Dear Hillary: How Can We Miss You If You Won't Go Away?

The Fat Lady has not only sung; she has showered, changed from her sequined gown into jeans, air-kissed the conductor, and already gone back to the hotel, where she's lying in a bathtub, drinking wine and daydreaming about her next gig. Back at the opera-house, one lone janitor is sweeping up, humming idly to himself. But he's got to sweep around the feet of Hillary and Bill, because they're still sitting in the front row, alone, calling hoarsely for an encore, and occasionally wondering where the hell everyone else has gone.

They're the King and Queen of a magical and faraway realm, the fog-shrouded Kingdom of Not-Getting-It.

It would've felt so right, so good, for all of us to celebrate the gains that Hillary made for women, bid her a fond (but secretly relieved) adieu, and move on to the general election. Because this election is not about Clinton. It is not about Obama, or John McCain, or Howard Dean, or the President of Zimbabwe. It's about children. The dead children of Iraq, slaughtered by Shock-and-Awe attacks that were the Bush/Rumsfeld version of Grand Theft Auto. The children of Iran, still at play, but already locked in the gunsights of M-16s. My kids and yours, endangered by a ghoulish No-Child-Left-Behind scam that should really be called No Child Left a Dime. Appalachian pre-teens with no job prospects, no future, fated to become cannon-fodder for our next Wag-the-Dog war.

So, in this sweet, fresh time of graduations and new growth, Hillary could have made a perfectly timely exit, capped by a valedictory speech urging us all to stay focussed on saving the children of the world. She would've earned our respect, laid the groundwork for a woman president, and become a trusted leader of her party.

But no. She has squandered her last good chance at a graceful exit. So even though it'd be great to reconcile with her, instead we find ourselves remembering an old song by Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks that could've been written for Hillary Clinton and that gang of fey Machiavellians that run her campaign: "How Can I Miss You If You Won't Go Away?"

And another, more recent one, by a group of truly brave women, the Dixie Chicks: "Not Ready to Make Nice."

How did we stray so incredibly far from first principles? From the minute-by-minute, second-by-second carnage of a war so vile and unspeakable that its authors should be already rotting in jail? From the hunger that gnaws away, every day, in the bellies of rural whites and urban blacks, here in the richest country in the history of the planet? What kind of person would indulge herself in this most monstrous celebration of a single ego in the history of American politics, when she knows it's quite literally a matter of life and death for so many innocent souls?

Well, Hillary Clinton would.

They say you can't go broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people, but Hillary seems intent on proving them wrong. Still channeling untold millions of her money -- and, no doubt, some of Bill's hard-won Colombian "speaking fees," too -- into her own campaign, she's created the political version of vanity publishing. But even that would be fine if she felt, or articulated, some deeper, animating force behind it, some compassion that promised relief for all the legions of sufferers.

But no. Her cause is herself. Her feminism is a feminism of convenience. Her concern for kids -- which surely once must've been real and profound -- has turned into a breezy willingness to "obliterate" them. Her notion of strength is to march in lock-step with moronic Bush/Cheney wars, and she promises to continue their Cowardly Lion style of diplomacy. She crowns it all with an obscene cartooning of civil-rights imagery, pretending that her own lust for ill-gotten Michigan/Florida votes is somehow equivalent to the bravest and noblest battle ever fought on American soil -- the one led not by Lyndon Johnson but by Martin Luther King.

Please, Hillary. Some of us like you -- just not in that way. Leave before you burn whatever good memories are left. How can we miss you if you won't go away?

POSTSCRIPT: Obviously, this piece was written before Hillary's bizarre--and all-too-revealing--"assassination" comment. While I can't bring myself to believe, as some have suggested, that it represented wishful thinking, I do feel it only underscores how terminally tone-deaf she has become as she pursues no cause beyond her Wonderfulness-of-Me campaign. No doubt it will finally tip the balance as any still-wavering superdelegates gather 'round to sing one final chorus of "How Can We Miss You..."

POSTSCRIPT #2: On further reflection, it seems clear that Clinton's assassination remark does, in fact, reflect something much, much bigger than mere "tone-deafness": it's as if she had her own version of the Mayan calendar, on which even the most catastrophic dates and anniversaries--like the murder of beloved Americans--only signify points along her own rise to power. Once again, the lives and deaths of other people--whether Robert F. Kennedy or an anonymous child in Iraq--take on meaning only within the context of her own power-mania.

Comments

[Repub4Obama]

You should not have compared the video game Grand Theft Auto the Bush/Cheney war profiteering machine. It's insulting to GTA.

[johnwinner]

thank you for stating the obvious well - a real art by the way, so he compliment is not ironic. Hillary has lost touch with every cause she once claimed to sponser, and her ruthless self-centeredness is now manifest to all but her small coterie of fanatics. How this plays out is anyone's gues, but my own is that she has one more line to cross - advocacy or tolerance of violence in the streets by her devotees - and that she will cross that line sooner than later. It's like watching a psychopath trying to dig bugs oout of her skin with a knife - horrifying and fascinating at the same time. But at some point a decent person, unable to stop it and get the person to the hospital, turns away. The sooner the superdelegates say enough is enough, the better.

[pennyhutchinson]

RFK didn"t enter the 1968 race for president until March 16 and was assassinated 82 days later on June 5. HRC"s attempt to invoke the memory of 1968 as an example of a protracted campaign fails because it is not comparable (500 days). Considered together with the pandering, bizarre lies, creative math and other assorted antics, one comes away with the sick feeling of having gotten a glimpse of something dark and sinister; an individual nearly driven to the edge of madness by a lust for power.

The sad part is how difficult it is to believe that there was any innocence in her words (seeing plenty of malice in so many others) and how easy it is to assume she was throwing the word "assassination" out into the ether, hoping it would fall on the ears of a knight in shining armor who would answer her plea for rescue, paving the way for her ascendance to the throne.

Therte is one unexplored explanation. I believe HRC"s desperation originates in some psychological retribution she had planned for Bill or simple redemption for herself. What better way to punish a cheating spouse who has publicly humiliated you than to copy what he accomplished and bury his legacy by doing it better. And how to face up to the humiliation of failure when the exciting fantasy was so to becoming reality.

And to think we thought HRC was talking about us.

[Moose49]

I don't think her RFK comments reflected "wishful thinking," but it did reflect her real thinking -- that she needs to stay in race because if, God Forbid, something happens to him, she should be the nominee. Which, to my mind, only shows how her narcissism and obsessive ambition have made her unfit for office -- certainly, at the very least, unfit to be Obama's VP.

[zebra3]

hwebb54: fitting that you'd try to insult obama supporters by suggesting their the "lunatic fringe' of the democratic party. last i looked, hillary and barack were practically identical on the actual issues.

this must be the way clinton supporters rationalize hillary's increasing similarity to Karl Rove.

[hwebb54]

This is the kind of bullshit that is making Hillary supporters flock to John McCain. The constant disrespect of her when she actually is the strongest Democrat (remember she is a democrat you far left idiots) to put on the ticket in the fall. Try and win this without us. I bet you don't either way.

[Krikkit]

News flash: Hillary's supporters are flocking to Obama. Her superdelegates are abandoning her, as are some of her previous chairs. Remember her big win in CA? If that primary were held today, Obama would win it hands down. Only her most vocal psycho-fan-tz are sticking by her.

[ddoston10]

How many women's group would be an outrage if Obama were in her shoes and evoked the same analogy ... about assissination? The media, especially fox news, would be calling for this man's head ... instead, Hillary supporters say .... it's no big deal ... God help us

[newpantaloons]

No, hwebb54, YOU and your fellow supporters of this phoney woman are the "bullshit" that is making Obama supporters and many, many others looking to become an Obama supporter, all the more determined to see your candidate defeated in her ignoble quest to become the President-at-all-costs! It is becoming more and more obvious that her supporters are as delusional as she is. Anyone, and I mean ANYONE, who thinks her comments were a mistake and she just "misspoke" AGAIN is not playing with a full deck and is a dispicable example of a human being. I think ALL of you need some medication to counteract your social disorder, and pretty fast. If you think talking about "assassination" four times in the last month and a half, coupled with her comments about "blue-collar, hard-working Americans - white Americans" is presidential material, then you know what? I think we can and SHOULD win without you. We don't need the likes of your kind in this party. So she is "strong", so what. So was Hitler! So go stuff it somewhere and quit with the 'threats', because we don't care. We not only will "try" to win without you, we WILL win without you! Yes, we can!

If you are interested in seeing the complete phoney you support, then have the guts to go here and read about Ms Wonderful.

http://tammybruce.com/2007/02/hillary_in_her_own.php

[frostypo]

How can she be the strongest Democratic candidate when Obama is the one with all the votes and delegates at this point.

And NOTHING would make me flock to John McCain. I have absolutely no liking or respect for Hillary, and I hate what she, her husband and SOME of her supporters are saying about Obama, but I'm not stupid or crazy enough to vote for the Bush III campaign!

[OutToLunch]

Great piece. I"m dying to miss her. Please, Hillary - make me nostalgic??

[geobushono]

John, Thanks for an EXCELLENT READ.

[equipoise]

Now, that was a great column that should quickly be delivered into the grasping hands of Hillary over there in that "fog-shrouded Kingdom of Not-Getting-It." All you observations, Mr. Eskow, are spot on and I will now be on the alert for future columns. Thanks.

[SeanC2]

Excellent article. It is truly amazing that so many Dems claim to be against the Iraq War, but can be so enamored of one of its principle cheerleaders and enablers that they would stay home or vote for McCain simply out of spite at her failure to win the nod. Apparently, their opposition to the war has more to do with hatred of Bush than any genuine moral concern for the Iraqi people.

Being a leftist, I have never like the Clintons, who I've always perceived to be phoney, self serving and not a little bit sociopathic. I've never understood why others can't see through their bullshit, particularly now that Ms Clinton has become such an enthusiastic collaborator with the most barbaric, destructive and authoritarian regime in American history. Hillary Clinton and the rest of the Dems who voted for this war do not deserve to be in any position of authority in this country, but should be warming a cot in a jail cell somewhere, awaiting execution for war crimes.

[InjunTrouble]

I think she just gone completely nuts. She needs a psychiatrist more than anything else. Someone to ease her off the compaign high she is on. Left to herself, she can not quit. She doesn't know how.

[sky2blue]

"pretending that her own lust for ill-gotten Michigan/Florida votes is somehow equivalent to one of the bravest and noblest battles ever fought on American soil -- the one led not by Lyndon Johnson but by Martin Luther King."

I noticed that, too. Why is she channeling MLK, not LBJ?

[Krikkit]

"Why is she channeling MLK, not LBJ?"

Because LBJ didn't "work out" for her...

[RobinL]

Thanks for this. Hillary's potential as a ruiner of this election is growing. She's the most selfish individual I've ever seen.

[Johnnn]

When Hillary goes away, should she take all of her supporters with her? Think Obama will
miss those votes?

[MaineMike]

If the Clintons are supposed to be such a godsend to the Democratic Party, why do their supporters constantly threaten to vote Republican if they don"t get their way?

[CamSalis]

I'm so sick of the Hillary bashing. Despite the fact that some of us think she has lost her way on some issues, she deserves respect for her sound record of liberal leadership and for being an intrepid trail blazer. She has kept the faith with us better, on most days, than we have with her. If she had allowed herself to be railroaded out by the likes of this author, and the numerous other shrill misogynists found everywhere, we would never have learned so much about Obama. In case you hadn't noticed, Mr Eskow, for many people, Obama is an acquired taste. To know him is to often to like him but how would that have happened if he was alone in the field and talkng to himself? Hillary has done an enormous favor to Obama by staying in the race and allowing the campaign to continue and involve the entire country. Leave democracy alone, pal. We're doing fine.

[Krikkit]

"She deserves respect for..." More entitlement claims? No one "deserves" respect. You must earn it from moment to moment through consistency of character.

The only consistent character traits we've seen out of Clinton lately have been self-serving narcisism. NOT something I respect. YMMV

[KiwisCanFly]

CamSalis

"we would never have learned so much about Obama", thats a good point.

OBAMA 08