Archive for March, 2007
March 31st, 2007
During the 2000 presidential campaign, there is little doubt that residual after-shocks from the Monicagate scandal inflicted mortal damage on Al Gore’s presidential campaign. Gore tried to inoculate himself from Bill Clinton’s philandering antics by keeping him at a distance from his campaign. It didn’t work. The fact that only a few hundred votes in Florida seperated him from the presidency demonstrates how Al Gore paid the price for Bill Clinton’s behavior.
But not Hillary. As Al Gore lost, Hillary Clinton won the Senate election in New York, thus beginning the first big step in mounting her presidential campaign. As the 2008 campaign has already begun, Hillary, unlike Al Gore, is placing her husband and ex- president Bill Clinton in center stage as she mounts her aggressive vault towards reentry into the White House. Does that mean that she, like Al Gore, will be vulnerable to attempts by the Republicans to revive the Monica Lewinsky scandal?
There is little doubt that elements in the Republican camp will bring up Monicagate at every opportunity open to them. However, unlike the 2000 presidential campaign, it is unlikely to work this time. If the Republican nominees are Rudy Guiliani, with three marriages, or McCain, married twice, Hillaryland will find ways of throwing mud back at the Republicans, thus neutralizing the issue. As Hillary herself said, when attacked by Republicans, she will “deck them.” In addition, the Hillary camp will run saturation bombing ads decrying the corruption and incompetence of the Bush administration. They will do it in a way that will make efforts to revive Monicagate appear as a false distraction from a substantive rationale as to why the American people should again trust the Republicans after 8 years of Bush.
The irony of Monicagate is that it is relevant in the sense that it unveiled the dishonesty, self-indulgence and irresponsible character of both Clintons. However, after the disasters of the last eight years, the Republicans cannot hope to defeat Hillary Clinton by merely attacking her husband. Unless they have a positive case to bring to the American people that does not whitewash the catastrophic nature of the Bush administration, their attempts at reminding the American people of what a previous Clinton administration inflicted on the nation are likely to fall on deaf ears. The only candidate who can defeat Hillary Clinton is one who can effectively make the case that he/she will do far better for America than either Billl and Hillary Clinton or George W.Bush.
March 29th, 2007
Former Vice President Al Gore may have morphed from politician to movie star, however, it is his former boss, Bill Clinton, whose in the big picture now. Just look at the official Hillary Clinton Campaign website, and see whose picture dominates the homepage. It sure isn’t the candidate herself.
All this week, Bill Clinton’s mischievous visage dominates the space on Hillary’s campaign homepage. It is him asking for supporters to put their money where their Clinton affections are, and contribute in the final days of the first quarter for fundraising reports to the Federal Election Commission. As the massive blow-up of former president Clinton’s face almost overwhelmed me with its sneering, “Slick Willie” permeation, the thought crossed my mind; why isn’t the candidate herself the major facial image on this website? You would almost think Hillary Clinton was just a minor campaign official, and it is the real Bill Clinton himself actually running again for president.
Hillary Clinton may be a megalomaniac, but she is one with an unusual degree of self-discipline. If it requires that, temporarily, she withdraws a bit from the limelight to allow her husband to be the facial image of her campaign, Senator Clinton is more than accomodating if the end result is a surer path to the White House.
The unpopularity of President Bush has enabled Clinton to rebuild his image, as Americans angry with the Iraq war forget the degradations of the Bill Clinton administration. The rock star popularity of Bill Clinton is apparently being deployed by Clinton’s campaign as the perfect antidote to the instant celebrity status of Barack Obama. And so here we have the ultimate affirmation of dynastic politics in action, the interoperability of the Clintons, who can easily substitute the campaign’s face and image at the drop of a hat, and possibly poll numbers as well.
March 28th, 2007
Recently, the nation marked the fourth anniversary of the Iraq war. However, this March also marks another war anniversary that the Clintons hope you will forget. For it was on March 17, 1999 that the Clinton administration began “Operation Allied Force,” a savage bombing campaign directed against the Serbian people.
The Clinton administration, which also had its “coalition of the willing” in the form of NATO air power, decided that diplomacy was taking too long in convincing the Serbian government to change its policy on the treatment of Albanians in the province of Kosovo. Undoubtedly, the whole Balkans bloodletting that followed the break-up of Yugoslavia was a great tragedy, as old tribal conflicts were re-ignited. However, by far the worst Serbian activities occured in Bosnia, not Kosovo. Yet, Bill Clinton chose to deal with the Bosnian conflict through diplomacy. Ultimately, this led to the Dayton Accords, which ended that aspect of the Balkans civil war. Yet in Kosovo, which involved a refugee situation as opposed to outright massacres, the Clinton administration unleashed a torrent of air strikes against Serbia’s civilian infrastructure, under the command of a General who later ran for the Democratic nomination for president. Could the need to rebuild William Jefferson Clinton’s reputation as commander-in- chief after Monicagate have had anything to do with the decision to launch an unprovoked attack against the Serbian people?
The American people are largely unaware of the fact that thousands of Serbian men, women and children, all peaceful civilians, were slaughtered by the supposed “precision” air strikes of the Clinton administration. These were people who had nothing to do with the policies of their government. Yet dead they are, while the Clintons stand silent. However, now that Kosovo is under NATO occupation, the tables have turned. Many Serbian residents have been forced to flee their ancestral homes in Kosovo, and in some cases have been murdered in cold blood by the Albanian majority in the province. It seems unlikely, however, that Senator Clinton will call for a bombing campaign against Albania.
The eigth anniversary of the carnage in Serbia should remind the American people of how cavalier the Clintons were in unleashing America’s military might against countries that had not attacked or threatened the United States, and doing so without a declaration of war. I shudder to think what Generalissimo Hillary Rodham Clinton would unleash on the world if she were to return to the White House as the nation’s commander-in-chief.
March 27th, 2007
I do not know if Senator Clinton was a gymnastic icon in her earlier life, however, her torturous flip-flopping in explaining her Iraq war vote demonstrates a decided talent in extreme acrobatics. The one thing Hillary Clinton is incapable of doing is admitting her vote was in error, that she made a mistake, “screwed up.” Thus, her most recent construct is this: “If I knew then what I know now, I would never have voted for this war.” Rational explanantion, or Clintonian conceit? Consider the following, then render your own judgement.
A year after the onset of the Iraq war, Senator Clinton was interviewed on CNN’s “Larry King Live.” By this time, the entire planet already knew that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, which was the original justification for the war resolution approved by both houses of Congress. However, in response to Larry King’s question regarding her vote for the war, Hillary Clinton said in reply,” No, I don’t regret giving the president authority.”
Now, Mrs. Clinton, what do you know now that you didn’t know one year after the onset of hostilities, which would lead you to claim you would not have voted for the war? Did I hear that right Hillary? Oh yes, your pollsters and high-priced political consultants are what you now know. Pity you didn’t know them when interviewed on “Larry King Live.”
March 26th, 2007
Today, Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack, who also was briefly a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, placed his support behind Hillary Clinton. This is another indication that while the media is infatuated with Obama, Senator Clinton and her husband Bill Clinton are executing their meticulous campaign plan for recapturing the White House for a second Clinton presidency.
Hillary Clinton has scored a major advance with Vilsack’s endorsement. As a two term Democratic governor, he built a strong campaign infrastructure in his state, which was enhanced during his brief presidential campaign. This network will now be put to work for Clinton. Former Senator John Edwards has been campaigning in Iowa for years, including during the 2004 presidential campaign, so he has a relatively strong organization in place. Which leaves Barack Obama as a neophyte in Iowa.
The Iowa caucas come next January will be the first significant test during the 2008 primary season. A win by Hillary Clinton in Iowa, followed swiftly by a cluster of major state primaries that are now being front-loaded into the first weeks of the 2008 campaign, will give Senator Clinton the momentum to lock up the nomination sooner rather than later. And what about Obama? If he should come in third in the Iowa caucas, it may mean a swift death for his campaign, just as with Howard Dean, the media obsession early in the 2004 primaries, who fizzzled shortly after his poor showing in Iowa.
March 25th, 2007
It appears to me that much of the media is disconnected to what is really going on with the 2008 presidential race. As a substitute for knowledge, media pundits have taken to exagerating the Barack Obama challenge to Hillary Clinton’s sense of inevitability as she pursues her presidential coronation. Remember how the media proclaimed insurgent candidate Howard Dean as the certain bet for beating former front-runner Senator Kerry during the 2004 presidential primaries? Even Al Gore, who has gone on to better things, fell for that one with his premature Dean endorsement. Turns out Kerry always was the front-runner for the 2004 Democratic nomination after all.
At this very early stage of the campaign, the things to focus on are these: 1. Who is raising the most money? 2. Who is hiring more of the best political talent for their campaign machine, Barack or Hillary Clinton? 3.Who stands to benefit the most from the massively rescheduled primaries in early 2008, which will benefit the candidate with the most money?
Poll numbers at this point are meaningless. What is far more significant is that Hillary and Bill Clinton are way ahead in fundraising, endorsements, political hiring and positioning themselves to benefit the most from front-loading the primaries. I think the facts on the ground, regarding the Clinton political machine and Hillaryland machinations, are far more important than what media pundits are saying at this point.
March 24th, 2007
Bill Clinton has now made his own “Hillcast” on Hillary’s official “exploratory” website. However, President Clinton’s video is merely the tip of the iceberg regarding his pivotal role in Hillary’s campaign. As chief fundraiser, political strategist and, at times, official spokesman, it is becoming increasingly difficult to seperate one from the other in identifying the real Clinton candidate. Hillary Clinton may vicariously be enabling Bill Clinton to return to the White House as defacto president, circumventing the two term limit the law prescribes on presidential longevity in the White House.
More and more, it is becoming clear that the 2008 presidential campaign has seen the emergence of a new phenomenon in American politics, Team Clinton. Hillary and Bill are morphing into a single coin, with two faces, his and hers. How can John Edwards, Barack Obama and the other Democratic contenders have any hope of campaigning not just against a single political adversary, but a team that fights and operates in unison?
March 23rd, 2007
With a mere eight days before the first quarterly filing is due on presidential campaign fundraising, all eyes are on Bill and Hillary. Behind the scenes, as well as at spectacular public events, Bill Clinton is finally making up to Hillary for all the philanderings and past humiliations. Bill Clinton may not be the most ethical politician, to put it mildly. But no operator understands the mechanics of political fundraising better than Hillary Clinton’s partner. The number that will be reported in 8 days will set the pace for the ongoing 2008 presidential contest. I believe this is one time Bill will definately not dissapoint Hillary Clinton.
March 22nd, 2007
Shades of George Orwell! An employee at a firm involved with Barack Obama’s Internet campaign has been canned for being the one who put together the anti-Hillary 1984 video on youtube. I doubt the video cost Hillary any meaningful number of votes. However, as another arrow in her quiver to fire at Obama’s supposed reputation as a clean campaigner, it may prove very useful to Hillary Clinton. No doubt, the 1984 anti-Hillary video was created without Obama’s knowledge or approval. However, it is a sign of a neophyte trying to run a start-up national presidential campaign against the most experienced campaign team in the country; the Clintons. Unlike the newcomer Barack Obama, Hillary runs a very tightly-disciplined and loyal campaign machine. There will be no unauthorized slip-ups occuring in Hillaryland, as the long and never-ending 2008 presidential campaign moves forward.
March 21st, 2007
Along with other notorieties, Bill Clinton’s presidential reign was renowned for its creativity with political fundraising. As the nation’s 42nd chief executive, Bill Clinton was a dynamo in arranging White House teas, coffees, an overnight stay in the Lincoln bedroom, all in exchange for a generous financial contribution. One even got the impression that the Clinton White House would permit a generous donor to answer a call of nature in the official presidential washroom, if the price was right.
If Hillary Clinton is elected America’s 44th president, no doubt she will be equally adept at her teas, bedroom rentals and other activities required to finance the continuing political wars of the Clinton dynasty.
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