A Challenge to Hillary Bashers: Tell Me Exactly Why You Hate Hillary?
The occasion was a symposium on the presidential candidates held by the Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable which sponsors a weekly public policy discussion series in Los Angeles. Midway through a heated discussion over the relative merits of Democratic presidential contenders Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, a member of the audience let loose with an impassioned I-can't-stand-Hillary blast and punctuated it with the quip, I'd vote for anybody but her. I asked him a simple question: Why do you hate Hillary?
He sat with his mouth wide open and a perplexed glaze on his face, no sound issued from him. His mute response was no surprise. My question to him is the same question to the legions that slam Hillary: tell me specifically what terrible thing she's done that stirs such froth around your mouth. Skip the personal attacks, vitriol, innuendos, slurs, and don't repeat hearsay, gossip, or what you heard someone say about Clinton, and that includes Bill. Give me one tangible thing that she has done to piss you off so much that you are proud to be a charter member of the anybody-but-Hillary club. Name one tangible thing?
I asked the man in audience to tell me one thing that she's done politically or even personally that ticked him off, so that without batting an eye he'd say that the thought of her winning sends him into a paroxysm of rage. The question continued to dangle for a long and pregnant moment with no response.
He, of course, is no different than the swarm of other Hillary-bashers. The visceral dislike, even loathing of her, is so deep and broad that it welds together a strange mesh of the usual suspect Hillary haters from the Christian fundamentalists, ultra-right Republicans and conservative talking heads, through a bevy of her former Hollywood pals and Bill Clinton campaign bankrollers, all the way to self-styled progressives and ultra radicals. They have absolutely nothing in common other than the ecstasy they get from pounding Hillary for her alleged political and personal sins.
But what are they? And what did she do that has earned her the label of everything from the devil incarnate (the late Jerry Falwell) on the right to branding her a shill for fat cat lobbyists and corporations on the left. That's just cheap shot name calling, trashing, and vilification from the rank and file. But the press has also gleefully jumped in on the Clinton beat down. It spins, twists, massages in reverse, and blows to smithereens any and every piece of nasty Clinton gossip or dig.
I asked the Hillary hater a third time to name one specific thing that she's done to earn his obsessive enmity. The silent Hillary denouncer after some fishing, fumbling and stalling, said that she cheer led Bush on the Iraq war when she voted to authorize it. OK. But so did her Democratic presidential rival John Edwards, and though Obama says that he wouldn't have voted for it if he had been in the Senate then. However, in two subsequent votes he backed spending measures that continued war funding. If the other top gun Democratic presidential contender Bill Richardson had been in the Senate he almost certainly would have backed war authorization.
In fact, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the Congressional Black Caucus was sharply divided over support of the original Iraq war resolution in 2002 that gave Bush authority to wage war. Edwards later apologized for backing the resolution. Obama joined with 13 other Democratic Senators to oppose the crucial big money Iraq war appropriations bill in May. One of the other thirteen senators was Clinton. She is no different than other Democrats that have cut and run from Bush's war. They all recanted when public opinion turned sour on the war and Bush and it suddenly became politically fashionable and popular to do so.
The Iraq war support certainly doesn't explain the vehemence of the Hillary targeting. Her centrist, cautious, and sometimes fuzzy stance on health care, education, taxes, and immigration are legitimate issues to dissect, debate, and criticize. But these are issues that all of the contenders can and should be held to the fire on. They are fair game for that. But intense political debate and disagreement on the crucial public policy issues in and of themselves is simply not enough to stoke visceral dislike of a candidate, let alone explain the intense hate for Hillary.
My challenge then to all Hillary bashers is the same as it was to the guy at the Urban Policy Roundtable in Los Angeles: tell me exactly why you hate her so much?
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His new book is The Latino Challenge to Black America: Towards a Conversation between African-Americans and Hispanics (Middle Passage Press) hutchinsonreport@aol
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I don't hate Hillary per se but I DO NOT want some elective monarchy of Bush/Clinton/Bush/Clinton. That's my bottom line.
Many of Hillary's avid supporters are like Bush's 29 percenters and refuse to be confused by the facts. Her recent vote for the Lieberman - Kyl resolution is a case in point. Like her vote for War with Iraq, she voted to give Bush authorization to attack Iran. Of all her faults, stupidity is not one of them. It is therefore intrinsically obvious to even the most casual observer that since she is pro War, pro Military/Industrial Complex, pro Wall Street, pro big Insurance, big Pharma, "Free Trade" and every other Republican money issue there is that Hillary is a Republican. If she gets the nomination we'll have our choice between tweedle dum and tweedle dee.
I'll vote for her if she's the nominee, but ,in my opinion, she should be supporting Al Gore for President, as he should rightfully be the Democratic nominee. He would win, whereas she, because of her big ego, is taking what should be a slam-dunk election for the Democrats,& making it into an opportunity for the Republicans to win in 2008. She can't hold a candle to Al; he is eminently more qualified to be President than she is!!! He would no doubt be in the race if she were not running; I believe he didn't want to be involved in Gore vs. Clinton situation & that's why he's sitting this one out. If she really cared about anything but her own ego, she'd get behind Al!!
The extremists on the left and right hate her, because they hate centrists. Bush calls centrists "wishy-washy." He thinks he's being resolute by sticking to disastrous policies. Lefties are unhappy with her because she refrains from buying into their crazy agenda. So I'll go with her or Obama.
It's all about gender.
She's got a lot of good ideas, and seems like an intelligent, competent person, but she's got a serious problem in that so many people see her as proud, ambitious and manipulative - we've had enough of that lately. She could prove her critics wrong by stepping aside and volunteering to serve her country as a member of Obama's team - let her run Health & Human Services for a few terms and prove she's capable of helping build good government and providing innovative solutions to the problems we face as a country. We've got so many talented people in the field right now - wouldn't it be great if they *united* their talents to present a real solution? President Obama, Vice President McCain, Hillary in H&HS, and Edwards as the special prosecutor in charge of investigating/prosecuting the Bush adminstration? How about we lose the egos and get to work?!?
Interesting that in one of the comments a reason for not voting for Hillary was:
She campaigned for Liebermann.
In fact, she did not campaign for Liebermann but Barack Obama did! Interesting.
It seems to me that it's primarily projection when people intensely dislike Sen Clinton.
In no particular order...
Because she voted for the Iraq war resolution.
Because she voted for Kyl-Lieberman Iran war resolution.
Because she voted in favor of the Peru "free trade" accord, even after stating that "we need to take a timeout on these trade deals".
Because she picked a union buster, Mark Penn, for her chief strategist.
Because she put forward a mandatory health insurance plan (that guarantees continued huge profits for insurance companies) and pretends it is universal health care.
Because during the Iraq funding vote in May she waited over two hours to cast her vote, only voting AFTER Obama cast his vote against the war funding. An actual leader would have been among the first on the floor, beseaching her colleagues to vote against the war, instead of waiting until after the outcome was already decided.
Because she spews the same "Iran must not be allowed to go nuclear" rhetoric as the Republicans.
Because she is getting more lobbying dollars from corporate interests than ANY other candidate, Democrat or Republican.
Because when her opponents point out that her positions on some issues are similar to many Republican positions, she and her husband don't respond to the issues but instead change the subject, whining that she's being swift-boated.
Mr Hutchinson, if you want to support the corporate candidate that's your business, but be honest about it. Don't pretend you don't know the arguments among the progressive crowd has against Hillary. In this article you just chose to ignore them, instead going after the people who "hate Hillary but can't say why".
I bet there will be a lot more substantive posts here defining why many of us think that Hillary is just another fake Democrat, like Lieberman, like Hoyer, like Feinstein and Schumer. People who say the right things in front of the cameras but who in reality work against the interests of the people in favor of the interests of the lobbyists who line their pockets with campaign cash.
3. Uniting the country. As Obama said yesterday "George Bush will not be on the ballot". So where do we go from here? Hillary Clinton's problem is that she take pride in battling Republicans for the past 16 years but those are political talking points for the general election if she gets nominated. The real problems comes is asking the Republicans to all of sudden go along with her policies on health care, social security(when she achieves fiscal responsibility), immigration reform(I still have not idea where she stands on the issue anyway), and dealing with Pakistan, Iran, Cuba, Korea, and Venezuela. You see this is where we go back to the 90's again and see partisan biggering that we see going on right now. Is this what you want out of our next president of the free world Mr. Hutchinson?
I would also like to clarify a comment you made about Obama. Obama started his career in elected office in 1998 in the Illinois senate. During this time, he co-sponsored reforms on health care, racial profiling, and reforms. In his three years as a U.S. Senator he helped passed the most significant ethical reform bill in years with Russ Feingold and the proliferation act with Dick Luger(A senior Republican). He also spoke out against the war in Iraq in 2002 which says a lot about him because that war was popular back then with Bush having a 61% favorable rating and risking his political career if it turned out he was wrong. A strong stand in those circumstances is just as good as no vote to me. ITS NOT THE YEARS OF EXPERIENCE BUT THE QUALITY OF THE EXPERIENCE THAT COUNTS!
2. She is polarizing. Why? One of the things that people value most is honesty and conviction. They say that" A lie can travel halfway a round the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes". In Hillary Clinton's case the truth can travel halfway around the world while the lies are just getting out bed and what you see Mr. Hutchinson is the calculating, middle of the road politics the most Americans are wary of no matter what party you are associated with. Did you not notice her triangulating with answers on illegal immigration in the Philadelphia debate? What is her answer to solving social security? Fiscal responsibility? Are you kidding? I do not know about you but I'm 34 years old and that is the last answer my generation and younger generation want to hear. That may be cool to hear if you if you are 50 or older which is why based on the polls why they support her. What is her answer after supporting NAFTA and the China trade deal? She wants to pose a moratorium on trade deals. Until what? Fiscal responsibility?
Now that you have asked the question about the "pink elephant in the room", allow me to give you an answer Mr. Hutchinson.
1. Baggage from the 90s. Why? Over the course of 16 years, she has been battling Republicans because of her association with former President Bill Clinton over the Lewinsky, Paula Jones, Jennifer Flowers in terms of moral character deficiency. This is none of Hillary Clinton's fault of course but her association with Mr. Clinton(which I think is unfair and unjustly deserved) Mrs. Clinton's 1993 health care debacle is what helped started the transition of power from a Democratic to a Republican majority in Congress in which many Democrats and Independents may resent the Clinton administration to this day. This may explain why the former people in her administration are supporting other Presidential candidates, namely Barack Obama in the election. There are also policy issues as well with her candidacy, she voted for the war in Iraq, the China Trade deal, NAFTA, etc.(should I go on?) REMEMBER THIS A CHANGE ELECTION, WE DO NOT WANT TO GO BACK TO THE REPUBLICAN HATRED OF THE 90'S NO MORE THAN WE WANT TO GO BACK TO THE REPUBLICAN MISUSE OF POWER FOR THE LAST 5 YEARS(JACK ABRAMOFF, CONRAD BLACK, THE PAGE SCANDAL ETC.)
She was given a lot (intelligence) so much is demanded of her and she did not meet that mark.
Earl these are the reasons I will not vote for Hillary but first I do not hate her. I do not even hate George Bush. I contributed to her senatorial campaign.
Now the reasons
1) She supported the Iraqi war for political reasons and she should have known better what the aftermath of that adventure now misadventure will be. I think hold her more responsible just as I hold both Tony Blair and Powell more responsible than George Bush because the have sufficient intelligence to know and knew but chose to go with improving their personal lot.
(She still feels too smart to apologize)
2) She co-sponsored of all things most important to us a flag burning resolution. So go figure - who she was pandering to-.
3) Her vote on the Iranian revolutionary guards resolution.
4) She for Christ sake went and campaigned for Lieberman
5) Of recent her so called health reform proposal which changes what a so called voluntary transfer of our health care monies to the insurance companies into a govt mandated robbery of every bodies money by the health insurance companies. ( Some people no matter how much experience they have never learn)
Do you need more reasons why I will not vote for Hillary Clinton?
That hate is engendered by the Republican elite and hierarchy. Nothing more will turn their stomachs than a smart American kid winning the Oval office.
The Clintons have been held repugnant ever since.
Corporate American Media stokes the fire of hate and ignorance on the voters.
Having a woman and former first lady in that office simply sends these Oligarchs ballistic.
Americans do not have any idea of just how Potomac Fever works.
Those with the fever, and that means all the DC establishment will never tolerate two American kids winning all the marbles.
They cant win an informed electorate, so they simply and brilliantly foster hate, envy,and
fear.
I think eight years of talk radio spewing Hillary hate accounts for some of it. Many of us on the left who say "I will NEVER vote for Hillary" are just trying to warn the party against her nomination. I like Hillary, as much as I can like someone I never met. But I promise I will never vote for her because she is owned by the wrong people.
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