Juan Cole: Clinton Touches Off National PTSD

http://www.juancole.com/2008/05/clinton-touches-off-national-ptsd.html

Saturday, May 24, 2008
Clinton Touches off National PTSD

Senator Clinton's reference to the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy in June of 1968 does not seem to me consequential, for all the brouhaha it has provoked. She was just saying that many previous primaries have gone on into June, including that of Bobby Kennedy before he was cut down.

The idea that she was thinking of the possibility that her rival, Barack Obama, might meet a similar fate is absurd. But I saw pundits on cable t.v. intimating that it was plausible.

I fear she inadvertently stumbled into a hornet's nest, though.

Because fears for Obama's safety are widespread, and they are shared by Homeland Security, which gave him Secret Service protection 18 months ago.

It is well known that Colin Powell's wife did not let him run for president because she was afraid he would be assassinated. Imagine the power of that fear to shape American life. Imagine if Powell had run and won, forestalling W. from ever coming to power.

Former Republican presidential aspirant (and apparently huge tool) Mike Huckabee recently went so far as to joke about Obama being shot at. He was speaking at a National Rifle Association event:


' Huckabee made an off-color joke during his speech in Louisville, Kentucky, when a loud bang was heard off-stage. "That was Barack Obama," Huckabee quipped, "He Just tripped off a chair. He was getting ready to speak. Somebody aimed a gun at him and he…he dove for the floor." '

The shadow that falls on African-Americans who devote themselves to public service at the highest levels is that of Dr. Martin Luther King.

In evoking the tumultuous year of 1968, Clinton was trying to remind people of the long and divisive Democratic primary. But without meaning to, she reminded them of April 4, not June 5, of MLK along with RFK.

- snip -

Elections should be about issues, not about this sort of hothouse speculation about personalities.

But there is one sense in which her campaign, at least, bears some responsibility for her current straits. Clinton operatives behind the scenes have been smearing Obama as a Muslim, and it was they who dug up that photo of him in Kenyan clothes. Clinton even said Obama was not a Muslim "as far as I know." The malice demonstrated in those actions laid the groundwork for people to believe that Clinton was capable of such hostility toward Obama.

The incident, it seems to me, does tell us two other things.

The first is that the strategy of the Clinton camp, of continuing to campaign even after victory at the polls became numerically impossible--in hopes that Obama might stumble and alienate sufficient numbers of superdelegates--was not crazy. I don't approve of it, but that it could work or could have worked seems clear. It could easily have been Obama who stumbled yesterday. Ironically, it was Clinton.

MORE

"But there is one sense in which her campaign, at least, bears some responsibility for her current straits. Clinton operatives behind the scenes have been smearing Obama as a Muslim, and it was they who dug up that photo of him in Kenyan clothes. Clinton even said Obama was not a Muslim "as far as I know." The malice demonstrated in those actions laid the groundwork for people to believe that Clinton was capable of such hostility toward Obama."


That quote is the reason so many are not willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. The fact that she was willing to go there with the Muslim smear tells you all you need to know about what type of campaign she was willing to run. It also tells you that she knew that she was not going to win the election on her own merits. The kitchen sink method is the reason she is getting so much crap from this. I am not willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.

Interesting theory.

I do agree with him where he said that the events show how deeply the wound is still felt in America - those events of 40 years ago are still quite alive in the psyche of our nation.

Hatred of Hillary......too many people are drunk on haterade

to a lot of people.

I was born in the mid-fifties, and I can pretty much chart the first 20 years of my life by assassinations and assassination attempts.

That so many of you don't get it says more about your grasp of our history than anything else.

please go away

comment on this I believe. I was young when all those assignations happened but I feel the pain of them anyway. They were all so tragic and not just because of the act itself. They were tragic because people lost hope. We lost the ones that we believed would cure this country of its so many ills. After bush I think we have a collective depression, (maybe a form of national PTSD, at least for the ones who hate war and hate how our country treats the poor and most unfortunate). We hate that our economy has sunk so low when it had just healed before bush was appointed president. Many feel Obama can help cure that. So the thought of losing another hero was just too much for many of us who believe in him.

It was just going there at all. That's already pretty painful.

:)

"She was just saying that many previous primaries have gone on into June." There are several problems with that:

(1) She did not say the 1968 Democratic primary went into June. She mentioned the one candidate who was assassinated. Of course, she probably didn't want to talk about other aspects of that primary, whose infamy ended up in Chicago and devastating losses for Democrats for years to come.

(2) Juan, Juan: as an historian you should know that back in 1968 the primaries started much much later. That a primary from 40 years ago was being fought into June has no relevance whatsoever to today's rescheduled, front-loaded primaries.

(3) If Clinton were saying merely that many previous primaries have gone on into June, why didn't she cite more recent examples than 1968? Say, the 1980s?

(4) We all know that the statement that her husband did not clinch the nomination until June is misleading at best, and specious. Bill Clinton's status in June of 1992 was akin to Obama's now, not hers: he had had the math on his side for several months before. Back then, the large state of California, whose delegates one would need to put a candidate's numbers over the top, was not held until June.

This is 2008. The primary schedule has changed over the years. The amount of time spent on primaries has changed dramatically. What Clinton was saying about primaries lasting into June has no historical relevance today--so to mention an assassination from 40 years ago was ... not benign.

the hatred of Hillary is beyond the pale

I guess the whole world is cuckoo for cocoapuffs and you guys are the rational ones, huh? :shrug: :eyes:

it's disgusting beyond belief, the hatred shown for Hillary - and I say this as someone who would not vote for her due to her IWR vote alone

However, I agree with Obama. This RFK gaffe was just a gaffe, nothing more or less.

And to be honest, I think DU gave her a fair shake from the beginning, for someone who is a centrist-moderate and DLC mainstay.

But her statements and comments have just grown progressively outrageous, and this one, I'm afraid, was just a bridge too far for many of, present company included. I'm so done with her, and don't feel the slightest bit bad or even wrong about it.

it's been over the top and beyond disgusting - she's been treated worse on DU than GWB or Cheney EVER have been :puke:

That's simply not true. There are different perceptions of the treatment for certain, but we've been beating up on Chimpy McSmirk and Evil Dick for nigh on seven years now.

That's just ridiculous on its face, and incredibly insulting to the DU Membership that has been here pounding away on this wretched administration since January of 2001, long before it was "the cool thing to do." You were one of us, remember, Skittles? I thought you and I had seen it all.

This is just a primary campaign, and one that's only been intense for the last six months. You need to reset and rewind to 2001 and start over, if you ask me. You've lost perspective.

THEY'VE BEEN POUNDING ON HER SINCE THE EARLY 90'S. Watching DU join it has been DISGUSTING BEYOND BELIEF,

I'm sorry you're so disgusted with DU. It's disheartening to see you like this. We've been here the same amount of time, and my perception is completely different from yours. I actually believe it's been far more disheartening watching DUers I love treat Obama the way they have.

It is what it is. I'm sorry you're upset. I don't want you to be. But I know in my heart that it is not within my abilities to make it in any way better for you.

:hug: Skittles :hug:

Hope we can talk again, when the wind blows all of this past us and we focus on kicking some Republican ass in November.

On Edit: I've said it throughout this campaign and I'll say it again... DU is always intense during Primary Season. It really was every bit this hateful and bitter and snarky during 2004. It's just that it was over in February. If Dean or Edwards had decided to stick with their gameplan long after Kerry's de facto "win" on Super Tuesday, we'd be in the same spot as we are today. That was my perception at the time and it remains my perception today.

When ahe had a 30 point lead over everybody else and the majority of the AA vote?

FROM THE START

the Obamabots and Hillbots have made this one disgusting place to visit

looking for the slightest gaffe to get hers off the front pages. He's a very measured and thoughtful speaker, but he'll certainly have to be on his guard. He sure can't depend on Hillary to defend his gaffe, should there be one.

Hell, she holds it against him for being a candidate running while Black. According to Ferraro, that's the only reason he's where he is. According to Bill Clinton, Obama is like Jessee Jackson. According to Hillary, Obama has a Problem with Hard Working Whites. And Also According to Hillary, she's "winning" in the popular vote.

Which is why I could never run for public office. Hillary & Bill woulda been SO 'cussed out by now.
The fact that the M$M talking heads are already trying to gloss this over for her makes me want to throw up.

And I am so sick of her supporters telling us not to make too much of this, cause they might not vote for Obama in November. Well I say F**k 'em. If they want to vote for McCain over Obama, I hope theirs are the first children ripped from their arms to fight McCain's hundred year war in Iraq. And let's hope nobody's daughter has to die in some back alley in search of a safe abortion. I realize that sounds cruel, but that's just where I am at this point. I'm not running for president, so I don't have to be nice to assholes like this:

Nice rebuttal there.

See my threads "GOP Strategists Mull McCain 'Blowout'" and "Buyers' Remorse: How Rank & File Democrats Rejected Obama Once He Was Declared "Inevitable" Nominee."

They will help you understand why the Obamites are now having brain spasms on a daily basis. It's because opeople are turning away from the Bammerwammer--and the campaign hasn't even started yet!
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