While it's true that everything looks like a nail to a hammer, sometimes it is a nail. When not, that doesn't prevent hope. Politico:
Asked by [Boston's] WBZ-TV’s Jon Keller whether she would promise to seek another term by running in 2018, the liberal firebrand senator from Massachusetts said it is "too early to talk about that"….
Warren’s comments were taped before Saturday’s unannounced meeting with Vice President Joe Biden….
In the interview, she once again pointedly declined to endorse Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.
For those who interpret my pro-Bidenism, pro-Sandersism, in fact pro-Anything-But-Clintonism as an abhorrence of candidate Clinton, I should probably say this again: A Hillary nomination troubles me not. The odds of a Democratic victory over any of the appalling choices presented by the disheveled Republican Party are immense, and likely to remain so. It's almost unimaginable that even Romneylike Hillary could screw up a Democratic presidential bid in 2016, should she nail down the nomination.
No, what pins me to my seat is the thought of Hillary Clinton grossly mismanaging her presidency with such familiar ease. From HillaryCare to wiped private servers, we need not review her long record of almost metronomic mismanagement. One trembles at the thought of what she could do with the entire executive branch at her disposal.
Yet even that isn't what terrifies me the most, which is this: Four years of Hillary's serial bungling could open the door wide to a GOP comeback in 2020.
Theirs is a party deservedly on the ropes. It is staggering, it needs to be put down — but Hillary isn't the one to do it. Indeed, she's the most likely presidential prospect to revive the GOP's hopes of retaking the White House. In addition to Republicans' usual scandalmongering, President HRC would add (anyone care to bet?) her own legitimately squalid howlers — a WH staff in classic Clintonian turmoil; past and present and future conflicts of interest; deliberately worsening relations with an already skeptical press (yeah, that should help); and a vastly ill-advised aggressiveness in the use of American power, which will haunt.
In sum, Hillary is apt to contribute more to her presidential downfall than Republicans are. Either way, the payoff would be the GOP's.
That's what terrifies me.
Granted, these are my political instincts in play; others' instincts will differ. I am not an advocate, I'm a critic, thus my instincts born of empiricism are in no way attempts at persuasion. That's not my role here, and persuasion, these days, is a hopeless task anyway. That said, I really don't want to be writing, in 2019: "I warned you." Hence my fondness for (nearly) Anyone But Hillary.
Bernie.
Posted by: Jimiskin | August 24, 2015 at 12:10 PM
Most of what you write is solid. What might not pan out for Republicans, though, is the constant scandal-mongering. At some point it's just going to be crying wolf and no one except the goofy 25-30% that make up the Republican base is going to hear, even if it IS a real scandal. I'd like a better Democratic candidate too, but can't imagine who it would be at this point. Bernie's doing a great job of promoting social democracy, but he's still a long shot at best.
Posted by: Bob | August 24, 2015 at 01:39 PM
That wouldn't be my primary criticism of Hillary Clinton. But I have lived though a period in time when the arc of a career in journalism from cub reporter to gray haired pundit can be founded in asking questions about a Clinton but never giving an answer.
My primary criticism is that she lacks the authenticity of her husband. There's not too much charisma flowing from our Hillary. However if anyone can discern a shrub of real scandal among the forest of phony scandals they are better men or women than I.
We could criticize her executive experience. She hasn't got any. Senators aren't executives. Cabinet officers may have some executive function but the Secretary of state doesn't do much policy making. They execute their boss's orders. Yet in every respect that matters she has more experience than the current incumbent had when took the helm. I hope for pretty good things from Hillary and I'll tell you why. When she gets down to the nitty gritty she is good.
I mentioned before how impressed I was with her interaction with the BLM activists. The Clinton people did take that video or release that video. It came from the BLM people themselves. It has been described as tense and indeed there was tension. Hillary laid it out. It isn't about changing hearts and minds. It's about changing policies and laws and systems. And she is absolutely right about that. She challenged the BLM people to come up with actual policy and legislative goals. And guess what happened? They did. And guess what is even better? They're good. Right down the line. There isn't one I cannot get behind. The Hillary in that video is one that I can actually say I like.
Posted by: Peter G | August 24, 2015 at 01:54 PM
did not take that video... sorry.
Posted by: Peter G | August 24, 2015 at 01:55 PM
My concern is even though the scandal mongering will only appeal to 25-30% republican base, it's still going to be played 24/7 on every news channel ad nauseum for the next four to eight years. Just the thought of it makes me feel exhausted.
Posted by: Anne J | August 24, 2015 at 01:56 PM
You're right. That's why I fast-forward through so much "news." Do you think the "news" business will be able to get away with what they do much longer?
Posted by: Bob | August 24, 2015 at 02:19 PM
I hope you're right that Hillary could be effective. Her heart might be in the right place, but she's a mediocre politician and facing Republicans isn't going to be as easy as facing BLM. What might help her most is the Republicans, who have almost no talent or even sense at this point.
Bill was great at faking authenticity. He was a blue dog that while "feeling our pain" destroyed welfare and education programs and pushed draconian crime bills. Then there's that world financial meltdown he helped create by ramming the Financial Services Modernization Act. If Hillary gets in I hope she makes it a point to spite Bill's philosophy.
Posted by: Bob | August 24, 2015 at 02:58 PM
Bill was great at re positioning the Democratic party back into electability is how I look at it. I wish politics were more like quantum electrodynamics and one could leap from ideological state to state but I fear the swing back to the left could not be accomplished in a single bound. You're getting there. It just takes time. I agree that Hillary lacks skill at retail politics but that is a minor matter to me. Backroom politics is where stuff gets done.
Posted by: Peter G | August 24, 2015 at 03:11 PM
You may be wrong there Anne. The scandal mongering will appeal to about 100 percent of the Republican base. And most of professional journalism. This morning I was delighted to see how professional political journalist like John Heilemann would deal with the nefarious Chris Christie on Morning Joe. In the course of which the terrible economic state was attributed to the terrible Obama Clinton duo and how as a prosecutor he would know how to deal with e-mail miscreants. Heilemann was apparently overwhelmed by irony and could only grunt in agreement. About New Jersey's fiscal mismanagement not a peep. Neither a peep on traffic jam creating e-mails by Christie's hand picked staff.
Expect more of the same. It would be probably be more accurate to stop using the term journalist and just call them journholes.
Posted by: Peter G | August 24, 2015 at 03:25 PM
I think the more likely outcome is the Republicans fall apart, and a new party emerges in the period 2016-2020.
Hey, a bird can dream.
Posted by: The Raven | August 24, 2015 at 03:56 PM
That's the best defense of Bill, but I'm not sure how much to buy. For all his reputed brilliance it seems he was slow to catch on to the game Republicans and oligarchs were playing. In any case he left a huge mess that's still to be cleaned up and I'm playing armchair quarterback.
Posted by: Bob | August 24, 2015 at 04:35 PM
Well dream a little dream for me. Dream for all of us.
Posted by: Peter G | August 24, 2015 at 06:59 PM