Nostalgia For Days Of Impeachment

I miss Bill Clinton. Or, I miss the Clinton years, when people were optimistic and the world seemed open and full of promise. It was so much more fun to debate the ridiculousness of his impeachment than to walk on eggshells around subjects as we do today. I miss those years the way we miss old relationships - ones that were destined to end, but for a time they defined us and gave us great stories to tell. I am saddened to hear his name spoken lately, with jabs and barbs and accusatory undertones. Those who do it are the very same people who adored him not a decade ago. Now he is blamed for ruining his wife's campaign, subtly spreading racism and generally being gum on the sole of this election year's shoe. It's all wrong. It's all gone... wrong.

My party is failing me. My party, the one I used to hold to the highest standards, has plummeted in my estimation. The Democratic party, the bright, energetic, promising "change" party has openly allowed and encouraged the disenfranchisement of voters. These are the same people who rightly cried foul over hanging chads and uncounted absentee ballots, yet now they say "okay" when the powers-that-be decide to punish voters as a means of punishing their states. Imagine walking into a voting booth and not having anyone to vote for. Imagine if a candidate you support doesn't even bother to put his or her name on the ballot. Imagine if they'll take your contributions but they don't give you a chance to vote.

This has been a travesty of democracy. The two leading candidates of my party participated in this travesty but nobody talks about it. Has our collective political attention span become so gnat-like that two states can be essentially ignored and we barrel on as though they are merely potholes on the primary road? I wonder what Bill Clinton thinks of it. He won by a landslide and no Democrat since has been able to duplicate what he did. Al Gore won the popular vote but not by a margin large enough to convince everyone. He would have been a great president, but ask anyone for the #1 reason why Gore didn't clinch it beyond a shadow of a doubt and they'll tell you it's because he distanced himself too much from the Clinton administration. It was a bad campaign strategy and everyone lost along right along with him. Oh, to think where this country would be if we, rather than the Supreme Court, chose our president. John Kerry, a decorated war hero, didn't fight very hard when his honorable service was tarnished. Even those of us who voted for him and knew he would make a fine president couldn't help but wonder: are you strong enough to represent and defend our country if you cannot effectively defend yourself?

Fast forward to recent months. The current administration's approval ratings are in the toilet and the country is ready for change. Two Democratic candidates stand out. Both full of promise, newness and hope. Florida and Michigan decide to change their primary dates and the DNC puts on the brakes. Florida and Michigan forge ahead and hold their primaries despite the DNC's "no" mandate. Clinton and Obama largely ignore those states in their campaigns. Clinton put her name on the Michigan ballot and won, of course, because how else could it have turned out? At every turn the candidates decry the political machine and Washington insiderness as though they are not part and parcel of both. They talk exhaustively about changing the way things are done but they don't fight tooth and nail and say, "this isn't right. This isn't democracy."

People faulted Clinton for putting her name on the Michigan ballot, claiming she only did so because she needed the votes. Perhaps that is so. But maybe she did it because her name should have been there in the first place, alongside her competition. I've often wondered why so many Democrats have commanded others to "unite the party!" behind a candidate rather than truly uniting the party - by acknowledging and empowering Democrats themselves. The way to do that is through voting. Pure. Democratic. American. Beautiful.

Are we such sheep to the party herder? Is it party above individual? If we accept this action, what are our defining characteristics as a party? It is not enough to be anti-Bush administration. We shouldn't merely be the party that isn't "the other." If we stand idly by as our most sacred democratic right - the right to vote - is pulled from the grasp of fellow citizens, the results thus far of this primary season continue to stand in question. Two questions, actually, of legitimacy and political justice.

I wish Bill Clinton would tell me what he thinks about all this. He was the first president I voted for, so he claimed a warm spot in my political heart. The night he won, I actually felt sad for President Bush because he looked very tired and almost relieved that it was all over. Clinton won fair and square and I openly accept any president who can do that because that is what democracy is all about. Those two ex-presidents became friends and now more than ever I wish I could be a fly on the wall during one of their hang-outs.