In 2008 it looked to all the world like we were about to get
our first real shot at putting a woman in the President’s office. Hillary
Clinton was that woman. She was a Senator, a successful author, well-respected
in many circles inside and outside of politics, and people who did like her
were so obnoxious about it that they didn’t know how to run against her for
fear of a backlash. The whole thing about being married for a former President?
Icing. But then along came Barack Obama, a freshman Senator and political
activist. He came at Hillary from the left and WON, in no small part because
Hillary ignored him for too long. Instead of our first female President we got
our first Black one.
In the intervening 8 years Ms. Clinton became Secretary of
State and developed a record that anyone would be proud of. Not only did she successfully
pursue her President’s agenda, she became an internet meme and a good one. She
came across as a badass and no attempt at creating a scandal ever really stuck.
It was obvious to everyone that when Obama’s time was done that she would
become the heir apparent. Now she’s running again and once again has been
appointed the front runner.
And once again, an upstart is coming at her from the left and she isn’t taking it seriously enough. A lot can change, but right now it’s looking to me like she’s going to be usurped from the left once again as Bernie Sanders, a veteran Senator and continually winning underdog draws unbelievable crowds at events across the country as he taps into a new generation of people unhappy with the status quo.
In the past 8 years a certain meanness has developed in our
political discourse that mostly boils down to angry old white men trying to
tell the boy in charge that he doesn’t understand his place. People like me
find it disgusting but I’m no centrist – I’m an unabashed liberal. But the
question should be what do the people of the generation after mine think? As my
oldest has grown into an adult I have witnessed the conversations he has with
his friends and to a person they simply don’t understand the invective that
gets thrown around. I think that they are a decent reflection of the country as
a whole – we’re just tired of these rich assholes telling us what to do. Hate
simply take up too much of one’s time.
We’re tired of the Status Quo.
Bernie represents a shift from the status quo. Until just
this year, he has always called himself an Independent. He has championed
progressive causes over and over again, and even though he’s been in congress
for nearly 40 years he’s the outsider because of his lack of a party
affiliation, something quite rare in Washington. Hillary, on the other hand is
the ultimate insider and no one can deny that.
And there’s a question of the moves each candidate is
making. Loot at the #BlackLivesMatter movement (BLM for short). They have taken
to disrupting campaign events of all the Democrats in recent weeks and the
candidates haven’t reacted very well. None of them did at first. And then
Bernie made a move – he hired a racial justice activist as his press
secretary and actually created a platform to address the issues of BLM. Hillary
hasn’t done so well. While she met with BLM activists just today, BLM called
her response to them “…a
reflection on failed policy.” BLM wasn’t impressed.
If you can remember back to 2008 people were sick to death
of Little Bush and his policies. They wanted a refreshing change and Hillary
simply wasn’t enough of a change. 8
years later the people in charge of the Republican party are now saying that
Bush II didn’t go far enough; that his policies could have worked had he stuck
with them. That Shrub (as Molly Ivins used to call him) was not conservative enough to be
successful. The closest thing we’ve come to a Dictator in this country in my
lifetime (and admittedly, it wasn’t all that close) and he just wasn’t mean
enough. So the people running things on that side of politics have grown more
conservative. Meaner. More entrenched. Less willing to compromise. People are
sick of it. They want a change.
And as of this moment, it looks once again like Hillary
isn’t enough of a change to make it all the way to the White House. But
Bernie is, and that might be all that it takes.
Of course, the same argument can be made about Donald Trump as
he swoops in from the other direction like a vulture so this is going to be a
little strange.
Cheap Shots (you owe yourself a Vodka hangover, but skip
Smirnoff – do not make my mistake):
I’ve known about this for over 30 years, but it still amazes
me to hear Toni Tennille (of The Captain and Tennille) singing “Fuck all that!” in the
background.
“…your first
foray into maybe wrecking your credit rating, or at least running afoul of
an authority beyond your hometown…”
Remember, this
is the guy who disinvited The Trump from an event for saying mean things
about women.
No, it’s not named after Bill or Hillary. It’s been there
since 1844. Set that aside and read
the story about torture of prisoners instead.
Alice Cooper, Johnny Depp, Paul McCartney, Joe Perry, Dave
Grohl, Perry Farrell, Slash and Joe Walsh. Now
that’s a band.
And now a moment of Zen:
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