Grotesquely Underhanded, But Oh So Familiar

If only John Edwards, a year ago, had thought to pound on that one, simple little word: change. He could have been its agent, and would likely be leading the pack now. Sure, it's void of real meaning and almost laughably clichéd, but on the other hand it embodies -- bumper-sticker-style -- what voters seek most, and any candidate who can first link that one winning word to his or her name is light years ahead of the game.

And it now appears voters want change in their politics as well as policies. There's a palpable and even provable sense of yearning in the air -- a profound yearning for a cleaner style of politics, a rejection of old-school skulduggery, and even some demonstrated connection between the electorate's concerns and the candidate's strategy.

Put those two together -- the desired and the delivered -- and Barack Obama's crushing victory over Hillary Clinton yesterday comes into easy focus. Two sentences from this morning's New York Times coverage summarizes in large part the senator's Waterloo:

"South Carolina voters showed little taste for the Clintons’ political approach. They said in exit polls that their main concern was the economy; during an all-out campaign blitz on behalf of his wife here, Mr. Clinton spent the last week highlighting Mr. Obama’s record on Iraq and his recent statements about the transformational nature of Ronald Reagan's presidency."

Yet those old-school distortions were but the half of it. The other half, of course, was Bill Clinton's slithering undercurrent of racial politics, endorsed if not researched and scripted by the Clinton campaign itself. Yesterday's Bill-ism was perhaps the topper, the granddaddy snake of them all: When asked a question that had nothing to do with race, Bill responded by casually noting that Jesse Jackson had won South Carolina's primaries (caucuses, actually, at the time) in 1984 and '88. Yes, Bill, we get it. We noticed. Obama is black.

How did that play with S.C.'s white voters? Obama obliterated his eight-percent ranking reported only a few days ago, scoring "about as many South Carolina white men" as voted for Clinton, and outscoring her by about 10 points among youthful white voters of both sexes.

Ron Fournier of the Associated Press had some excellent advice for the former president just four days ago: "Bill Clinton says race shouldn't be an issue in the Democratic presidential campaign. Well, then perhaps he should stop talking about it." Bill should have listened, or at the very least, Hillary should have muzzled him.

But the Clinton campaign's old-school skulduggery didn't stop at Obama's door. Last night in interviews with the three candidates' top strategists, Edwards' Joe Trippi was on the verge of ripping any Clintonite's heart out. His on-camera blow-up was over the Clinton's use of "robocalling" on the primary's eve in a vulgar attempt to cut into Edwards' primarily white vote. The robo-wording was sickening:

Hello. This is the Hillary Clinton for President Campaign. Before you vote on Saturday, you should know that John Edwards voted for permanent trade relations with China ... [a] bill that cost thousands of jobs. Like the ones in the textile mills he talks about so much down here. You should also know that John Edwards made nearly a half a million dollars working for a Wall Street investment fund, a fund that’s been profiting on foreclosing on the homes of families; including 100 homes right here in South Carolina.... Edwards says he’s one of us, but up on Wall Street he was just another one of them. Can you trust John Edwards?

Grotesquely underhanded, but in a pinch, it's what they do, and what they do best.

Many voters no doubt recalled that any candidate who campaigns that way will also govern that way. Does any other South Carolina primary victor ... oh, say, circa 2000 ... who went on to the White House come to mind?

This morning the Clinton campaign is licking its wounds, wondering why the old venom failed to kill. The network commentariat's consensus last night seemed to be that it would now pull back from its attack-dog strategy, having suffered a momentous backlash.

But I have my doubts. Like a cornered wolverine, the Clintons are far more inclined, it seems to me, to strike again from the same old strategic foundation, though in new and wondrous tactical ways. I'd put my money on a desperate bloodbath of inventive skulduggery. It's what they do -- because they learned from Republicans all too well.

"Change" be damned.

****

to P.M. Carpenter's Commentary -- because your support is needed. I am not, as some readers have assumed, of the professorial class who lives off the fat of the ivory tower, though I do hold a doctorate in American political history. Rather, I am but a typically impoverished public scribe who relies on a substitute-teaching income as a too-meager base for this daily column. I therefore must also rely on you, the regular reader, to supplement the production of what you regularly enjoy -- or become enraged at. The purpose is merely to stimulate thought. So, if at all possible, please click above today. And enjoy. Thank you -- P.M.

Comments

[Clemsy]

Over the past six I have listened to Bill Clinton on NPR and various talk shows with a wistful nostalgia. His eloquence and knowledge of the issues is so at odds with the embarrassing buffoon (who still has 358 days left to bring the world to an end)that, oh! To have Bill back in the White House would be as a gift from God.

Boy has he blown that impression out of the water. Shot it down and fed it to his dog, even. He was the one reason I might have voted for Hillary, who I never much cared for and will never forgive for voting to give the afore mentioned embarrassing buffoon permission to utilize the most staggering array of military power the world has ever seen.

We need a new politics in America. Especially now. Good lord! Bush has put us in the crapper and there is nothing else these people should be talking about! They fiddle like Nero as the republic burns.

I would have preferred Kucinich. I will vote for Edwards in the primary. I will vote for Obama if he's nominated. I will only vote for Billary if they're up against the Mitt or the Huckster.

If the Clintons go against McCain, I'm voting for a third party.

Why?

Of all the Repubs he'll do the least damage and he'll own the mess after memory impaired America willingly, maybe even compulsively, forgets Bush.

I can't vote for Hillary. I just can't.

[Jay Randal]

Bill Clinton would be wise to withdrawal from his wife's campaign completely, but if he then started playing golf with Bush Senior again then his wife would lose the presidency and her Senate seat too.

[Hotrod]

PM,
The Clintons are scum, but they're our scum, Dammit!!!!!!!

[Clemsy]

Ugh. Apologies for the bad math, there. The embarrassing buffoon has 338 days left to bring the world to an end.

Everyday most absolutely counts.

[epppie]

It's really hard to listen to this tripe about Bill's race game. If you want to complain about Bill, what you should be complaining is that he has too prominent a role in the campaign. But when it comes to the race issue, Obama himself has made race an issue.

Alternet put it this way:
It was interesting to watch Obama deliver the most memorable and moving caucus victory speech in memory, one that included King-like intonations and references to the activists who "marched through Selma and Montgomery for freedom's cause" in the 1960s. Such inspired, impassioned pleas follow a campaign trail-tested rhetoric in which racism such as that surrounding the Jena Six case remains a largely unspoken part of Obama's speeches and policy platforms. He appears to be more comfortable getting choked up when speaking about the fight against the racist past than he does during those few times he talks about the racist present.
http://web.alternet.org/democracy/72713/

And Obama's sickening 80% win amongst blacks in SC proves it.

So it's ok for Obama and his followers to play the race game, but not ok for Bill? The point is, Obama is being hailed as the second coming simply because he is black. Were he white, folks would see the gauzy emptiness of his rhetoric for what it is - bullshit. But because he's black, hosannas rise all around him.

He hasn't EVEN accomplished what Jesse did and I don't remember the hosannas about Jesse. Could it be because Obama is whiter in color and manner than Jesse? Naw. That would be race talk. So it can't be true. Or anyway, we'll just pretend it's not true.

[Wilson]

Remember Stalin's "show trials"? This is a "show election". The successor to the current "war president" has already be chosen

[Zee]

I would fear Wilson's remark as true, but you all have vastly underestimated the power of the older women here. If the media and the blowhard pols think they can anoint Obama, they may have another think coming. We vote, we show up. Deal with it.

And, pm, gads, just give it up. Have you hit one out of the ballpark in forever? John Edwards could not have gotten air time or support no matter what empty code word he used. Sheesh. The media Dean-screamed him. And all the progressive whiners prefered wringing their hands about Obama, Hillary, Kookcinich, etc., instead of mounting a pre-emptive support strike for Edwards when it would've mattered. So stfu already and quit blaming Edwards for your own shortcomings.

[Clemsy]

Bill Clinton's ego may be the best cure for repub malaise. Put them against McCain and repub turnout increases and a good number of indies shift right.

Perhaps Jon Stewart can save us. he has mccain on tape admitting to "going to crazyland."

[Emilio]

Comment on eppie's post.

You give yourself away as a dumb idiot without a worthwhile argument, and should not bother to disturb good conversations with your trite remarks.

[Commonsense]

To the old nag who wants us to remember that old woman are voting in this election and we just have to get over it. Well, baby, there aren't enough plastic surgeons to life that face off the ground. Hillary is not only a daydream, she's a dry dream.

[Billie Stone]

If one tenth of what is written here were written about Obama you would have a law suit for violation of civil rights. How dare you disparage the Clintons with your nincompoop smears while extolling the vacuous virtues of a neophyte politician like Obama! Obama and Oprah made their bed on racial privilege, and there they lie!
Oprah would not allow any other presidential candidate to appear on her T.V. program because she had "found her man." Both she and Obama lapsed into negroid dialects when appearing before crowds of blacks in South Carolina. Who was playing the race card? And it worked! Teddy Kennedy & Clan have ordained St. Obama as the next president. Why? Because Obama is a neophyte and will depend on Kennedy for counseling as the power behind the throne. Kennedy, who could never become president, will be president. That's the big trade-off. Kennedy is the status quo! The OLD GUARD! Some change! In politics everything has a price, so with Obama's sell-out, it will be politics as usual. Having Bill Clinton at Hillary's right hand in the White House sounds equivalent to a guardian angel by comparison.

[Commonsense]

A pretty little tirade from Billie Stone. Could have been written by Clinton himself. What sticks in the craw of these liberal poseurs is that finally they are called upon to make a sacrifice for their principles, and the principle involves one of the live wires of American social life - race. The fantasy that African-Americans are the compliant little clients of the Clintons has finally come to an end. This is the plantation mentality if there ever was one. Obama worked his way up without Kennedy patronage and what patronage he did enjoy was par for the political course. No, the Clintons have sprung full-blown from the head of Zeus - no patronage, entirely clean hands. There may have been things full-blown but it wasn't their entry into or their careers in politics. Or was it?

[Mal]

Commonsense: By comments like "racial privilege" and "negroid dialects" I highly doubt that Billie Stone is a liberal, unless by that it means he sits on the left side of the room during Klan meetings.

Also, dear Billie Stone what in the world is a "negroid dialect"? Are you trying to say that an entire group of people by virtue of race genetically speak English a certain way? Hmmm, ever heard a Jamaican or someone from the Virgin Islands or a black person from Canada? You would've have been better served, if you had to go there, by using "African-American inflections"
not for political correctness but for accuracy because strictly speaking, it's not a dialect and speech variations are cultural and/or regional, not racial. As an added bonus, you would've sounded a whole lot less ignorant.

[Mal]

Commonsense: By comments like "racial privilege" and "negroid dialects" I highly doubt that Billie Stone is a liberal, unless by that it means he sits on the left side of the room during Klan meetings.

Also, dear Billie Stone what in the world is a "negroid dialect"? Are you trying to say that an entire group of people by virtue of race genetically speak English a certain way? Hmmm, ever heard a Jamaican or someone from the Virgin Islands or a black person from Canada? You would've have been better served, if you had to go there, by using "African-American inflections"
not for political correctness but for accuracy because strictly speaking, it's not a dialect and speech variations are cultural and/or regional, not racial. As an added bonus, you would've sounded a whole lot less ignorant.

[Wil Burns]

They also make this accusation:

The robo-wording was sickening:
"Hello. This is the Hillary Clinton for President Campaign. Before you vote,
you should know that John Edwards voted for permanent trade relations with China
... [a] bill that cost thousands of jobs. Like the ones in the textile mills he talks about
so much down here. You should also know that John Edwards made nearly a half a
million dollars working for a Wall Street investment fund, a fund that’s been profiting
on foreclosing on the homes of families; including 100 homes right here in Carolina.
Edwards says he’s one of us, but up on Wall Street he was just another one of them.
Can you trust John Edwards?"

Of course, they failed to tie that to the Clinton campaign.
Why would they attack Edwards? He got, what, 18% in Carolina?

Are the Clintons that stupid?

These days, you can accuse the Clintons of anything and the whore networks will
echo-chamber that allegation into a fact. We used to hate it when they did that.

Link http://www.bartcop.com/

[Steve]

Check this out! The funniest Hillary Clinton Spoof EVER!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGMgxFE6bms

Or search HILLARY TERMINATOR on You Tube.