For Some Superdelegates, a Chance for Revenge
It should come as no surprise that Democratic Party officials haven’t exactly been rallying to Hillary Clinton in her time of need.
While most Democratic voters remember Bill Clinton’s presidency with fondness, as the era of peace and prosperity and two straight wins in presidential elections, more than a few elected officials and Democratic leaders remember him as the selfish careerist who, time and again, threw them all under the bus.
Sure, he won reelection in 1996—the first Democrat to do so since Franklin Roosevelt—but at a steep price for the party.
When he came to power, Democrats enjoyed overwhelming majorities in the House and the Senate, marking only the second time since the end of L.B.J.’s presidency that the party controlled both the executive and legislative branches. But when he left, the G.O.P. owned both houses of Congress, the presidency and a majority of governorships—and within two years, Republicans gained a majority of seats in state legislatures for the first time in five decades.
While he was still in office, his would-be Democratic critics mostly stewed in silence. Bill was too popular with the masses to oppose, so they were stuck with him—even at the height of impeachment, when his approval rating was still almost twice what George W. Bush’s now is.
But now, their chance to get the last laugh seems to have arrived.
Whatever chance remains of a Clinton restoration in 2008 depends on Democratic superdelegates siding with Hillary Clinton, erasing what now looks almost certain to be an advantage for Obama in pledged delegates. There will be nearly 800 superdelegates at this summer’s convention (about 20 percent of all delegates) and right now Clinton leads Obama among them, 257-185. A late, mass shift of 350 or so could well swing the election her way.
In other words, her fate is in the hands of many of the same Democratic insiders who remember the first Clinton presidency largely for its missed opportunities. They’ve stayed neutral in this race because of their natural tendency to play it safe, and until very recently, Hillary seemed like the safe choice. If she survived the primaries, they’d swallow hard and side with her, just like they did with her husband a decade ago.
Obama’s dominant February, though, has turned that calculation on its head: Suddenly, he is supplanting Hillary as the safe choice, the one insiders flock to for fear of alienating a possible soon-to-be president.
Their grievances with Bill (and Hillary) go beyond the hit that the party’s down-ballot candidates took at the polls in the ’90s. If that had happened because Bill was out fighting the good Democratic fight, it would have been forgivable. But all too often, he seemed perfectly willing to serve up his own partisan allies, presenting himself to the public as the centrist hero between the extremes of the left and right—“triangulation,” this was called.
It reared its head in 1995, when he was on the comeback trail to re-election. Appearing before a group of wealthy business leaders, Bill Clinton brought up his 1993 budget, a tax hike and (modest) spending cuts package that had cost his party dearly at the polls. Not a single Republican in the House or Senate had voted for it, and Democrats across the country went down to defeat in 1994 because they had dared to defy public opinion and to stand with their president. Next Page >
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Amen.
Carter Administration had both houses as Democratic
giovanni: i think that's why it says it was the second time since johnson that the d's had both houses and the white house. carter was the first time, clinton was the second time.
Billy boy was elected in 1992 with only 43 percent of the popular vote. Bush and Perot with 37 and 19 percent of the vote respectively had legions of people who would never accept the boy president as their own. From day one he was at a disadvantage with 56 percent who didn't vote for him.
Let's face it, the only people who were truly upset with him were the radical left of his party. He realized that he would have to govern as a moderate if he wanted to have any chance at re-election. The obvious wake-up call was the 1994 elections.
I can actually see the same thing happening to President Empty Suit, I mean Obama. His liberalism cleverly disquised as "change." Once in office his first two years, despite having control of both houses, will be a disaster once he runs up against entrenched interests in congress, the lobbyists, his inability to remove the military from Iraq, and an unsustainable fiscal situation that will probably come to a head in his term.
2010 might shape up to be another 1994!
LIBERAL SUPERDELEGATES FIGHT FOR OBAMA; NEO-LIBS SUPERDELEGATES FIGHT FOR HILLARY. WHEN THE LIBERALS WIN, NEO-LIB PRINCESS HILLARY SHALL BURN AT THE STAKE; AND THE WORLD WILL BE CHEERING, WHILE AMERICA WILL BE SINGING “GOD BLESS AMERICA”.
I worked on the Clinton/Gore Campaign in 1992 and voted for Clinton twice. However, I and many of those who worked on the campaign long ago stopped drinking the Clinton Kool-Aid and see the Clinton Legacy as largely fraudulent, Clinton as a flawed man with no credible accomplishments. David Wilhelm, Clinton's Campaign Manager has endorsed OBAMA. Far too many people believed in the FALSE HOPE OF BILL CLINTON. The bottom line is that in the end, the Clintons are irresponsible with power. There is no reason for the middle or lower middle classes in America to believe that a second Clinton Administration would be any different. Despite the POPULIST rhetoric, Hillary is first and foremost a CORPORATIST. Americans cannot afford to get fooled again.
Quote: "Americans cannot afford to get fooled again."
Americans were not fooled by the Clintons, only the Democrats were.
Granted, Bill and Hillary are flawed, but compare them to Ronald Reagan and the Bush's. Reagan was the "great communicator" and yet barely talked to his children. All of the Bush's have been unethical for at least a century.
It's almost impossible to govern this country with born-again evangelicals wielding so much power. Many evangelical leaders talk to Bush on a weekly basis. Great!
America is just seemingly too diverse and everyone wants a piece of the pie. Compare the State of Mississippi and the State of Massachusetts. The difference is like night and day. Let most of the South, including the State of Mississippi, be a separate country.
As a gay man, I really don't trust Obama. His campaign is basically all promises, but that's standard operating procedure in politics. Reverend Donnie and Obama showed the gay community that Obama is really not our friend. Whatever it takes to win, Obama will go the extra mile. He may your friend today, but don't count on him being your friend tomorrow. He's a politician and we all know how trustworthy they are. Not!
A very large percentage of the gay community is still pissed at Bill Clinton for the Don't Ask, Don't Tell military policy and signing the Defense of Marriage Act.
I'm a Black gay man that supports Obama. Most of us do.
Yes, Bill Clinton deserted the gay community, and I'm not going to defend him. I think Hillary still has quite a bit of support within the white gay community.
Electing a black man or a woman is a tough sell, and I think it's going to be a nasty campaign. A large percentage of Americans are still racist, sexist, and homophobic.
America is defintely at a crossroads, and we have the opportunity to move in a new, enlightened direction or continue politics as ususal.
If I were a gay in this country, I'd be for Obama 100%. Look, it is going to take more than a generational change to alter the gay/non-gay divide in our country. MAYBE my kids will grow up in an era of tolerance. But one factor that could speed up the process is a POPULAR president. I'm nowhere near the GLBT community, yet I'm sure he's pro-gay from his speeches, and an article I read by a SF news editor. He might hide it a bit for political reasons, but that is a fact of life and doesn't mean he won't be an ally. So imagine if he became an overwhelmingly popular president and could actually use the bully pulpit to challenge Americans on their homophobia. He could truly make a difference. No candidate in my lifetime has had the character or charisma to even think about changing the world like he could. (And I do say *could*...he also could be Jimmy Carter.)
Bill Clinton screwed the underclass in general with his so called wellfare reform. it is ashame we have a bunch of spineless super deligates who don't recall what a fiasco he and his wife led us through. Yes Bush was / is worse, but Bill and his wife are opportunistic super egos. If you are a true Democrat leave her and him in the past and look forward.
Just my 2 cents.....
Looks like it's going to be Mr. Liberal-Change-Inexperience Man vs. the McCaniac.
I have no one to vote for. I will probably vote AGAINST someone but I have no one to vote FOR.
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THIS CAMPAIGN PROVES THE CLINTONS ARE NOT THE SUPER-POLITICIANS MANY HAVE GIVEN THEM CREDIT AS BEING. THEY ARE JUST COMMON, ORDINARY SOUTHERN DEMOCRATS.
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Triangulation is *not* the middle ground between extreme left and extreme right; instead, it is telling the Left what they want to hear, but then passing legislation that agrees with the Right. By betraying the Left in this manner, Clinton was able take away election ammunition from the Right, tap into donors from the Right, make casual Liberals voters believe that he was a liberal president (those who weren't paying close attention to what Clinton was actually *doing*), and solidify his presidential power at the cost and detriment of his party.
Christopher Hitchens explains this well in "No One Left To Lie To."
It's hard to see the prize you've worked for all your life snatched from your hand by some arrogant interloper.
Hillary really needs some emotional support right now from her party.
Perhaps Nita Lowey has some appropriate insight.
with all positivity intended vibes, as a straight girl who is 100% down for equal gay rights in marriage, health insurance, everything, etc....
please please please take a chance to read his book the audacity of hope. obama is candid about the conflict he faces between his personal life and his role as an elected person pledged to act in the interests of many.
i was impressed by obama in 2004 at the DNC convention, not impressed by him when he first announced his candidacy, but then my older cousin suggested i read his books.
then i was impressed by him. but only on paper. i too thought he was untested, unready, naive.
then he got stronger as hillary became more shrill. and i saw the man who i came to know on those pages on my tv screen.
ultimately, i don't trust shrillary's motives. but i do trust obama's.
no one is perfect, and i'm certain barack will take some missteps and make some blunders, but he is a good harbinger of the type of wave of grassroots energy that it would take to give your interests the validation in the law that they deserve.
please don't forget Bill Clinton threw us all under the bus. also, don't forget that actually many more civil rights laws were passed under - gulp - Nixon's administration than JFK or clinton. Nixon's administration and congress brought us title 9. not making a hero outta nixon, but i'm just sayin'.
sometimes it's not a horse, it's a zebra.
shrillary would send a sign that things would stay the same, and so many people would feel disenfranchised and left out.
mccain is a more liberal kind of guy, but if he did become president, he'd be so hamstrung by the GOP i doubt he could set the type of tone needed for the types of (please pardon me for using this word, but) --- CHANGE we need.
continued blessings to you.
....this message was a reply to ZACH.....
LIBERAL SUPERDELEGATES FIGHT FOR OBAMA; NEO-LIB SUPERDELEGATES FIGHT FOR HILLARY. WHEN THE LIBERALS WIN, NEO-LIB PRINCESS HILLARY SHALL BURN AT THE STAKE; AND THE WORLD WILL BE CHEERING, WHILE AMERICA WILL BE SINGING “GOD BLESS AMERICA”.
Alex K, great post.
Bill Clinton has such a dynamic personality and his interpersonal skills are top-rate. He's "Mr. Feelgood." It's sometimes difficult to see what's really going on, when he does push you under a bus.
ife, I should read Obama's books. Thanks for that suggestion. Obama's charm and intellect surprised a lot of people, including Hillary. She underestimated Obama's political skills and overestimated her political skills.
Hillary's campaign is over and she's finished. Her campaign expenditures, which the Times reported last night, are the final nails in the coffin. I was dumbfounded reading some of these expenditures. The expenditures point to mismanagement. If she can't manage her own campaign, how can she manage the country?
I was reading an article last night, and this reporter thought the superdelegates would vote for Obama. They appear to be safely in his column. Legions of young people, and the black community, would be up in the arms if Hillary was the nominee. Her campaign performance came up more than a little short, so why should she be given the nod.
WHERE HAVE ALL THE FLOWERS GONE
words and music by Pete Seeger
performed by Pete Seeger and Tao Rodriguez-Seeger
Where have all the flowers gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the flowers gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the flowers gone?
Girls have picked them every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?
Where have all the young girls gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the young girls gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the young girls gone?
Taken husbands every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?
Where have all the young men gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the young men gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the young men gone?
Gone for soldiers every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?
Where have all the soldiers gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the soldiers gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the soldiers gone?
Gone to graveyards every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?
Where have all the graveyards gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the graveyards gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the graveyards gone?
Covered with flowers every one
When will we ever learn?
When will we ever learn?
©1961 (Renewed) Fall River Music Inc
All Rights Reserved.
I don't thing McCain would be "hamstrung" by Republicans in congress. Odds are they will still be the minority, and yes, most of them can't stand McCain, therefore he could work with a majority of Dems, and those RINOs who feel the need. It would be like having a true independent in the White House.
Then again, there is the danger he upsets both sides too much, which would obviate any influence he had over congress.
At least it is nice to see admission that Obama will win.
While I don't see Obama as a panacea, I do see his candidacy as the first, best step on a long road to a better America of tolerance. The divisions of racism, homophobia, and other long held prejudices must be purged from our society. We are all Americans and its time that we were reminded of this. I don't agree with all of Obama's platform, but then that is a rare event in politics to have a candidate you agree with 100%. This nation must become united and I simple see Obama as the first step in this healing. I sincerely hope the super delegates do move in his direction and give America it's best chance at removing the walls of bias that divide us to formidibly.
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Theresa Boulart - Political Analyst - info@katrinaalliance.org
Re: Steve Kornacki - Superdelegates
From Texas: Hillary and the Kittens (Superdelegates)
Hillary Clinton is taking a stroll when she comes upon a little girl carrying a basket
with a blanket over it. Curious, HIllary asks the girl, "What's in the basket?"
She replies, "New baby kittens," and she opens the basket to show her.
"How nice," says Hillary. "What kind are they?" The little girl says,
"Democrats, and they're voting for you!"
Hillary smiles, pats the little girl on the head and continues on.
Three weeks later, Hillary is taking another stroll, this time with Bill. They
see the little girl again with the same basket. Hillary says, "Watch this, Bill;
it's really cute." They approach the little girl.
Hillary greets the little girl and asks how the kittens are doing, and she says, (STRONG)
"Fine."
Then, smirking, she nudges Bill with her elbow and asks the little girl,
"And can you tell us what kind of kittens they are?" She replies, "Democrats, and they're
voting for Obama!"
Abashed, Hillary says, "But three weeks ago you said they were voting for me!"
"I know," she says. "But now their eyes are open."
Zach
"so why should she be given the nod"
because if she does not, she will probably have a Carrie moment!