Assassination Chatter and the End of Legitimacy

Legitimacy is the most elemental and elusive of political goods; a gift which only a society can give its leaders, and only the same society can take away.

To deprive a politician of legitimacy is long and serious work. A good deal of the process has always taken place behind the scenes before the evidence comes into view.

Thus, from 1994 onward, a language of generalized insult and contempt was used by Republicans about Bill Clinton in order to deprive him of the claim to be recognized as the legitimate holder of the office of president. Newt Gingrich and the Contract-with-America wing of the party were deliberate in the tactics they deployed. They coolly decided to use the word "sick" to characterize the Clintons and their policies. Instructions regarding which words of contempt to use and when to use them, went out in memorandums and were put into practice on pundit shows and talk radio. This story is told by David Brock, an insider who came to regret the part he played, in his memoir Blinded by the Right.

The delegitimation of Bill Clinton led from the sprawling fruitless Whitewater investigation to the Paula Jones suit to the interrogation of Monica Lewinsky to the impeachment of the president. On the whole this is not an episode Americans look back on with pride. When the Supreme Court in May 1997 decided that Paula Jones's lawsuit against a sitting president could go forward, because there was no reason to suppose it would interfere with his performance of his duties, the judges were oddly unanimous in their indifference to the power of legitimacy.

What Bill Clinton felt at the time is barely possible to imagine; the bitter taste the impeachment left with both Clintons, they have taken great pains to conceal.

We have seen a return this year to the politics of delegitimation by the extreme Republican right. Yet what has been most surprising is the complicity, and then the open participation in that process by the Clinton campaign. Race was always going to be an element in this year's election. But the comparison of the front runner Barack Obama to the marginal candidate Jesse Jackson on the pretext that both had won South Carolina was a shocker when people heard it come out of the mouth of Bill Clinton. Again, the talk, by Hillary Clinton and her operatives after Ohio, of "the commander in chief test" which (it was said) she and John McCain had "passed" but Obama mysteriously could not pass, was a second stroke of the same kind. There was no scientific or political content to the statement. Its significance was gestural. It was an effort to delegitimate Obama, and its truth could only be shown by its success or failure.

Hillary Clinton's recent careless-careful mention of the assassination of Robert Kennedy, in answer to a question about why she would stay in the Democratic race when all the numbers are against her, raised the tactics of delegitimation to a pitch as weird as anything the Clintons can have seen in the years 1997-98.

The most disturbing element of her remark was this: that it chose to treat assassination as just one more political possibility, one of the things that happen in our politics, like hecklers, lobbyists, and forced resignations. The slovenly morale and callousness of such a released fantasy is catching. So when, a few days later, the Fox News contributor Liz Trotta was asked her opinion of Senator Clinton's statement, Trotta said: "some are reading [it] as a suggestion that somebody knock off Osama...Obama. Well...both if we could!" Liz Trotta laughed as she said that. Later, she apologized, as Senator Clinton also has apologized.

Race comes easily and inevitably into discussions of Barack Obama, and never far from race is the thought of violence. It is there when you hear mentally feeble persons say, "I am afraid of this one; so afraid! something makes me afraid!" And race comes into the discussion when you hear clever people say, "He can never win the white vote; the white working class just aren't ready for him."

An unmeasurable but well-recorded condition for the assassination of John F. Kennedy was the campaign of delegitimation that preceded that terrible event. Anti-Castro Cubans hated Kennedy because he had disappointed them at the Bay of Pigs, and seemed to be a warm friend cooling. Many Southern white people hated him for his indications of solidarity with the cause of civil rights. There are other actors and reactions that might be added; but all shared the belief that Kennedy was not a legitimate leader, that he didn't deserve to be given the chance to go on governing. The hatred was especially virulent in the South. Death threats were in the air and Kennedy had been warned against taking the trip to Texas.

When a democratic society fails to honor the contract by which we elect our leaders in peace, and let them govern in peace, and show our approval or disapproval by keeping them or turning them out of office--when the incantation "He is not one of us" dips so far below sanity that we pretend the rules and decencies aren't in force any more--it is more than one person who is harmed. This loose way of talking and thinking of violence hardens us against real responsibility if the violent thing should happen. We are administering shocks to ourselves in advance so as not to be surprised by the actuality. But such preparations are in their very nature corrupt, and corrupting. And they are not less so when used against any person of dignity and estimation, on the public stage, than when they are leveled against an elected official.

William James wrote of the hope of democracy after the Civil War:

"The deadliest enemies of nations are not their foreign foes; they always dwell within their borders. And from these internal enemies civilization is always in need of being saved. The nation blest above all nations is she in whom the civic genius of the people does the saving day by day, by acts without external picturesqueness; by speaking, writing, voting reasonably; by smiting corruption swiftly; by good temper between parties; by the people knowing true men when they see them, and preferring them as leaders to rabid partisans or empty quacks. Such nations have no need of wars to save them."

The original meaning of the phrase "We shall overcome" is too often forgotten. The words didn't mean: "We--black and white people--will win equal rights for black people." They meant rather: "We--human beings--will overcome our savage impulse to settle our differences by violence. In both domestic and foreign arenas of dispute, we will overcome our endless reliance on short-violent-cuts to success."

The acceptance of political violence, apparent in the recent casual chatter of assassination, shows a despair of overcoming that is as monstrous in its way as the acts of violent men themselves.

Comments

[kira181]

This is absolutely ridiculous. The Right Wing has nothing on the Obama Wing when it comes to viciousness and ill will which relies on the stupidity of people who hear a soundbite and go off the deep end without one iota of critical thought.

David Axelrod got caught lying about using Hillary's words to fire up a "scandal" and then, pretending he didn't. The Obama campaign stirred up "assasination chatter" and thought it was going to get away with sitting back and watching the drama. Where's the Post of Outrage about that?

Stop worrying about code words and secret signals and pay attention to actual words. If you can't figure out the problem with a Hillary Nutcracker or "Hillary is a C.U.N.T" tee shirts, you have no business delving into the denotations or underlying meaning of anything.

[SethBullock]

cites? if you don't provide references we will believe you are lying in support of your pathologically lying candidate.

[ohmercy]

4 pages of memo's coming out of Obama campaign citing racism talking points, dated before comments were made in SC. Emails to media outlets and talking heads citing talking points on what should be considered racist some before SC. some after Obama made his statement about how "unfortunate" Bill's remark was and we were moving on.

Jesse Jackson Jr. suggesting that Hillary was a racist after tearing up in NH.... after all she didn't CRY for Katrina.
WTF?
The MLK?LBJ garbage
After talking about the brilliance of MLK, how important his work was, how we couldn't have gotten here without it and that a President had to sign it into office- yet it couldn't have been signed in without MLK's work. Again, racist charges.

The race baiting coming from Axelrod's campaign has been disgusting and disgraceful.

You won't listen to reason but what possible motive would Clinton have for alienating African American's? What possible reason would anyone have for pushing this when facts show a completely different reality then the new narrative?
Who would push?
Who would benefit ?
exactly.

The lack of logic I read here is beyond description.
The total Machavellian prowess of the Clinton's are decried and at the same time they are being crucified for dirty tricks even a novice wouldn't make.

http://tinyurl.com/52w8hx

[NeoLiberal]

Saying it does not make it so.

Please do more research founded in fact and not dogma.

Thank you.

[ohmercy]

google Russert, debate, racism memo's

[LeftLeanWing]

and Hillary stirred up the 'Bitter' chatter

and Hillary made sure the 'Rev Wright' had his moment in the sun. You do know that the person responsible for HIM to be featured at the National Press Corp was an avid Hillary supporter, don't you. ?

You really shouldn't be holding Obama responsible for every bone-headed smear novelty that mocks Sen Clinton. These are right-wing folks who've always hated the Clintons.

There are equally bone-headed smear novelties against Obama too; ie the T-shirt that says 'Obama 08' with a picture of a monkey eating a banana. I personally hate all of these items but holding Obama responsible for every item every smear all negative media attention on Hillary is really not very healthy and misdirected.

There is no evidence that people in masse are not voting for Hillary because she is a woman. This really isn't A Man vs A Woman contest that you are making it out to be. This is a Tale of Two Senators.

[ohmercy]

shhhh,
They'll hear you and have you arrested.
There is no room for dissent.
They are the borg.

Obama campaign emailed the Olbermann post out to thousands and thousands of journalists and media outlets around the world.
If he is so concerned about assassination why would he do that?

Maybe he is trying to stir up feelings of hatred for Clinton so strong as to assasinate her?
I mean if we are going to throw accusations around. She has received many threats over many years... and you know she is so "polarizing."

well, saying she is creates that perception anyway.
I've never seen a dirtier or more cynical campaign then the Axelrod creation. He is damn brilliant. the biggest fault of the Clinton campaign was to not hire him. I don't think it was an option though. He was on board at the beginning of this creation from what I understand.

I love how obama really thinks this is all about him. (yes, I KNOW what he says, but look at him, listen to Michelle... shudder...) how this is something he somehow has done all by himself because of his inherent ability and right.
aiyeeee.

what do I know.
I'm just an old typical bitter white lady racist after all.
The base the party no longer needs.

[burnt]

Thank you. I'm a little late reading this post, but am happy that I did not miss it completely. Very well stated. The logic is tight... the history lessons learned.

[c.w.]

Wow - how much longer are the Obamicans going to milk this preposterous lie? There was absolutely nothing, in any way, wrong with Clinton's remark. She was using well known, readily recognizable examples of other people, like Bobby Kennedy, who had done what she is doing now: continuing to fight from behind against the "presumptive nominee" (who, in '68 was Humphrey).

That this story is now based on an intentional misrepresentation of Clinton's words is an established fact. That RFK's tragic death is being cynically manipulated by Barack Obama and his media zombies is disgusting.

[Janskats]

I guess Clinton's supporters don't get out much or can't read. Hillary first made these almost identical remarks in a Time interview March 6. McAuliffe was asked by Russert two weeks ago about her slim chances at this point. He repllied, "Nothing's impossible, Look, tomorrow something new could happen.." (R) "But you would need an act of God or for something catastrophic to happen to the Obama campaign". (M) "Sure, something big would have to happen, I will give you that, absolutely."

Now, she comes out again and repeats the Time comment..right after Gomer Huckabee (to the NRA) refers to a backstage noise as Obama diving under a chair because a gun was pointed at him! Clinton could have referred to "RFK campaigning in June", either time, but she chose a word..both times..that would be questioned as appropriate by normal people!

The first time I read the Time interview, I was inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt. Now, it becomes sickeningly clear that, around the Clinton campfire, this has become a talking point, if not a theme! She tops it off by trying to put it back on Obama..who has been consistently gracious to her throughout! Such duplicity! She and hers have slipped their moorings!

[twinkerbell]

And Obama was gracious enough to characterize Senator Clinton's remarks as coming from a tired person campaigning nonstop. If he can let it go, we should also. Of course, the only way Senator clinton can become president is if something awful happens: either the so-called bombshell about Obama's past that the Clinton folks are threatening to drop, or something worse....whatever it might be.

[tedbear]

Beautifully written! You put forth this issue of the Clinton's unforgivable behavior in a refined way. They are still vermin.

[littleblackcat]

The comment that Barack Obama can't win, the white working class just isn't ready for him can and should be re-written to say dumb-ass white trash and the severely deprived whites won't vote for him because he is a man of colour. That he is the offspring of a black man and a WHITE WOMAN is another thing people of this tunnel-visioned mindset will hold against him. The "political correctness" bullshit that this country sets so much store by needs to be gotten rid of and the PLAIN TRUTH spoken. Having lived in the Apallachian section of the country for many years, the people there run the gamut of the highly-educated comfortably well-off to the average everday, high school to 2-year college working class to the slovenly, lazy, narrow-minded individuals who are SSOOOO PROUD of the fact that their skin is pale and hold the most visceral contempt for "them niggers" because they consider themselves superior. It isn't the "hard-working white people" that Obama has a problem with, it's the less-than-hard-working STUPID white people, about whose support I cannot see anyone being proud of.

[freashair]

most educated Americans know that the phrase blue collar white working class people, means poor white trash. So let's call it like it is. Yesterday, I was watching who wants to be a millionare on tv. The contestant was a white female in her thirties. The question that was given to her to answer was, " which one of these four polititions is a Republican"? They were, joe Biden, Bill Richardson, Mitt Romney and another prominate Democrat. She did not know the answer. How sad!!! This is where Obama's problem lies. Those hard working white blue collar people can't even tell the Republican from the Democrat in this case, because all of the examples in the question given were white or at least looked white to her. However, Obama does not look white at all, and here in lies the problem . So, come out of the closet, all of you wing nuts, so that we can see your faces and identify to all, what's really wrong with America, it's not Iraq, Iran, North Korea or even the so called terrorist. It's the enemy within our own borders.

[Sneakerface]

If you knew about Mitt Romney during his days as Gov. of Massachusetts, you wouldn't know which one was the Republican either.

[Herrington]

The most well thought through and stated piece on the subject to date. Thanks Bromwich.

[loudspeaker]

Yeah, the latest thoughts from Yale.

[loudspeaker]

That's our "education president's" university.

[NeoLiberal]

Here here.

[RRonin]

A question touched upon briefly in this post is: "What long term trauma did the Clintons suffer after 8 long years of abuse at the hands of the Republicans?" PTSD does not just happen to soldiers in combat. It also happened to civilians in war zones, and in certain ways, the 8 years of the Clinton administration was a war. Clinton was only the second President to have impeachment proceedings brought against him. Imagine all the shame and embarrasment the Clintons felt, through the Lewiinsky scandal, the relentless pursuit on the Whitewater case, the Paula Jones suit, the impeachment, even the scurriilous accusations following the death of Vince Foster. Personally, I could not have endured it, and most people woundn't. Sure, the Clintons are tough, but they're not superhuman. There had to be some kind of long term effects.

[kellygrrrl]

OK. so I'm going to be as nice as I can
and give The Clintons one last "excuse"
after 15 years of defending them, I guess it's a fitting way to close the book, at least for me

so after so many years of being so violently hated by the Right Wing, let's assume The Clintons truly are suffering PTSD.
OK. I'll go with that.
it further speaks to their incapacity to lead this Nation at this time.
but good.

NOW - can we please MOVE ON?

[GiannaX]

The term PTSD is thrown around too lightly. I find it disrespectful to combat vets and others who have suffered through REAL catastrophic events.

[Diana999]

"Hillary Clinton learned the wrong lessons from her experience" - Barack Obama

The right lesson would have been this:

"Beware in fighting monsters that you don't become one" - Nietzsche

[twinkerbell]

Hillary Clinton even go the endorsement of Richard Mellon Scaife, the ultra right wing nut who financed Paula Jones sexual harassment lawsuit against Bill Clinton. Talk about cognitive dissonance! Just another confirmation that she will do anything to get the nomination, and being so brazen about it, it's backfired on her.

[PhDcommonsense]

Not only are the Clintons trying to deligitimize Obama, but the whole Democratic Party, and Clinton's Legacy. I will say it again as I have in other posts to Huff Post. I cannot figure out why the SuperDelegates are not running from Clinton.

The Clintons are doing the very same thing to Obama that was done to them.
Does anyone wonder why the call for her to get out by certain party leaders was ever mentioned, to their credit, they saw the Clintons going down this road of personal destruction on a fellow Democrate and wondered have the Clintons lost it, and tried to head them off, before they could put more of their feet in their mouthes. Now it appears Clinton has put her whole body in her mouth and Bill is helping her shove it in.

[loudspeaker]

Super delegates can do anything but vote for either candidate until the convention. Super delegates can change their minds a thousand times before the convention.

[pratliff94]

I never thought Progressive Liberal Democrats would stoop to the Rove level of Swiftboating the Truth, but these silly diatribes against Senator Clinton have proved me wrong. This is silly. Try fitting this one on for size since no one has mentioned it, not even the Clinton Campaign which they owe to the American public to mention. Woe be to us that Obama or any Democrat Nominee reaches nomination without being full vetted. I promise you the Republicans and the corporate media will vet him and then some.

Is there an Obama Indictment looming? Is the US Attorney's office just waiting until it is too late for the Democrats to turn back with an nominated Senator Obama?

The exact charges against Obama
Obama will be charged under 18 USC 1346, the "mail fraud honest services" section. Here is an extended but clear explanation of this section of the law. Once you read it and understand it thoroughly, you will see--comparing it to Obama's acts in Pringle's articles--that Obama faces innumerable charges of violating this law. Indeed, there may be more counts in Obama's indictment than there are in Rezko's. There are 24 Rezko counts, involving 18 USC 1346.



Still support Obama, considering that, even as this is being written, he is violating 18 USC 1346. He would continue to violate 18 USC 1346 in the White House. Still going to vote for Obama?

http://www.groom.com/_library/downloads/NAPPAArticle-Feb2006.pdf.

Phil

[Oldchef]

You seem to be charging Obama with criminal bribery. Do you have any proof of this? Are you charging "get out the vote" money, a long-time Clinton practice? What are you charging and what proof of wrong-doing do you have?

[SethBullock]

Right. Obama's going to be charged with bribery...and no one reasonable in the Chicago media is reporting on it.

Dream on.

When he gets convicted, I'll believe it. Has Rezko even been convicted? not as of today.

[Janskats]

It's so cute, the way you GOP trolls hitch up your speedos and get so excited when you think you're dropping "a good one" on us. Honey..well, what can I say..besides it's good comic relief! This whole pile is such old news, first of all. Secondly..it's about as substantive as the wind blowing through the outhouse..twice as smelly. At any rate, pulling together some overly lengthy laundry list of facts and figures and names (by now, soooo well hashed-over)..tied together by inference and supposition, automatically provides "evidence" of..Nothing!

Imagine..Obama's great uncle Harry, whose first wife's cousin, twice-removed, was a merchant in Venice, lived next door to a prominent dowager, whose eldest son had a college friend who briefly dated the blonde daughter of a Chicago baker, one of three children, all of whom attended private school in Boston, where their second grade teacher was known to have been married to a gentleman from Verona, whose brother opened a shoe store in the Bronx, while his partner's nephew worked at a steel mill in Philadelphia, which bordered on a neighborhood slated to be torn down for an apartment complex, to be built by the husband of the first cousin of the second grade teacher, whose brother had been seen buying groceries in the company of a prominent jeweler at a Chicago market, employing a checker, whose son who delivered the paper to Obama's uncle! As anyone can see..there you have it!

[Bobrobert]

OK

Carry on

Remember to vote everyone.

:-)

[Zenobius]

The loss of legitimacy is the result of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the economic crisis The war in Iraq is probably going to end up in the loss column for the US, and we;re not doing that well in Afghanistan either. George Bush may yet bomb Iran. A lot of people who think of themselves as middle class are losing property they have worked for 10-20 years to acquire in the mortgage mess; and a lot of jobs are going away that will come back in China or India when the economy turns around. An obvious comparison is to state of Germany after it lost WWI. While Obama is not Rosa Luxemberg,, our loss in Iraq is less of an issue than losing WWI, and our economic crisis probably won't be as bad as the one that wiped out the middle class in Germany after WWI, the situation is looking pretty bad.

In this mess, a lot of people in authority feel threatened, for the excellent reason that they are threatened. It is to be to be expected that people in authority, or who have a stake in the existing political order {like well paid Fox News commentators} will on some level wish for convenient assassinations to rid them of their enemies; and be willing to embrace repression to maintain their positions.

[bobtr900]

Mr. Bromwich,

Your article/post was a stellar piece of writing. The next to the last paragraph was totally beautiful.

I could not have said it nearly as well. so I'll say no more.

Thats all folks--

[Diana999]

I second that.

This is a very thoughtful and beautiful piece.

Thank you Mr. Bromwich.

[neoprimordial]

Apparently, a lot of people can recognize really solid writing when they see it. It's the best I've read of any blog.

[harobamason]

GREAT piece of writing David.
I have watched Hillary Clinton in many, many situations over the years. She never shows weakness. She never admits a mistake. Actually, this year, she admitted one; she admitted misremembering the Bosnia sniper-fire episode. She even added: "It proves I'm human."
She can acknowledge misjudgements and say she'd do it differently today (healthcare, the Iraq war resolution vote), but she just can't say: "You know, I screwed up big time."
True, most politicians don't, but many do. Barack Obama is somewhere in the middle on this scale. He was pretty forthcoming in both books about certain failings of his - in sharp contrast to her tight and tense book, which was a perfect manifestation of what I'm talking about - but it took him quite a while this year to talk honestly with regard to Rev Wright. John McCain is of course the king of the mea culpa. He admits mistakes he didn't even make.
But Clinton just can't show weakness. It must always be strength. And, of course, in thinking she's showing strength, she actually looks weak. Real strength, as we all know from personal experience, comes in admitting the mistake.
A genuine apology that struck the right notes might have led to feelings of unity and helped her get the vice-presidential nod. This need to seem invulnerable and in control and above error has harmed her throughout her career. And it's harming her now.

[kellygrrrl]

I am done "excusing" The Clintons.
after 15 years, this was the last straw for me.

that she continues to remain unable to sincerely acknowledge and apologize just seals the deal 4 me

[BubbaC33]

I did not realize the Clintons, or anyone, needed an excuse from you.

[NorVaGal]

Bubba: Evidently the Clintons are unable to face reality on their own. Obviously, they need help in this area. Therefore, making excuses for them is an act of kindness. However, it seems that kellygrrrl's kindness allotment has now expired. LOL

[patianneb]

Oh that the Clintons and Lieberman would read this.
Thank you.