For those of you keeping score at home, the title of this post is indeed a Space Jam reference. Hopefully the title will make more sense as you read on. This post is about Hillary Clinton--someone who certainly looks like a familiar liberal face, but whose actual liberal powers have been stolen by the Monstars (the Monstars, in this case, being the change in her party's trajectory over the past 20 years).
This post is also about Bernie Sanders--someone who better embodies the Democratic Party's current ideology, but seemingly gets no credit for it. Now cue the tactless blogger who saw something on TV/read something on the internet that made them mad.
Consider the following aside from Ted Koppel, during a segment he did on Chicago Tonight with Phil Ponce.
“I have enjoyed watching the good senator from Vermont have
a more spirited campaign than many expected, but I do not believe he will be
the candidate.”
Naturally, Koppel says that coming only from
a place of profound experience and wisdom about the political cycle. Not only
the political cycle, but all the other intangibles about this country’s
institutions and the way things work.
The same can be said of New Years Eve’s article by David
Rothkopf, “The
Year The United States Elects Its First Woman President,” though I found
the piece to be little more than a tasteful reposition of obvious
questions. In it, Rothkopf makes
the following statement:
"The arithmetic is pretty straightforward. She will
be the Democratic nominee. The Republican Party is in disarray and still has to
rid itself of the existential threat that the candidacy of Donald Trump poses
before settling on another candidate who, judging from the current field, will
likely be weak and flawed."
Sure, such an existential crisis is glaringly obvious on the
Republican side. But what about the Democrats? What about Bernie Sanders, the real Democrat?
I feel like the whole world is writing Bernie Sanders off
already. When it comes down to it, all Bernie really wants to do is put us on
par with every other 1st-world
country out there. Please don’t be fooled by the cumbersome way he has thus far
described “socialism” or “social democracy.” I’ll help you out. Next time you
hear these terms used by the media (or Bernie himself) to describe his platform,
think Canada, think Sweden, think the UK. When it comes to western governance,
the US is the odd man out, and Bernie merely seeks to help us get with the
times!
He’s in favor of things like expanded education,
single-payer healthcare, not voting during the work week, and gun control.
While we’re on the subject of gun control, I haven’t been
happy with how Bernie has handled this in debates, but next time you hear
Hillary Clinton try to come at him about gun control, remember he’s from
Vermont—a largely rural state where gun violence is not the insidious crisis
that it is in so many other places. And he shouldn’t be downed for being a faithful
senator and voting his state!
But lately, I have been reading a lot of articles that seem
to subtly throw in the towel on Bernie’s behalf. Perhaps for good and wise
reasoning (first and last concession), many are writing articles that come from
an angle or assumption that Hillary will handily secure the nomination. Just
recently, I read “6
moments that could haunt Hillary Clinton.” It spells out the things that
could hamper her in the general election!
Like she’s already won! I could not possibly be S-ing my H any harder.
I have a friend. He’s a liberal, but that comes second. His
first billing would be anti-conservative. Speaking with him, I always take the
stance of saying that I don’t feel that Hillary Clinton really embodies the
modern or contemporary values of one who is left-of-center. And he always
responds with “yeah, but she’s our best chance for the Democrats to win!” And he’ll go on to say something
like “Her husband is Bill Clinton for
crying out loud! Bill. Clinton.” And it’s at this point that I take on the contrarian
view, and lay out some examples of Bill Clinton’s philosophy not jiving with
that of today’s garden-variety liberal (and I may or may not do so in a voice
intended as a bad Lionel
Hutz impression):
Oh, Bill Clinton, eh?
The same Bill Clinton responsible for NAFTA?
(Sidenote/Long-Winded
Aside: there’s writing out there that confirms my suspicion that Hillary has
not been gung-ho about TPP. Short-game reason: So her support of it won’t alienate
the base/be a feather in Bernie’s cap. Long-game reason: So TPP can be on her
presidential resume, and not Obama’s. http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/miscalculation-mrs-clinton-why-trans-pacific-partnership-may-be-trans
Yes. I am familiar with the Cato Institute and what some
writing of theirs sets out to accomplish. But on this blog,
real-recognize-real. Simple as that. Anyway, you were saying, Mr. Hutz?)
The same Bill Clinton who signed DOMA?
The same Bill Clinton who instituted Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell?
Now I’m no big-city lawyer (crowd gasps), but that doesn’t
sound like a Democrat to me…at least not a 21st
Century Democrat! Don’t get me wrong. I love Bill as much as anyone else
out there who can fog a mirror.
My point here is this: Perhaps 1993’s centrist democrat is a
little closer ideologically to today’s establishment republican. Yesterday’s Bill Clinton might be closer
to today’s Mitch McConnell…or today’s John McCain…or today’s Hillary Clinton! With that type of
ideological company, I don’t think that it’s fair to either party for Hillary
Clinton to basically be grandfathered into the Democratic nomination.
Also let’s talk voting record. She’s to the right of most of
her democratic peers on a swath of issues…including women’s rights,
student-debt reform, and wall-street reform. Let’s not forget that she’s to the
right of Obama, and that’s a big part
of why he got the nomination over her in ’08.
In the spirit of our young friend above, you mean to tell me
that she served as a senator from New York in the early to mid 2000s, has a
base of operations in Manhattan, and if elected she somehow won’t be beholden to Wall Street? I
cannot fathom that.
And if you didn’t know that this post was about Hillary
Clinton, you’d have presumed this to be the description of some rank-and-file GOP congressman.
Basically my main bone to pick is that I feel Bernie is the
only Democrat really in the race…and I think that should be his platform! When
do the gloves come off for the Bernie camp? I was hoping to see a bit of a new
offensive in the New Year, but things remain frustratingly quiet.
Sorry guys, when I look at Secretary Clinton, I see a
candidate who enjoys an entirely de facto political platform. I see someone with a rather hawkish
senatorial record. I see a former corporate lawyer who takes to a boardroom
like a fish to water. I see someone who was Secretary of State for an
administration whose foreign policy only got good after she left! See: Cuba and Iran. Both are post-Clinton.
Hey remember that time she bit poor Terry Gross’s head off
on Fresh Air when asked about her
position on marriage equality? She wants you to forget. The establishment and
DNC puppeteers want you to forget. But we have not, have we?
We’ll stop here because this post has become (more)
tangential. There’ll surely be future opportunities to go in on Hillary
Clinton’s false-flaggery. Let’s just suffice it to say that this Hillary thing
doesn’t have to be inevitable if we don’t want it to be.
I invite you now to check out the unfiltered version of Hillary’s
voting record. I really wasn’t kidding about it:
Until Next Time
