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It's Impossible to be Proud of the Way Hillary Has Run This Campaign
I feel like asking the same question about elitists that Jim Mora once famously asked about the playoffs. Elitists?! Elitists?! We're talking about elitists?!
The Clinton and McCain families both have over $100 million. Barack Obama has a father from Kenya and mother from Kansas. Who are they kidding about elitism?
I don't think money is necessarily the determinative factor in whether you're an elitist or not. And I think the Clintons did work their way up in this world. But to claim that a guy like Obama who built his success completely on his own and from the bottom up is an elitist is beyond ridiculous. In fact, it's worse; it's Republican.
Republicans charge Democrats with being elitists every campaign cycle as they themselves are dripping with money, status and privilege. And they get away with it every time. George W. Bush's grandfather was a senator, his father was president, he went to Andover, Yale and Harvard -- and he claimed the Democrats were elitists and he was the regular guy you could have a beer with (ignoring the fact that he is an alcoholic).
And the media lets them get away with this insane shell game. You can say Obama went to Harvard, too. But one thing is for sure -- his daddy didn't get him in. There is all the difference in the world between having your family name get you into Harvard and earning your way in. One makes you privileged and upper class; the other makes you an American success story.
One more thing about Obama. When he got out of Harvard Law, he could have made a lot of money in private industry. Instead, he went to work for disadvantaged communities in Chicago. This guy spent his life helping the poor when he could have been stinking rich instead. And now they call him elitist and the media mindlessly goes along with it.
Meanwhile, McCain wants to give away billions of dollars in tax breaks to the richest people in America. And he has the nerve to bring up elitism? He married a woman who is a multi-millionaire. He is from the party that stands up for multi-millionaires. And he is going to accuse a guy who came up from nothing and helped others struggling to do the same of being an elitist? How can the media not see through this mind-numbingly obvious political hackery?
Now, Hillary is playing this game, too. And this is what pisses me off about her the most. She buys into everything Republicans say about Democrats. She has now resorted to using GOP Politics 101 against Obama. Not only is this damaging to our eventual candidate (every dollar she spends now is a dollar in McCain's pocket), not only is it infuriating because it has absolutely no validity but it is also ultimately self-defeating.
Once she accepts the Republican framing, she has done their job for them. Even in the wildly implausible scenario that she becomes the Democratic candidate, she is signing her own political death warrant by agreeing to all of the Republican attacks against Democrats.
If she wants to be the candidate who is reflexively pro-gun, accuses others of not being sufficiently religious and charges Democrats of being elitists when they're trying to stand up for the little guy, she can piss off and become a Republican already.
Seriously, who is still proud to say they are a Hillary Clinton supporter? Are you proud of this campaign? Has she inspired you? Has she made you proud to be a Democrat?
If you're a Clinton supporter at this point and you're honest with yourself, you know she's running a Republican campaign against him. You might trick yourself into thinking she is just being tough and doing what's necessary. But she certainly isn't the one fighting for our world-view and our vision of what makes this country great. You might think she has to win by any means necessary, but you're certainly not proud of her.
Let's elect a Democrat who doesn't actually mind being a Democrat.
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The Clintons do interviews on Fox. Ed Rendell says they are "fair". Lanny Davis calls into the Sean Hannity radio show. Fox bashes Obama as if Hillary isn't even in the race. Hillary gets all those "Limbaugh" votes - big numbers in Ohio. Bill Clinton was on the Rush Limbaugh show the day of the Texas primary. Something is very wrong with this picture. The Clintons said she and John McCain were "ready", but not Obama. 30% of those who support Hillary won't support Obama and will vote for McCain. How many already support McCain? Will the Clintons support McCain because Obama is so "wrong" ?
I think it's remarkable how Clinton is treated in one broad brush on anything she says or does, while her opponents are given the benefit. The republicans so completely trashed the Clinton's in the 1990's (starting in '91 when Bill first ran for president) that today in 2008 even the Left is comfortable trashing her like she's some Right-wing witch.
It is proof that constantly telling someone the moon is blue will ultimately make them believe it and fall in line, even if they once knew better.
Uygur says we should "elect a Democrat who doesn't actually mind being a Democrat." Oh, bs. You show me how Obama gets to 270 electoral votes if he loses states like Ohio and Pennsylvania to McCain in November. Adding Colorado or Virginia won't make up the difference because they have fewer electoral votes, and that's the ONLY way we elect a president. What's the map for getting there?
Can you make an argument without reaching for the stale Hillbot talking points? The worst attack from the Obama campaign on Hillary was a one off comment from Jesse Jackson Jr. Whereas the Clinton campaign is using the excuse that "he'll face dirty Republican attacks" to...make dirty Republican attacks.
There's a reason Fox is attacking Obama more than Hillary: they know he's the stronger candidate. But she's actually guilty of what the Republicans falsely accused Gore of doing in 2000 - making crazy shit up to embellish her resume. SCHIP, NAFTA, FMLA, and especially Tuzla - you think Fox is going to let that all slide if she gets the nomination?
By saying that this election will be about national security issues and that John McCain has the necessary experience to be POTUS, she's set the race up for him in the fall.
And stop fooling yourselves, Obama is *more* electorally competitive, not *less*. He campaigns in every state, the same way we won control of Congress in 2006. Hillary only campaigns in big democratic and "battle ground" states - the same strategy that has only lost us elections. Of the top ten states that have voted, Obama has won more of them than Clinton. We've got math, you've got myth:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/12/12552/6475
I wonder what would have happened if Clinton ran in 2004.
I just cannot get past the fact that she wholeheartedly voted for the war and voted against the American people and for the credit card companies when she voted for the Bankruptcy Bill, but the coup de grace for me was her vote for the Kyl-Lieberman amendment to declare Iran a terrorist state, a precursor to war.
her intelligence lies in her ability to accumulate facts and spit out the data like some tired fax machine.
what she cannot do is synthesize the data into a coherent whole... she doesn't see the big picture, nor the nuances, nor the trends. she is not a 'wise' woman.
Cenk, how come ya wont post my comments? Did I get out of hand before?
I'm really sorry if I did, I admit I get kinda worked up sometimes.
The way things are these days, tho, it sure isn't hard to do.
Cenk, thanks for this post. It's accurate and thought provoking, but mostly, I feel, sad.
I was rooting for Hillary from the start. Very excited about the prospect. The woman who could absolutely dop it. But from the very beginning, when I saw her entrenching herself to maintain the unnecessary hard relations with corporate America while she had the chance to send the populist message, I knew it could be a beginning of more disappointment, and sure enough, it has been.
She's the one who could have carried Edward's populist message, and the media wouldn't have been able to sideline her like they did Edwards, because no one could take their eyes off her! If they DID, -and here's the SAD PART- There's been a whole country, a whole Army, if you will, of journalistic and grass roots people ready to lift her up, hold up and support her for single payer health care, leaving Iraq, environmental issues, taking the cases for the less fortunate, against corporations for everyday Americans, but she felt she could do it on her own, listening to the losers who've been advising her, pleasing the rich elite..
The Corporate media had obviously already intimidated her so bad, she didn't dare do it. And now, all she's been left with is a playbook that will surely be something she will regret for years to come.
She was the one MADE to carry that real populist message... To victory! but she passed on it.
Big mistake. Huge.
you said it. She really muffed this whole thing. absolutely had it handed to her and she flubbed it but good. its exactly why she should not be and is not qualified to be POTUS or CIC.
HERE WE GO AGAIN....
"How DARE she campaign agaisnt him!!! our precious baby!!!"
I, for one, am very proud of her and her campaign, and am most ashamed of the media, the press, the pundits, the bloggers on HuffPo, moveon.org, and obama supporters and their lousy attitude.
For one, he is inexperienced. That is not a smear. For two, Hillary's remarks about learnign to shoot as a girl are BEING TAKEN OUT OF CONTEXT. She did not change her views on gun control, but rather was trying to say "I get it....its part of your culture"
She should have never attacked Obama so chicken-heartedly, like a republican. She should have stuck to the issues. People were watching, waiting to see if she would fall in there, and she did. They, myself included, would have thought much better of her for not even going there. She let herself get sucked into the cowardly neocon playbook, and the only one it has really hurt is her, because people have woken up, dear. Get a clue.
Nothing against Hill, but this is NOT the time to be unloyal to the Dem party. In the face of what this nation's had to suffer with this idiot, Its unforgivable..
She should have never attacked Obama so chicken-heartedly, like a republican. She should have stuck to the issues
=========
BALONEY. She was on the issues for WEEKS and the media payed no attention and neither did you.
Did Huffpo do anyting on her crime reduction plan? or much about her statements about China? No, Huffpo and the media focused on Bill Clinton, HRC's bosnia statements, etc.
She had EVERY right to offer her opinion of Obama's comments.
It didn't bother my husband or my 16 year old - but watching her down shots to be "liked" by guys in Pennsylvania made me kind of sick - not really the way I want my President to conduct herself. And it did give an example to my son of caving in to peer pressure -- I doubt she would choose to do this on any other given Friday night. I turned to Obama a few months ago because I think Hillary has lost her bearings -- I don't want a president who is either completely cynical or undergoing an identity crisis.
so i assume you were equally offended when obama went to sports bars and tried bowling in an attempt to "fit in"??
Yea, seeing her 'trying' to be one of the boys has set the women's movement back 20 years....lol
Oh Lord. YOU'RE queen is being taken out of context!? Really? That's rich. That AHOLE WROTE the book on how to take words out of context. Your pride has blinding you to the warts all over her campaign.
What words did she take out of context.?
Obama WAS NOT Being taken out of context.....his words were quite self explanatory.
Indeed. That's why I hardly think there would be any "good ole days" if she someone won the nomination. She's not as smart as she thinks she is. I don't trust her lies or the campaign's smears and I don't think her campaign shows she's be all that great of a president.
It is more important that the US gets to watch a debate between Obama and McCain than to watch 2 Republicans argue about the details of their jointly failed policies. In 1964 Goldwater got trounced but his message inspired the modern conservative movement. Every election since has been right-center, except 1972. Progressive Democrats have taken the party back in 2008 and it marks the beginning of the generational pendulum swing in politics. Obama is its articulate standard bearer for 2008, taking over from Howard Dean in 2004. Let's get to the debate and watch him expose the tired bromides, and discredited policies of the right, while the whole nation focuses on the matter, not just political junkies like us.
her intelligence lies in her ability to accumulate facts and spit out the data like some tired fax machine.
what she cannot do is synthesize the data into a coherent whole... she doesn't see the big picture, nor the nuances, nor the trends. she is not a 'wise' woman.
i don't understand why the hillaryites can't see this.
Obama supporters seem to have this notion that he should be annointed and not have to win votes or campaign hard.
Well, I don't agree.
He indisputably revealed a side of himself with his remarks. He has to be accountable.
And his spin of making it about bitter isn't authentic.
He needs to explain why he called people racists and why he patronized them by suggesting their religious beliefs and culture is born out of bitterness.
The idea that a presidential nominee doesn't have to answer for something that crass would be the height of absurdity for the party.
DUH...Annin..of COURSE Obama is accountable for anything he says..but try this ...LISTEN...he addresses what he says...doesn't say (or have his spouse say)..."oh..he was tired"..
he accepts...moves on....no bullshit....I am so sick of the Clintons (yes..I voted for bill c twice)..I could spit...
McHillary...bye bye... I'm mad as Hell...and won't take it anymore...
*blink*
Believe me, Hillary had very little to do with the uproar. If she had that kind of power, she would have knocked him out of the race months ago. LOL*
The remarks were outrageous. He said them. He revealed himself in the worst way as a true panderer for votes.
But he'll talk trash behind their backs in a heartbeat.
Sure, Obama should have to be accountable for what he says, and he is, but he shouldn't have to be accountable for what you say he said, which he didn't, in fact, say.
You post too much.
AnninCA..........Like all other Clinton supporters you are ignorant of the facts. You never cease to amaze me with your distorted views of the truth. I know you will never see things the way a normal person sees it and I feel pitty for people like you who are like lost sheep being drawn to the slaughterhouse. As long as I live I will never understand how anyone with half a brain cannot see Hillary for the coniving,narcissistic,power hungry wench that she is........ I feel sorry for you!
Hey Ann,
Let's hear what you have to say about your girl Hillary in this video. Remember, the one where she condescends to women who "stay at home and bake cookies"?
Bet you don't think this is elitist at all:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=rulSnAM6gmM
Did ya get a load of those eyebrows? Pretty thick, huh?
like half the girls in Newark... I think that was Madonna style back then.
Yup, I remeber that well. Those comments made me love her all the more.
Back then, she was being mocked for being, god forbid, a working mother....oh the horror.
He never once called anyone a racist, nor did he ever suggest that their culture is borne out of bitterness.
The height of absurdity is the hypocrisy of Bill taking $800,000 from the Columbians to help them on the trade deal while Hillary supposedly is against it. The height of absurdity is lying about whether yourself and your ONLY child were shot at or not, and feigning a memory lapse. As a mom, I'd sure remember that.
I know your job is really hard when you have so little to work with, Ann. You have our sympathies.
Maybe McCain will pay better and have a better story, I'm telling you, you should apply now! Before your gig with Clinton runs out!
He never once called anyone a racist
=====
UHH..."antipathy for people who dont look like them"....that is a Harvard elitist way of saying "bigots"
Well said my friend. Too bad that you're just preaching to the choir.
What's so sad to me is the fact that I knew Hillary would stop at nothing and take this all the way. I hoped against hope that Obama would pull off Texas and end this wreck. Now that it's happening for real, it's just so sad to watch this woman become a sad parody of herself. Makes you wonder why, doesn't it?
Up until now I have given Billary too much credit-I assumed she/he had a plan - knew where she/he was headed - believed in the USA, had a heart, mind and party consciousness--and that she/he was primarily upset and getting lost in emotionalism and therefore really blowing it!
But I was wrong, Billary really is only a machine. An ever hungry, greedy, kniving MACHINE. Look at the dollars they have conned people out of -- not to win but to BUY what votes they have managed to get away with--also known as stealing an election. A campaign built ONLY on chaos so everyone is NOT watching what they are really up to. An old trick used tirelessly by these two and we the public have been falling for it all along --through all of their campaigns.
Proud of one's campaign? They haven't been running a campaign, they've been running a scorched earth policy since they arrived on the scene 30+ years ago. Their campaign workers are always filled with robots. No one with actual blood and a heart could withstand the carnage these two people represent.
And how do you figure that he built his success on his own? What no one wants to mention is the "scholarships" he received his entire academic career from age 10 that were based on his race. How does a "B-student" (according to his Punahou high school teachers in Honolulu) get into the very best Ivy League schools? I'm all for financial aid (I received some in college). I'm all for affirmative action. But to use it and then turn around and make the claim that you pulled yourself up by the bootstraps is disingenuous.
You are misrepresenting the claims of "elitism." They are not based on his socio-economic status. They're based on the condescension with which he treats the lowly peons who weren't fortunate enough to receive a free education at the most exclusive, expensive and best educational institutions in the U.S.
Your comment is disingenuous timinhi. You don't graduate the top of your class by affirmitive action. Hard work gets you to the top and neither Hillary or George Bush have the grades that stack up against Obama. So if you're looking for the smartest person, Obama is the by far the smartest one out of all of the politicians. Obama may be confident and maybe a little cocky but an elitist he is not.
You are sooo off here.
If he got in because of her race how did he graduate from Harvard Law School in the top 1% of his graduating class. That takes some serious hard work.
He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard. Sorry, you can't do that without hard work.
He then gave up the chance to make millions on Wall Street to go do community service work to try to help people out of poverty in the hardest hit areas in Chicago...making $10,000 a year himself and living in a one bedroom apartment.
Actions speak louder than words...this is a man who has literally dedicated his life to helping the people YOU claim he is "condescending" to. Duh.
what a waste of financial aid.
"Barack Obama has a father from Kenya and mother from Kansas . . . to claim that a guy like Obama who built his success completely on his own and from the bottom up is an elitist is beyond ridiculous."
No, what's "beyond ridiculous" is the way you and other Obama supporters persist in rewriting his personal history. First of all, what difference does it make where Obama's parents were from? It is a fact that Obama Sr. was a pretty big player in the Kenyan government until he pissed them off by disparaging their policies. According to Time Magagzine, Obama's mother held a powerful position within the Ford Foundation at one point during her career. His grandmother, the one he recently threw under the bus with insinuations of racism, was a highly paid corporate vice president within a powerful Hawaii Bank corporation.
I saw another of his supporters on CNN yesterday claiming Obama was raised poor on food stamps in Kansas. While for a short time between marriages his mom received food stamps, Obama was raised in a middle class family and never visited Kansas until relatively recently.
Interesting.......
Only to other sock puppets.
Dork.
He never claimed to live in Kansas.
The "difference" is that Obama is not a silver-spooner and is a lot closer to being able to understand what it is like NOT to be rich than most.
I don't know how much you know about banking, but a VP of a bank is a decent job, but not a highly-paid job. VP titles are given out in banks like candy, in lieue of money.
Obama has never claimed he wasn't for most of his life raised middle class, even though there were some bumps along the way. Nothing wrong with being middle class, you got a problem with that? Most Americans are middle class...Obama was raised like most Americans. You reinforce his point.
I repeat: what a waste of financial aid.
Very nicely said. As an independent who surely, don't want to vote for this republican candidate, I'm beginning to view the dem party as being very dysfunctional. As a black women, who is over fifty, I tried to keep an open-mind regarding the dem. candidates. Some bowed out possibly too soon, but oh well. I still tried t keep an open mind, reading platforms, listening to what each said etc. However,when the negativity began initially I thought it was a product of politics, but then it came off as personal from Sen. Clinton-about me and not the party. So now my choice is Sen. Obama.
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