big event planned for New York City, though. That’s where she launched her campaign, and it would a fitting place for her to end it. Don’t count on it, however. Barack Obama has his own event planned tonight in Saint Paul, Minnesota – in the hall where the GOP will nominate John McCain later this summer. I’d wager that, no matter how clear the writing on the wall is, Hillary still has it in her to want to up-stage him.
Since many super-delegates are reported ready to declare for Obama today or tonight, Obama is almost certain, by night’s end, to have more than enough convention votes to secure the nomination. It will be interesting to see if he declares victory before Clinton concedes (if she ever does). Tonight is an obvious time and Saint Paul is a fitting place, whether or not the Clintons are on board. Let them rain on his parade with all the spite that’s in them; they can’t stop him now.
Indeed, the Clintons are toast and it’s just a matter of time before we see the backs of them! But lest we succumb to the hope that Clintonism too is on the skids, remember that tomorrow night in Washington both Clinton and Obama will be addressing AIPAC, declaring eternal fealty to the tribal state under God for which it stands. Maybe what Obama says will be subtly less noxious than Hillary’s remarks; he is the lesser evil, after all, and there is the example of his comparatively decent speech to Cuban Americans in Miami last month. But anyone expecting to see a clear sign of support for international law and political morality is likely to be disappointed; unless, of course, they interpret what they hear with a willful disingenuity reminiscent of the way Bill Clinton speaks when his back is against the wall.
In that regard, Todd Purdum’s piece in the July issue of Vanity Fair – now available on line -- on the peregrinations and state of mind of Hillary’s better half is must reading.
Hillary does have a big event planned for New York City, though. That’s where she launched her campaign, and it would a fitting place for her to end it. Don’t count on it, however. Barack Obama has his own event planned tonight in Saint Paul, Minnesota – in the hall where the GOP will nominate John McCain later this summer. I’d wager that, no matter how clear the writing on the wall is, Hillary still has it in her to want to up-stage him.
Since many super-delegates are reported ready to declare for Obama today or tonight, Obama is almost certain, by night’s end, to have more than enough convention votes to secure the nomination. It will be interesting to see if he declares victory before Clinton concedes (if she ever does). Tonight is an obvious time and Saint Paul is a fitting place, whether or not the Clintons are on board. Let them rain on his parade with all the spite that’s in them; they can’t stop him now.
Indeed, the Clintons are toast and it’s just a matter of time before we see the backs of them! But lest we succumb to the hope that Clintonism too is on the skids, remember that tomorrow night in Washington both Clinton and Obama will be addressing AIPAC, declaring eternal fealty to the tribal state under God for which it stands. Maybe what Obama says will be subtly less noxious than Hillary’s remarks; he is the lesser evil, after all, and there is the example of his comparatively decent speech to Cuban Americans in Miami last month. But anyone expecting to see a clear sign of support for international law and political morality is likely to be disappointed; unless, of course, they interpret what they hear with a willful disingenuity reminiscent of the way Bill Clinton speaks when his back is against the wall.
In that regard, Todd Purdum’s piece in the July issue of Vanity Fair – now available on line -- on the peregrinations and state of mind of Hillary’s better half is must reading.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Appeasement, POP Style
The Party of Pusillanimity, the POP, arrived at a solomonic solution to the Florida and Michigan Questions, according Hillary Clinton a (largely symbolic) net gain of twenty-four delegates, while maintaining some pretense of abiding by the rules that the Clinton campaign endorsed along with all the others, back when the Clintons thought they were sure winners without Florida and Michigan. Hillary and her fans would have ended up worse off had the party followed its rules. But the Democratic National Committee’s Committee on Rules and By-laws, with the Obama campaign’s support, decided on appeasement. They did it, they say, for unity’s sake; in other words, to try to undo some of the damage the Clintons have done to the POP’s chances for victory in November. Maybe they’re right; but if they had a backbone, they would have handed the Clintons their due. Of course, to say “backbone” and “Democrat” together is to utter a cruel oxymoron. In the coming struggle against Clintonism,it will therefore be up to the people who will vote for Obama, not Obama himself and not his wretched party, to expel that dreadful duo from our political life.
That time is coming! The more obstinate Hillary becomes, the fewer friends she has left. Already there’s blood in the water. Bill’s blood too. Let the saga continue and the Clintons will fall hard. Howard Ickes, speaking for the campaign, “reserved the right” to take the Florida and Michigan Questions to the full convention’s Credentials Committee in Denver this summer, and even to fight it out on the floor of the convention itself. As the Bush boy would say, “bring it on”! The POP will never give the Clintons their just deserts; they’re too cowardly even to impeach Cheney and Bush. But it is looking more and more like there will be some justice meted out nonetheless.
Meanwhile, what about those ardent and stubborn Hillary fans? It’s hard to believe there could be all that many of them (maybe the ones in DC yesterday were all there are). But, in a country that lionizes Harry Truman and Ronald Reagan and that elected George W. Bush twice, anything is possible. W.C. Fields got it right: there’s one born every minute.
* *
Meanwhile also yesterday, because yet another man of the cloth, a white priest no less, uttered some “inconvenient truths” from the pulpit of Obama’s church, Obama quit said church. The priest, Father Pfleger, mocked the Clintons from the pulpit. Obama, it seems, had a problem with that – as if it doesn’t make infinitely more sense to make fun of the Clintons than to praise the Lord. But since no American politician has the “audacity” to point that out in this Benighted Age, we should rejoice in what we can get – and hope that Obama stays churchless for a while. His resignation from Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ bodes well. It shows he can be made to do the right thing, even if for the wrong reason.
That time is coming! The more obstinate Hillary becomes, the fewer friends she has left. Already there’s blood in the water. Bill’s blood too. Let the saga continue and the Clintons will fall hard. Howard Ickes, speaking for the campaign, “reserved the right” to take the Florida and Michigan Questions to the full convention’s Credentials Committee in Denver this summer, and even to fight it out on the floor of the convention itself. As the Bush boy would say, “bring it on”! The POP will never give the Clintons their just deserts; they’re too cowardly even to impeach Cheney and Bush. But it is looking more and more like there will be some justice meted out nonetheless.
Meanwhile, what about those ardent and stubborn Hillary fans? It’s hard to believe there could be all that many of them (maybe the ones in DC yesterday were all there are). But, in a country that lionizes Harry Truman and Ronald Reagan and that elected George W. Bush twice, anything is possible. W.C. Fields got it right: there’s one born every minute.
* *
Meanwhile also yesterday, because yet another man of the cloth, a white priest no less, uttered some “inconvenient truths” from the pulpit of Obama’s church, Obama quit said church. The priest, Father Pfleger, mocked the Clintons from the pulpit. Obama, it seems, had a problem with that – as if it doesn’t make infinitely more sense to make fun of the Clintons than to praise the Lord. But since no American politician has the “audacity” to point that out in this Benighted Age, we should rejoice in what we can get – and hope that Obama stays churchless for a while. His resignation from Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ bodes well. It shows he can be made to do the right thing, even if for the wrong reason.
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