Saturday, March 8, 2008
I'm not feeling any less snarky about International Women's Day ...
but I was still happy to click over to Counterpunch today and see a fine article by a woman on the front page. JoAnn Wypijewski is a great journalist, and nobody does a better job of detangling the twisted skeins of class and gender in this country. Read her excellent analysis of Billary here.
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11 comments:
So,I'm not clear: you are for Obama or against Hillary or both?
Really, neither. I voted for Obama in the primary, but I wouldn't say I am "for" him. He shows every sign of being a pretty docile servant of imperialism and unchecked capitalism. He's not the proven enemy of the people that the Clintons are, and he's a damn sight better than that warmongering old dinosaur McCain, so he gets my support. Let's say I regard him as the least of three evils.
I read the article you referenced and just wonder if your hatred of the Clintons is from a personal injustice or from what you've read and observed. Politicians are usually very compromising people or otherwise they don't get elected/reelected.
It's not a matter of hating the Clintons personally; I hate the policies they created and perpetuated. The litany of sell-outs that Wypijewski recites is by no means complete. The Clintons didn't just compromise with the Right, they actively pursued many aspects of the Right's agenda, and caved to it many times when they didn't have to. (I say "they," by the way, to give Hillary the credit for influence that she's so eager to claim.)
Politics is not so much about personalities for me. I think one of the problems--maybe the main problem--with the American electoral system is that people are relentlessly encouraged to attach themselves to personalities, not policies or ideas. If I seem to feel a particular animus toward HRC, it's because I deeply resent the suggestion that I owe her my vote because she's a woman. What utter cowshit that is.
Billary is the past, pure and simple, and we don't need to perpetuate that. Bill will cut a wide swath through Hillary's administration, no matter how strong she is, and I don't think that's healthy.
Obama is somewhat unknown, of course (though not as unknown as HRC would have us believe), but at least he stands for something NEW, for God's sake, a new attitude if nothing more. Policy in a Democratic administration will take care of itself, and it is still too early in the game to make binding policy announcements anyway.
At the very least, I don't see Obama being a tool of big business like the Clintons were. Most of all, he will not operate under the pressure of Bill's shadow government which, unavoidably, Hillary will.
Finally, Hillary is so vulnerable to right-wing hate attacks that she probably cannot be elected: America, meet John McCain.
Well, Hillary was a Repub before she met Bill. All politicians are flawed as are all humans, their flaws are just out in the public. I enjoy your blog very much and find this exchange unsettling.
Unsettling? I'm sorry to hear that. People are always welcome to disagree with me in their comments. If I respond vigorously, it's because I care a lot about these issues, and I believe in calling things as I see them. It gets back to my point before about staying away from personalities in political matters. The same principle applies in political debate. I don't think less of someone because they disagree with me about an election. So, I hope you don't think I was attacking you if you're a Hillary supporter. I was just trying to answer your question.
Bozo can chime in and speak for himself, but he and I don't always agree either :-)
Well, you mostly don't present political topics anyway and I don't find blogs very useful for sincerely understanding someone elses' point of view. It's mostly people pontificating so I'll continue to enjoy checking in on you.
Good! Glad to hear it. I don't want the blog to be a hostile place. Take what pleases you and leave the rest. ;-)
I think that Obama/Clinton would be an interesting ticket.
Hey, I'm just damn glad we're coming to the end of Bush!
Oh, I'm with you, Mary. I'd surely take either, or both, of the Dems over Bush. I'd take almost anybody over Bush.
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