Posts tagged ‘Hillary Clinton’
The 3am Phone Call Went to … Bill Clinton
During the 2008 Democratic primary race, Hillary Clinton famously asked who we wanted answering that phone at 3 in the morning when some crisis was in progress.
Saturday Night Live took it a step further and suggested that should Barack Obama get elected, he would be making a 3am phone call to “Senator Clinton” (who knew she’d wind up Secretary of State?) to bail him out of a jam.
I’m sure if Aaron Sorkin had the chance, he would have further twisted the scenario into some sort of “West Wing” TV movie sequel. Here the scene is that Bobby Jones, the first black President has just struck a deal with the opposition party that has everyone popping blood vessels. Bobby’s own party hates him. The opposition realizes how much they gave away and they hate him … heck they hate him anyway. So during a press briefing, Bobby shows up with former President Josiah Bartlett, played by Martin Sheen. Bartlett brings order to chaos and a trembling nation is put at ease. This kind of preposterous plot twist of a sitting President bringing a former President into the press room and then leaving him there to take questions could only happen in a sensationalized fictional story. Right?
Wrong. I’m sad to say, wrong. This Friday, President Barack Obama walked into the White House press briefing room with former President Bill Clinton by his side. After some brief banter, Obama announced he could no longer keep the First Lady waiting (at a staff holiday gathering) and he left the room. Clinton followed him out the door …. eh, no. Clinton stayed behind and talked to the press. Junior left Big Daddy to take care of things.
Watching Obama stand there while Clinton pontificated was embarrassing enough. Seeing him leave the press in Clinton’s hands just made matters ten times worse. If one had awakened from a nine year coma just after Obama left the room, one would have thought it was just another presser with President Clinton. Imagine the surprise of the just-out-of-coma patient when you tell him, no actually it’s been nine years, Clinton is no longer President but the current President feels so ill equipped to handle the current political backlash that he has called in Clinton as reinforcement. It’s enough to send a man back into a coma.
Sorry my friends but it’s time to play the race card. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. What doubly burns me up about this is the racial message this sends to those with messed up antennae. Here is a black man being bailed out by the competent white man. The black apprentice, not really ready for the job, watching with admiration as his white superior takes over. I know Obama believes he and the country are beyond race but that is pure bull crap. The optics of this racially were deadly. The optics of this outside of race were equally deadly. Who is leading the frigging country?
This has been a horrible week for Barack Obama. He struck what was probably the best deal he could strike with the Republicans. Then, allowing his ego to take over, he lashed out at his own party and then likened the opposition party to hostage-takers. He has lost control of the narrative. He is just another participant in the political circus.
Back in 2008 I had a good laugh at the SNL skit. Although I was a staunch Obama supporter, I had to acknowledge the ad was clever, capturing both Obama’s rock star image and Hillary’s over confident self assessment. I would never have believed that if we fast forwarded two years that Obama would indeed be calling in help from a Clinton in such an obvious and embarrassing way.
This time, it wasn’t Hillary. It was Bubba.
Respectfully,
Rutherford
The Media’s Role in the Media Circus
An Imam, a Pastor and Donald Trump walk into a bar.
No, that is not the beginning of a joke. With the exception of the bar part, these three unlikely characters all played a role in what can only be called a media circus this evening. The place to be to see how insane things have become was Twitter where the Tweets flew fast and furious with each revelation more bizarre than the previous one.
“Jones won’t burn Korans on assurance that Ground Zero Mosque will be moved.”
“Mosque developers say no deal.”
“Donald Trump buys mosque site.” (Trump’s offer was summarily dismissed.)
I got as wrapped up emotionally as many other folks in the Twittersphere. I was livid at the notion that some quid pro quo was being suggested between the Koran burning and the location of the NYC Islamic center. Tuning into MSNBC didn’t help as Chris Matthews’ coverage started to hit all my “hot buttons” (as Ed Schultz would say). But then Mr. Hot Button himself, Ed Schultz came on and set me straight in two ways.
His opening rant concerned our government’s reaction to this threatened Koran bonfire. He felt President Obama was ill-served by his advisers and he was right. We as a nation don’t negotiate with terrorists, whether they be the physically violent kind or the rhetorical kind. The notion that General David Petraeus, Robert Gates, Hillary Clinton and the President himself either directly or indirectly asked Pastor Terry Jones to control himself was akin to negotiating with a terrorist. Jones should have been ignored and if he went through with his ill-advised act, let the consequences speak for themselves. Instead we had the leader of the free world addressing the possible actions of a small-time nutjob who no one ever heard of until this week. But for Terry Jones to be ignored, the media itself would have to ignore him.
That brings me to the second way in which Ed Schultz set me straight, that is in Ed’s own hypocrisy. While he felt that this Pastor was beneath being dignified with a response from our government leaders, Ed didn’t seem to have a problem with the main stream media running this story non-stop all week. What would have happened if every news editor in the country looked at this story and passed on it? Jones is obviously an unbalanced attention whore. The media gave him exactly what he wanted, fifteen minutes of fame plus a bit more. “How will the Muslim world react when they see this on TV?” That was the concerned cry heard all over the dial. Well, how about if they turned on CNN and didn’t see any stories about Jones? How about if they opened the paper and didn’t see any coverage of Jones. What if Jones remained as anonymous as he was at the week’s outset?
The counter argument is that we live in a YouTube age and if the Koran burning proceeded, it would no doubt go viral over the Internet. I’m still not sure that lets the media off the hook for fanning the story. As angry as I am at John Boehner and Sarah Palin for voicing this Koran bonfire/GZ Mosque equivalence, I must admit they had a ready and waiting bullhorn to shout into. After the media reports their ignorant comments, they then play innocent pretending not to be promulgators of the bigotry.
We live in dangerous times my friends. The media should, I think, consider the Hippocratic oath to first do no harm. I am not sure they are doing that this week.
Respectfully,
Rutherford
Sarah Out-Hillaries Hillary!
Think back, my loyal readers, to the days of the Democratic primaries. Once upon a time there was a candidate named Hillary Clinton who was so presumptuous as to suggest that Barack Obama would be a fine running mate for her. Needless to say, she put the cart way before the horse and not only did Barack not wind up her running mate, she did not end up being his running mate. I thought that her blatant display of ambition would not soon be eclipsed.
Then came Sarah Palin. Palin has done Hillary one better. She has (against every physical law of the universe) become John McCain’s running mate. Apparently, though, that is not good enough for her. She has decided that the ticket should be flipped. Can you blame her? When Sarah’s not there, McCain has no audience.
I’m sure you’ve seen this video before but it’s worth repeating here. We truly cannot make this stuff up!
Respectfully,
Rutherford
She Did It
I’ve spent the past few days fuming at Hillary Clinton because her primary trash talk has fueled new ads by John McCain. The most grievous example being her assertion that she and McCain were ready to be President while Barack Obama was merely a speech maker.
I approached tonight’s speech by Senator Clinton at the Democratic Convention, with limited expectation. I was fully prepared for a self serving, half hearted endorsement of Obama. I’m glad to say I was wrong. There was not much Hillary could have done better tonight.
Of course the Republicans have already issued a statement saying that no where in Hillary’s speech did she say that Barack is ready to be President. Technically, this is true. I would have been happier if Hillary had explicitly repudiated McCain’s latest series of ads and if she had said without any doubt that Barack Obama is ready on day one to be President of the United States. However, upon further reflection, I think that had she done THAT much of an about-face, she would have lost credibility. It was almost more effective for her to say that regardless of Obama’s preparedness for office, the alternative of McCain is no alternative at all.
By comparing her husband’s accomplishments with Democrats by his side to the anticipated accomplishments of an Obama administration, she basically passed the proverbial torch to Obama in much the same way that Kennedy did the night before.
So, my hat is off to Hillary tonight. She did what she needed to do and did it convincingly. Perhaps she put it best with the plain spoken words that may become a new campaign mantra:
“No way, no how, no McCain!”
Respectfully,
Rutherford
“18 Million Cracks”
I’ve been hard pressed to say anything positive about Senator Hillary Clinton’s bid for the Democratic Presidential nomination. Last Saturday, she just about redeemed herself by conceding the nomination to Barack Obama with perhaps greater eloquence than she ever used in her own defense. Gone were the complex and sometimes absurd calculations on why she was the better nominee. Gone were the poorly chosen words which made you doubt her ethical standards (“he’s not a Muslim, as far as I know”, “We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California”). This concession speech hit all the right notes while appropriately taking pride in the barriers that her campaign had busted down.
There was one passage in the speech that was particularly moving because it spoke to all the women voters who felt disenfranchised by Hillary’s defeat.
“Although we weren’t able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you, it’s got about 18 million cracks in it. And the light is shining through like never before, filling us all with the hope and the sure knowledge that the path will be a little easier next time. That has always been the history of progress in America.”
Some may forget that Barack Obama is not the first African American to knock on the door of presidential opportunity. His predecessors include the improbable Al Sharpton, and the more probable Jesse Jackson and Carol Moseley Braun. Each of these candidates made the prospect of a black president more palpable to our country and made Obama’s candidacy that much easier to obtain. It can also be said that Braun, Shirley Chisolm, Lenora Fulani and Elizabeth Dole, each in their own way paved the road for Hillary.
The bottom line is that history is not always made in bold strokes but rather is made through slow gradations of color. Hillary Clinton has made the prospect of a female United States President that much more likely. Now the time has come for women to recognize how much closer they are to their goal, and support Barack Obama before John McCain sends the womens movement back to the dark ages.
Respectfully,
Rutherford
Hillary’s New Constituency: Children and the Dead
Senator Hillary Clinton greeted a throng of enthusiastic supporters last night as she celebrated what would become a 41 point Obama whupping in West Virginia. Her speech wisely steered away from bashing her opponent, Barack Obama. She managed to strike a nice balance between spunky contender and conciliatory loser.
There was one moment however that illustrated just how desperate Clinton’s campaign has become. She is now relying on dead people and 11 year old boys to pull her through. Read below:
“…tonight I’m thinking about Florence Steen from South Dakota, eighty-eight years old and in failing health when she asked that her daughter bring an absentee ballot to her hospice bedside. Florence was born before women had the right to vote, and she was determined to exercise that right, to cast a ballot for her candidate who just happened to be a woman running for president. Florence passed on a few days ago, but I am eternally grateful to her and her family for making this such an important and incredible milestone in her life that means so much to me. I’m also thinking of Dalton Hatfield, an 11-year-old boy from Kentucky, who sold his bike and sold his video games to raise money to support my campaign.”
Let’s take on the second example first and discuss what is wrong with this picture. An 11 year old boy sells his beloved possessions to finance the campaign of a multi-millionaire. From Hillary’s incredibly self centered view of the world, this seemed wonderful. I would have been happier to hear Hillary follow up by saying “when I heard about Dalton, I immediately sent him a check for $100.00 and told him to buy back his toys and enjoy his childhood.” Then again, when your campaign is in debt up to its ears, I guess money from anyone is welcome. I’m sure in her Kentucky speech, she will brag about the prostitute who sent her a month’s worth of hooking proceeds. It’s so thrilling to see everyone involved in the race.
Then there is the case of Mrs. Steen. It is not lost on me how important it might be for an elderly woman who never dreamed of seeing a woman President to actually have the chance to vote for one. Unfortunately, Hillary let us in on a little secret that Mrs. Steen is … dead. OK, she wasn’t dead when she cast her absentee ballot and I suppose this is no different from someone getting hit by a car on their way out of the polling place … the vote still counts. Still it seemed amusing to me that Hillary is now reaching out to the extreme ends of life’s journey, an 11 year old and a near dead woman, to find support.
Then again, as my wife reminded me, Hillary is originally from Chicago where counting the votes of dead people is somewhat of a tradition.
Respectfully,
Rutherford
Clinton’s Time to Get Up
There are many who say it’s time for Hillary Clinton to get out of the Democratic presidential nomination race. I am not one of them. It is not time for her to get out but it is time for her to get up. Her campaign always manages to find its way into the gutter and now is the time for Hillary to lift the campaign up and end her race for the 2008 nomination with dignity.
Her latest statement to USA Today hardly served this purpose.
“There was just an AP article posted that found how Senator Obama’s support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans is weakening again and how the whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me and in independents, I was running even with him and doing even better with Democratic-leaning independents. I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on.”
Putting aside the implication that those who are voting for Obama are not the “hard-working” Americans, the fact that she claims she has the white vote nailed down is just shameful. Not only is it polarizing (a specialty of Hillary’s going back at least 16 years), it is condescending and pandering at the same time.
This is what I would like to hear from Hillary Clinton:
“I do not want the vote of any American who votes for me because they do not want a black man in the White House. If you are supporting me because you do not want a black man in the White House, then please, do not vote for me. It goes against everything I have worked for throughout my political life.”
If Hillary cannot muster the courage to call for racial reconciliation in this country, even at her own political peril, then she should indeed get out of the race.
Respectfully,
Rutherford
The Effect of Fox News: A Case Study
Today I was scheduled to take my car in for its regular maintenance visit. Today is also the day that President Barack Obama was scheduled to make a much-anticipated address at the State Department on the tumult in the Middle East and Northern Africa. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was scheduled to introduce him. The intersection of these two events resulted in an interesting albeit simple and completely unscientific field study on the effect of Fox News on the human brain.
You see, as I sat down in the car dealership waiting room, the TV was tuned to Fox News. One of the broadcasters said, “coming up later, we’ll look at who is likely to replace Hillary Clinton”. At this point, a woman waiting for her car to be fixed turned to her husband and said, “John, is Hillary Clinton resigning?”
And there it was before me in a simple five-minute incident all the evidence I needed to understand why Fox viewers are for the most part misinformed at best and deranged at worst. The Fox broadcaster made no effort to put this “Clinton replacement” in any sort of context. Folks familiar with Clinton know she has said she will not be Secretary of State for another Obama term. Our friends at Fox didn’t bother to provide that context. On the contrary they floated a “coming attraction” so ambiguous that the unsuspecting viewer might think Hillary was going to announce her resignation right there at the State Department gathering for Obama.
This is typical Fox sleight of hand. “News” by innuendo, thinly veiled editorials. My heart went out to my fellow waiting room occupant. Then my compassion turned to horror as I multiplied her by one million. Think about it. One million Americans getting their “news” from a shameless, fact twisting, media wing of the Republican party. Is it any wonder why so many Republicans wondered if Obama was really born in the United States?
My little field study today convinced me of something I had conjectured for some time now. The only way to keep Fox News “fair and balanced” is to have MSNBC playing on another channel. Incidentally, when my fellow automobile drivers left the waiting room, I did change the channel and left the room tuned to MSNBC. Consider it a small victory for integrity in journalism.
Respectfully,
Rutherford
WordPress.com Political Blogger Alliance
May 20, 2011 at 12:11 am Rutherford 42 comments