We've got to thank Barack Obama. It looks like he has sealed Hillary Clinton's fate. Yes, Slick Hillary will continue with her false smiles and false assurances, but everything is beginning to ring hollow. I wouldn't be surprised if Hillary got out of the race soon.
The Democratic primaries sure have been fun. To me they have been reminiscent of the Iran-Iraq war. Needless to say, I have been hoping for heavy casualties on both sides! Hillary's attacks on Obama have taken a toll. It was especially gratifying to hear Hillary make the argument that both she and McCain are vastly more experienced than Obama. Surely McCain will get some mileage out of that in the next several months. Hillary also raised questions about whether Obama can be trusted in an emergency. Again, this is a theme that can only benefit McCain. Between the questions raised by Hillary and the doubts raised by Obama's association with the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Obama's reputation has been tarnished.
Ambivalent though I am about Obama, I must credit him with saving the nation from the prospect of another Clinton presidency. For eight years the Clintons used the Oval Office for personal self-aggrandizement, renting out the Lincoln bedroom, selling pardons, and chasing around the hired help. Yes, Bill was the lecher, but Hillary was the enabler. I wonder if this is the "experience" she has been touting on the campaign, since I'm not sure what else she accomplished over her eight years as First Lady. Finally America may be ridding itself of this cunning, opportunistic duo.
Contrast the Clintons with other recent presidencies and the difference becomes apparent. Many people disagree with and even loathe Bush but it's hard to say that Bush became president for personal gain. All the folks who said he invaded Iraq for the sake of oil interests have never shown Bush to be the beneficiary of any such gains. By contrast, the Clintons came to Washington virtually broke and have been cashing in since day one. Now the couple since has a net worth in excess of $100 million. Is there any precedent for such self-enrichment? George H.W. Bush and Reagan and Ford and Carter had their share of Oval Office troubles but all of them involved disagreements about policy. No one suggested that these men were using their office for their own benefit. The Clintons are clearly in a low class of their own.
Good riddance to the Clintons also means good riddance to the era of the 1960s. The self-indulgent, megalomaniacal sixties generation is not only an embarassment to itself, it also represents the great failure of the World War II generation. For all its accomplishments, the "greatest generation" failed in one significant respect: it couldn't replicate itself but produced instead the spoiled children of the Clinton generation.
This November, America will have a choice between an independent-minded candidate of the World War II generation and an inspiring but also troubling candidate of the post-sixties generation. Meanwhile, it appears, two sullen, resentful Clintons will be watching from the wings.
Reader Comments ( Page 4 of 28)
46. Hillary is actually a good individual. I have to say that her rise to candidacy was fueled by a great self-ambition, not the best quality for a president.
Obama is a good man, but very well situated with the standards of Washington that are not necessarily healthy practice. For all the differences he may exhibit, the ways in which he is not different may become problematic.
McCain is a well respected candidate. He has never faltered on being an American, even if at times his decisions were not perfectly on the mark. Now, to bring value to the characteristic of being an American, McCain is the type of patriot who will suffer abuse and torture then serve the nation for which he was imprisoned. That's respect that can not be bought and it shows the integrity of a man who is wealthy enough to simply settle and enjoy life. He's elderly, sure, but he is most certainly stronger than most in the public arena.
I'm not going to tell you who to vote for, I will only tell you what I think of each candidate. Let democracy ring in our republic.
mincpa at 10:39AM on May 12th 2008
47. msducky7 Osama/Obama! HA HA HA! I get it! Where DO you come up with these gems?!
Mokele Mbembe at 10:39AM on May 12th 2008
48. Numerous elected officials, Howard Dean, Al Gore, a Clinton, Bill Richardson, even a few Republicans.
Do you understand how politics work?
Linda at 10:39AM on May 12th 2008
49. "Obama is a good man, but very well situated with the standards of Washington that are not necessarily healthy practice"
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You're showing your ignorance again, mincpa. Obama is NOT a typical politician, his support has been from people, not special interests.
You are so wrong. Maybe you should do some more reading.
Linda at 10:42AM on May 12th 2008
50. "Numerous elected officials, Howard Dean, Al Gore, a Clinton, Bill Richardson, even a few Republicans.
Do you understand how politics work?"
Absolutely Linda.
I think a candidate that has some of those individuals as key policy advisors is one I can take a pass on.
Thanks for your help.
bob at 10:44AM on May 12th 2008
51. Fuck you very much, yourself, bob.
Linda at 10:45AM on May 12th 2008
52.
Another thing you could tell us about, Dinesh, is about the Oliver North notebooks that clearly point to the fact that the vice president, George H.W. Bush, was well aware of what was going on.
Did I mention that he (George H.W. Bush) gave pardons to ALL of the people convicted of serious crimes against the country? The crime they covered up, he was very aware of. Christians can justify just about anything, but selling arms to both sides in a war, so you can use the profits to fund a terrorist war is a pretty big stretch.
Why didn't you resign immediately when you discovered your fellow republicans were dealing death on a large scale? too much money to be made?
Or is it that sick sycophants will toady even harder when the going gets tough?
ex-christian at 10:50AM on May 12th 2008
53. What part of the 60's do you find so offensive?
The original flower children who started the movement on love, and peace that showed what life could be for all people, very idealistic, but soon over run by numbers trying to follow. (a fact that seems to have been lost or shoved aside)
Maybe it was the civil rights movement that stopped our government discrimination of our black people, and set us on a more humane path.
Maybe it was the regeneration of the woman's movement that sticks in your craw.
Maybe it was the protest of the war based on a lie that cost us over 50,000 lives, and the other side upwards of a million. A war that introduced the drug culture to our country in grand fashion.
Jerry Brown at 10:53AM on May 12th 2008
54. Where are all of DD's supporter's today? He's getting PANNED.
Mokele Mbembe at 11:00AM on May 12th 2008
55. One can only hope that once we get the elitist Neo-cons out, we can get somewhere. P.S. People, un-fettered capitalism isn't working. It will only be when the people finally 'wake up' that we will hang those responsible from the highest lamppost we can find. Don't worry about how to get up there, you simply pile up the lifeless corpses of the elitist, greed-mongering corporos that have consistently raped us for the last 30-40 years. Dinesh isn't really offended by the 60's generation, he's scared shitless of them getting into power because they threaten his precious status-quo. He's afraid that when we finally wake up (SOON!) he will be put down with all the other dangerous, rabid hate-mongers that have held us back for so long.
Robert at 11:07AM on May 12th 2008
56. Dear Moke,
I'll tell you where they are- they are all hiding under the bed with DD. Foaming and barking because they can't use circular reasoning and Scriptural rhetoric to obfuscate this one! And it scares the stink right out of them.
Robert at 11:11AM on May 12th 2008
57. That's the problem with being careless with inflammatory comments- it's very easy to get burned by them.
Robert at 11:12AM on May 12th 2008
58. "In a soldier's stance, I aimed my hand at the mongrel dogs who teach, Fearing not that I'd become my enemy in the instant that I preach."
Mokele Mbembe at 11:14AM on May 12th 2008
59. I can't believe the crux of his argument is that one candidate is better than the other because his generation is better. Do they teach basic fucking inductive reasoning at Dartmouth?
Mokele Mbembe at 11:36AM on May 12th 2008
60. The race is still not over,and I still think that Clinton is going to be the DFemocratic nominee.
Why
1.Florida and Michigan suddenly get validated.
2.Obama's association with "evil'" Rev Wright and "evil" Bill Ayers become a big issue(Show me your friends and i will show you who you are)
3,Obama is still seen to can't close the deal.(i.e He can't win thwe important states)
4.Obama is sooo inexpirenced(compared to Hillay's "vaster experience")
5.Obama is an angry black man.(Do you want bitterness in the White House)
6.Obama is elitist.(He deingrated hard-working American people as evil and uncultured and dangerous.)
7.Obama is black
8.Hillary is white.And ballsy.
On another note,the Dems got to end this.Or else,it is 4 more years of the Republicans.Maybe 12 more years.
Can the dems close the Deal?
mad african christian at 11:55AM on May 12th 2008