HILLARY CLINTON CAN’T SAVE YOU
Aug. 9th, 2011 10:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
defrogGuest political commentary from Team Def Political Shenanigans Analyst Lucky Bensonhurst.
With America mired in debt so deep that it’s finally had its credit rating slashed, it’s a symptom of the times that the biggest question being bandied about in Washington isn’t “How do we fix this?”, but “Which party is going to take the most casualties in November 2012?”
That’s a good question, Jim, and the answer will depend largely on what the economy looks like this time next year. That said, I suspect you’ll be seeing more, not less, Tea Party cranks in the halls of Congress, if only because the Koch brothers are on a roll, and the GOP doesn’t have the nerve to show these dingbats the door.
So much for Congress. The White House is the bigger prize, and it’s not looking good for President Obama at the moment. There are groups of hungry political animals determined to ensure that he remains a one-term president.
And that’s just the liberals.
I've spoken of this before. But after Obama's latest face-kick to the base with the tax-free debt deal, many have been grumbling, “We nominated the wrong person.”
By which they mean, “We shoulda gone with Hillary.” Hence the movement to convince Hillary Clinton to challenge Obama for the 2012 Demo nomination.
Ha ha.
Well, it’s probably not as weird an idea as it sounds – even the Weekly World News makes it sound strangely plausible. But WWN also claims that the Obama admin released a Chupacabra into Arizona to get Jan Brewer to repeal her immigration law.
Hillary Clinton quitting her post as head of State to challenge Obama for the Democratic nomination is just about as likely.
For a start, it would mean backstabbing Obama, which would rip the Democratic Party apart at a time when it needs to have its act together in the face of the uneasy GOP/Tea Party alliance. Hillary is more politically savvy than that.
Also, for all the talk that she’d be a tougher president and a shrewder negotiator than Obama, that may be true, but that doesn’t mean she’d have any more success in making the GOP her personal cabana boy and ramming a better debt ceiling deal down their throats.
Here’s why: The GOP has always hated Hillary’s guts. Always. They hated her when she wasn’t even running for anything. They hate her just as much now, and would say “No” to everything she proposed just on general principle. The only thing going for her over what Obama has had to contend with is that no one would demand to see her birth certificate.
The bigger problem, however, is this: if yr complaint is that Obama is not far enough to the Left for yr liking, then swapping him out for someone serving in his own admin is a half-assed solution.
The fact of the matter is that Hillary isn't any further to the left than Obama is. She’d be a moderate president looking for common ground at the end of the day, not the progressive champion that liberals want (and, foolishly, thought they were getting with Obama). If she did decide to run, and if she somehow won (and as I've pointed out elsewhere, the success rate of parties challenging their own incumbent is minimal), she’d be just as big a disappointment to the liberals as Obama has been.
So here’s a political tip for liberals unhappy with the insufficient Left-ness of Obama:
If you want a liberal in the White House, Hillary ain’t it. You want Ralph Nader or Al Franken or Jello Biafra or possibly even Dennis Kucinich. Unfortunately for you, none of them would stand a chance against either Obama or whatever candidate the GOP comes up with.
You might as well back the one person who has officially stepped up to challenge Obama: Harry Braun, who pledges to turn America into a solar hydrogen economy and amend the Constitution so that all legislation is passed by popular vote. Because he’s got as good a chance of defeating Obama as any other Demo challenger right now. Or an Arizona chupacabra, for that matter.
L. Bensonhurst
With America mired in debt so deep that it’s finally had its credit rating slashed, it’s a symptom of the times that the biggest question being bandied about in Washington isn’t “How do we fix this?”, but “Which party is going to take the most casualties in November 2012?”
That’s a good question, Jim, and the answer will depend largely on what the economy looks like this time next year. That said, I suspect you’ll be seeing more, not less, Tea Party cranks in the halls of Congress, if only because the Koch brothers are on a roll, and the GOP doesn’t have the nerve to show these dingbats the door.
So much for Congress. The White House is the bigger prize, and it’s not looking good for President Obama at the moment. There are groups of hungry political animals determined to ensure that he remains a one-term president.
And that’s just the liberals.
I've spoken of this before. But after Obama's latest face-kick to the base with the tax-free debt deal, many have been grumbling, “We nominated the wrong person.”
By which they mean, “We shoulda gone with Hillary.” Hence the movement to convince Hillary Clinton to challenge Obama for the 2012 Demo nomination.
Ha ha.
Well, it’s probably not as weird an idea as it sounds – even the Weekly World News makes it sound strangely plausible. But WWN also claims that the Obama admin released a Chupacabra into Arizona to get Jan Brewer to repeal her immigration law.
Hillary Clinton quitting her post as head of State to challenge Obama for the Democratic nomination is just about as likely.
For a start, it would mean backstabbing Obama, which would rip the Democratic Party apart at a time when it needs to have its act together in the face of the uneasy GOP/Tea Party alliance. Hillary is more politically savvy than that.
Also, for all the talk that she’d be a tougher president and a shrewder negotiator than Obama, that may be true, but that doesn’t mean she’d have any more success in making the GOP her personal cabana boy and ramming a better debt ceiling deal down their throats.
Here’s why: The GOP has always hated Hillary’s guts. Always. They hated her when she wasn’t even running for anything. They hate her just as much now, and would say “No” to everything she proposed just on general principle. The only thing going for her over what Obama has had to contend with is that no one would demand to see her birth certificate.
The bigger problem, however, is this: if yr complaint is that Obama is not far enough to the Left for yr liking, then swapping him out for someone serving in his own admin is a half-assed solution.
The fact of the matter is that Hillary isn't any further to the left than Obama is. She’d be a moderate president looking for common ground at the end of the day, not the progressive champion that liberals want (and, foolishly, thought they were getting with Obama). If she did decide to run, and if she somehow won (and as I've pointed out elsewhere, the success rate of parties challenging their own incumbent is minimal), she’d be just as big a disappointment to the liberals as Obama has been.
So here’s a political tip for liberals unhappy with the insufficient Left-ness of Obama:
If you want a liberal in the White House, Hillary ain’t it. You want Ralph Nader or Al Franken or Jello Biafra or possibly even Dennis Kucinich. Unfortunately for you, none of them would stand a chance against either Obama or whatever candidate the GOP comes up with.
You might as well back the one person who has officially stepped up to challenge Obama: Harry Braun, who pledges to turn America into a solar hydrogen economy and amend the Constitution so that all legislation is passed by popular vote. Because he’s got as good a chance of defeating Obama as any other Demo challenger right now. Or an Arizona chupacabra, for that matter.
L. Bensonhurst
