Hillary Clinton Is The (Pop)Madonna of American Politics

by David Michael Green

The second casualty of Election 2008 will be the regressive right movement that has done so much damage to the United States and the world these last decades. The Republicans lost another bi-election this week in a district that should have been a cakewalk for them. That makes three of late, including the former seats of Speaker Dennis Hastert and Trent Lott. (The latter race was in Mississippi, y’all, and even featured use of the entire Republican playbook of liberal- and race-baiting — prominently featuring Obama and Reverend Wright, of course — to no avail. Did I mention it was in Mississippi?)

Hurricane Bush has done a 180, and is circling back on Washington with an angry vengeance, building up a furious force as it nears land, hunting for anything and everything that moves and has an ‘R’ following its name. The GOP and their regressive agenda will be the second casualty of Election 2008, and it’s going to be a blowout the likes of which we’ve not seen since 1932.

But, even before that happens, the first casualty will be the enablers par excellence of that regressive movement all these years, the Clinton Family. Indeed, they’re already finished, and all that remains is for them to further humiliate and ostracize themselves by refusing to let go, a project they seem only too willing to pursue to their own destruction.

I like 2008.

People like me get a lot of grief from other folks for being supposed Clinton-bashers. But, then, some of us also got a lot of grief (sometimes from a few of the same people) for being Bush-bashers in 2001 and 2002. I would submit that the reason is the same in both cases. We refused to buy into the mythology of the post-9/11 presidency, or of the wonderfully empathetic one which preceded it, and we were right not to. We just got there a little earlier than other folks. By 2007, just about everybody had figured out what a disaster George W. Bush was. Now they’re finally starting to grok the Clintons as well.

Some people also accuse those of us who despise Hillary of being biased, or worse, against a female candidate, and Mrs. Clinton (the former Ms. Rodham, mind you — some feminist she) has more than once hinted at playing that convenient card. Talk about hiding behind a skirt. I resent that presumption, especially as a feminist (though I never particularly liked that appellation, for the same reason that I wouldn’t want to be labeled a ‘blackist’ because of my support of racial equality), and as a progressive who is anxious to broaden the ranks of those participating in American politics well beyond the class of straight, white, rich males who’ve been mucking it up for over two centuries now. For the record, I loathe Hill, but I also loathe Bill at least as much. Thatcher disgusted me, but no more or less than Reagan. I admire Eleanor Roosevelt deeply, rather much like I feel toward what’s-his-name?, that guy she was married to. In short, when it comes to politics, I don’t really care what you’re packin’ in your undies, but rather what you stand for and how willing you are to fight for it.

Watching Hillary in action lately, I am reminded of nothing so much as her husband’s disorientation during his White House years, when everything came a cropper. You could see that Billbo assumed all along that he, like his hero JFK, would be getting laid two and three times a day during his presidency, without anyone knowing. That just seemed like one of the built-in perks of the job! You know, Air Force One, Secret Service, tons of babes. Like that. He seemed completely unprepared for the concept that neither the Republicans (themselves even more promiscuous) nor the media would wink and nod and keep his dalliances secret, as they’d done for every other American president.

Similarly, Hillary now seems startled to have played by all the traditional rules of presidential politics, only to be denied that to which she most surely is entitled. She’s like Prince Charles. Or maybe Gordon Brown. It’s so freakin’ unfair. She played the hyperpower nationalist card, voting for a war that she knew was a total lie, because you had to do that to become president. Who gives a shit if a million Iraqis are dead? Who even cares if 4,000 Americans are in the same state and countless lives in this country have been shattered? Of course (and unlike where the Iraqis are concerned), you do have to pretend to care about these fallen soldiers. But let’s not lose sight of our priorities here, people. They gave their lives selflessly for a higher cause — namely, so that Hillary Clinton (or John Kerry or John Edwards) could experience the personal joyride of the presidency.

great read continued at link: http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/05/16/8995/

And nobody donated in your name either. Take your bullshit elsewhere.

just one slow-motion train wreck.

Yeah, you GO girl. Like GO!!! :grr:

Yes, I'm ashamed for my gender for the likes of spoiled "white privilege" entitlement touted by women such as HRC, Geraldine Ferraro and Gloria Steinem.

These pseudo-feminists (for middle and upper class white women's rights) never gave SQUAT for women of color. :thumbsdown:

http://www.prisonactivist.org/cws/sharon.html

In 1920, white women got the vote after 100 years of struggle. But they got it by promising Southern segregationists that they would use the vote to support white supremacy.

In 1973, abortion finally became legal in the U.S. But white middle class women, the main beneficiaries of Roe v. Wade, did not wield their organizing power to oppose the Hyde Amendment (which restricted abortions for women on welfare) or the sterilization of Puerto Rican and other poor women of color. So when the Right rolled back abortion rights in the 1980's, there was no powerful multi-racial feminist movement to stop it. Today, 80% of U.S. counties are without abortion services.

Today, a divided women's movement still lacks the power to enact mandatory maternity leave for all working parents, despite the fact that women are more than 50% of all voters.

asking people how in the world does a guy who bankrups Texas even think about running. What has he managed that didn't come down in some form of disaster. "Some of us also got a lot of grief (sometimes from a few of the same people) for being Bush-bashers in 2001 and 2002." President Clinton's years as President will be remembered for his peace and prospertity. Once he was elected he said he would reduce the Federal Government. Don't you remember the tea tasters and other wasteful govt. jobs that were cut to repair the country from twelve long years of Republican rule? President Clinton tried to create a fairer country were rare opprotunities in a Republican controlled congress existed. Senator Obama refrenced Ronald Reagan as someone he admired. "Thatcher disgusted me, but no more or less than Reagan." Neither Senator Obama or Senator Clinton are going to be perfect, but they are better than McCain. At least they were not standing around eating cake and playing a guitar while there fellow American's drowned.

but maybe the other Madonna...

Hillary has been made into some kind of female icon and part of that is the attraction of the wise mother. People are really needing to be taken care of these days--bruised and battered by the abusive Big Daddies they put too much trust in?

The irony is that she is aligned with the Big Daddies, even while projecting the selfless, nurturing mother, looking after her flock.

Notice how she always says "I want to do X for you." Let ME help you. Obama always says "we"--viewing himself as part of a team.

A lot of people apparently want Mom to come fix it.