Monday, May 19, 2008

What goes up ...

It's often been said that one doesn't have to be nice to the people he or she meets on the way up, if they're not coming back down. Of course, the problem is far too often up comers never think they'll fall -- but of course they do and when it inevitably happens they find they have few or no friends left.

Such may be the case with Hillary and Bill Clinton, according to an article in the Boston Globe. One reason why so many superdelegates are endorsing Barack Obama is all the bridges Billary burned during the 1990s, especially on health care and education.

One of them was Rep. Jim Cooper of Tennessee who had a compromise health care plan that had bi-partisan support but was stopped dead by Hillary who, according to Cooper, set up a "war room" with the specific purpose of defeating any and all plans except her own. There's also Sen. Bob Casey, Jr. of Pennsylvania who's still smarting over his father being denied a speaking slot at the 1992 convention because of his pro-life stance.

I submit that if the Clintons had been more flexible on health care, the only people who would have heard of Newt Gingrich are those who watch C-SPAN. If they had been more welcoming to the pro-life camp of the Democratic Party, there could have been a decisive policy shift in favour of healthy families and an even more substantial reduction in abortions than merely the 1/3 that happened during their administration (largely due to increases in the earned income tax benefit, which Bush Lite has decimated during his two terms, resulting in an increase in abortions during his term).

But it seems that even for them, the "Third Way" had its limits and it had to be their way or the highway.

The Clintons are clearly banking on Barack Obama losing so they can get their revenge in 2012, and put their enemies out in the wilderness once and for all. But the train has already left the station. The baby boom has had their turn running America. The "two for the price of one" team disgraced themselves, he over his misconduct and she over blaming his infidelity on a "vast right wing conspiracy." And we all know what Dubya has done, bringing America to an economic and moral precipice.

It's sad in a way, because the Clintons are brilliant people. They just do stupid things. And we don't need a Stupid ™ in the White House after 16 years of Stupids ™. If Bill and Hillary want to know why their party has abandoned them, they need to consider whether they abandoned their party in favour of narcissism.

Vote for this post at Progressive Bloggers.

No comments: