I got a MySpace bulletin today (yes, I have a MySpace page, such as it is). It headlined "The REAL Barak Obama" and consisted of a cut-and-paste email that'd been making the rounds. Perhaps you've heard about this. Hillary Clinton fired a couple of staffers a while back when they were caught forwarding it, and one wonders just what kind of dark, twisted soul comes up with stuff like this. Essentially (not to wallow in the gory details) the message takes a few basic facts (Obama's father was from Kenya, his parents divorced when he was very young) and strings together the most disgusting assertion that Obama is some kind of radical Muslim "Manchurian Candidate" who won't recite the Pledge of Allegiance, eats white people's babies and pulls the "do not remove" tags off of mattresses. Not only is he an evil, radical Muslim, the message implies that he is a radical ATHEISTIC Muslim.
Hey, you. The erstwhile 'zine publisher and comics fan who sent me that bulletin: FUCK YOU SIDEWAYS WITH A RUSTY BALL-PEEN HAMMER. I deleted and blocked that bastard immediately after sending him a harshly-worded email explaining exactly why I was taking such actions.
His asinine actions offended me so much that I'm very likely to vote for Obama in the primary when it rolls around Texas way. Obama's actually a Church of Christ member, which I'm not all that comfortable with BTW, but that's not going to turn me off of him (Heck, John Kerry was a devout Catholic and even that didn't do much to enthuse me).
The candidate I admire most, and truly believe would make the best president, simply isn't running. Al Gore backed away from the race at the last moment when it appeared the Clinton machine would throw him under the bus pretty much as it had back in the 2000 elections. I can't blame him, but he's still the best candidate.
The candidate I voted for four years ago--John Edwards--is not longer running, so is no longer an option. Not that I planned on voting for him anyway. His populist message, which I loved in 2004, simply sounds a little stilted and rote these days. Trapped in amber, so to speak. And Edwards had gone from the friendly people's champion to, frankly, an angry man on the stump. The biggest reason, however, for my souring on Edwards is the fact that the former one-term senator had done nothing to improve his resume over the past four years. WTF? He simply remained a perpetual candidate rather than, gosh, maybe make himself more qualified for the job? His inexperience was a big knock in 2004, and he did nothing to address that weakness. Very disappointing there.
Hillary is the candidate who's star has fallen the most with me. I met her in 1992, and was utterly charmed. I rode to the airport with her in College Station, and she was smart, witty and attractive. She was also friendly and--believe it or not--warm. I was ready for her to be president then, rather than her husband. More than a few people that day expressed the same sentiment, and she laughed it off saying if they voted for Bill, she came as a package deal. Trouble is, in the intervening years she's become a politician. Her votes in the senate seem calculated to win her the most votes in a general election. She's shown she's not above dirty pool in politics if it gets her ahead (see the nastiness with Obama in South Carolina or that with Gore in the link above). She is, quite frankly, far too Machiavellian for my comfort. In many ways, she reminds me of George W. Bush, particularly with that disturbing "you're either for me or against me" temperament. I think she's fiercely intelligent, and believe that with all things being equal she could make a decent president. But all things aren't equal. Taking a Machiavellian, bunker mentality into the White House would almost guarantee four years of pit fighting with Republicans and very little progress. If there's anyone the Wingnuts hate more than Bill Clinton, it's Hillary. And frankly, I just don't like her much as a person anymore--a big change from 1992.
The fact that I got that nasty email today about Obama was just one more nail in Hillary's coffin for me. Publicly, she's condemned the letter and its contents. But really, who stands to gain by its continued dissemination? Racist groups hate the Clintons and the Democrats as much as they hate minorities. The Republicans want Hillary to be the Dem nominee, because they believe she's the only thing that unify the fractured Religious Right (which is really, really unhappy with what looks increasingly like a McCain candidacy). Hillary looks to take a big lead among delegates in the upcoming Super Tuesday primaries, but if Obama keeps things close--or even pulls ahead in the upcoming southern primaries in February--is there any doubt the Clinton campaign will get very nasty very quickly if it serves their goals?
I thought not.
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U rode to AP with Hillary, how did that come about? John got drafted to give younger Bush a ride from AP & older Bush's VP tapped him on shoulder - family politicans - Calista should be Pres - has a mind of her own & will not listen to advisors
ReplyDeleteI was covering her campaign appearance during the primaries when she visited the College Station convention & visitor's bureau. It was a surprisingly large turnout, considering how Republican BCS is. Anyway, she didn't have time to give interviews after her stump speech, but invited me and Philip Sulak--the BCS Eagle reporter--to ride along to the airport. Philip, being the more senior of us two, got to ride in the back seat with her and I rode in the front.
ReplyDeleteI also interviewed George W. Bush when he came through the airport about five months later to campaign for his father. It was the single most anemic, uninspiring stump speech I'd ever seen. Major disappointment.