A funny thing happened on the way to the Democratic nomination... America heard that a certain candidate was "inevitable" ... but America said, "nope."
Look, I'm not one of the legions of Hillary haters. Far from it. I think she's smart as hell, and I think she gets way too much grief from way too many small minded people.
But I will say, the whole "inevitability" mantra pushed by her campaign for the last year really annoyed the hell out of me. Now, I'm not slamming anyone in particular -- there are good and bad people on every campaign (and as I've learned, some truly awful people as well).
But the inevitability thing was pushed by her campaign, and pushed really, really, really hard by certain specific members. To the point where it frankly pissed off a lot of folks here inside the beltway. Not the "fat cats in smoke filled rooms," but good people who have worked hard in campaigns. People who really want a Democratic president, but... who were frankly turned off by over-zealous Clinton campaign folk who implied they were morons for not accepting the inevitable.
They turned off a lot of potential allies, and now we're seeing a lot of that coming home to roost in waves of flowing schadenfreude.
Were it not for the presence of Barack Obama, hey, maybe this strategy would've worked. Maybe America -- including the beltway crowd -- would've fallen into line. Maybe the "get on the bandwagon or be thrown under it" attitude would've been effective.
Maybe. But back here in the real world, America didn't react kindly to being pushed. And America pushed back -- and said nope.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
The Audacity of "Nope"
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5 comments:
So now America has Mr. Hope. Last time I looked hope was a virtue not a plan. What we have seen so far is less, far less thought through than Hillary's plan.
As far a I can tell he is very cautious and deliberate in his approach. He says that he will have a health plan by the END of his first term. He reminds me of a young Hillary who thought she had time to put together a health plan in 1993. Well, by the time she got her act together the private health care forces had devised and worked a plan of their own. Is history about to repeat itself?? I 'hope' not.
Well, there is a big difference here -- I'd argue Senator Obama is being a lot more realistic with the "end" of first term plan. Unfortunately, Hillary (and yes, Bill) tried to rush through something in '93, and ticked off a lot of potential allies in the process.
In fairness to them, of course, they were taking on a HUGE task, and kudos to them for even trying. But... in the end it didn't work, so maybe this approach will.
She is not losing because of what she is saying. Any body can promise anything and in can mean nothing. For me it's still about the invasion and occupation of foreign countries. Which she clearly approves of. In my opinion, if she had stood against the war for the past 5 years, she would be the current democratic nominee. It can't be said enough, "it's the war stupid". 20% of America, right down the middle, is changing it's mind about our foreign policy. Hillary represents the congress that caused that change to occur. She, along with our congress, and led by the Bush admin, mad some horrific mistakes. It's house cleaning time!
So John hlinko is saying that even if you give wealthy deep pocketed 'private health' companies four years to lobby against you through congress and the media its no big deal, you can't scare Americans out of their 'socialized medicine'.
I hope you are right but...
One thing that is scary is that GW Bush has done EVERYTHING HE CAN to destroy government and Americans faith in it. One of those things is spend tax dollars far, far into the future thereby removing options once available to government.
Unless taxes are substantially increased Obama will be spending all his time plugging financial messes left by GW. With the country in recession raising taxes may not even be possible. Obama will inherit a country in a huge mess...far far worse than Clinton inherited. Add to that expectations will be high. Good luck!
A few random thoughts. The reason Obama is saying universal healthcare by the end of his first term is because he can claim to fight for his non-universal plan on arrival and then say, "Oh well, I tried," by the third year. By that time, as incumbent, he will be immune to Democrats and no Republican is going to press him on this issue.
As for inevitability making you sick, please tell your candidate and his campaign that all his inevitability spin in the last month has made me sick.
I find no hope in a candidate who won't strive to provide universal healthcare and who uses Rep. Cooper, the chief Democratic opponent of universal healthcare, to justify his plan.
I think he's run an utterly underhanded campaign that has left him immune to criticism not because he is such a good candidate but because in January critics were labeled "racially insensitive."
By the by, MoveOn.org sold out the liberal movement when it endorsed Obama based on a poll without requiring candidates to submit issue questionaires. It demanded nothing for its endorsement and therefore will get nothing. It's also destroying its credibility daily by disseminating utter lies about the Democratic Party rules that govern primaries.
I'm tired of men who want to feel good and listen to a nice speech. I want someone who is going to fix the problems of the poor and mend relations around the world. I don't want some novice who makes limousine liberals feel good.
And so, to Obama I say, The Audacity of Inexperience, the Audacity of Exelon, the Audacity of Empty Promises, The Audacity of Donny McClurkin, the Audacity of Double Standards, all turn me off and make me say, "Nope."
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