LM,
I think you are right, a feeling of betrayal is probably behind a lot of HRC's nasty comments which as you say explains, but does not excuse. I think that she so honestly believed that she was the inevitable nominee, that when it didn't happen, the shock she felt would be the same that normal people would feel if one day gravity was turned off. A shock that completely changes how one views one place in the world.
I am wondering whether that sense of betrayal and shock that she won't be the nominee may make her turn into another Lieberman even if she doesn't formally joins the Connecticut for Lieberman party.
Looking at this from a wider perspective, there may be a number of Dems shocked that things have not turned out as the thought and out of outrage, they may well be a big thorn to President Obama. Especially if they think their perks are threatened. Some may decide that if there really are going to be new rules in DC, then they leave sooner than a lot of people expect. So I would not be surprised if Senator Clinton retires from the Senate in 2012
Yes, have to agree about the dancing. It helps lift my spirits.
Someone tell the sax player James tagged him for dropping a note and it's $10.
LM, please, cut to the chase.
That was a lifetime of wading in yer waters.
There's a simpler story there.
They is fucked.
We ain't.
Harumph.
(know you mean well)
LM--When I learned that Obama's controversial "bitterness" comments were supposed to be private, but someone had sneaked a recording device into the room, I thought much the same thing you did about the vanishing of privacy.
The arrival of tiny audio and video recorders, cell phones with recording and transmitting capabilities, and security cameras everywhere, has rendered privacy uncertain at best, and not just for famous people. Remember that woman who got caught smacking her kid by a parking lot security camera [in Ohio, IIRC]?
The technology is different from Asimov's "chronoscope", but I fear we are rapidly approaching the society that was being born at the end of Asimov's story "The Dead Past".
"Happy goldfish bowl to you, to me, to everyone..." 
Ivory Bill,
David Brin wrote a very interesting book about this called "The Transparent Society". While privacy disappears, he points out that it may be a two way street. That is while the watchers may be watching us, they in turn can be watched by us. A couple of chapters are available for free download as well as some related articles. He gives an example of a cell-phone with a camera operating on a peer to peer network so that if someone stumbles upon the government doing something bad (say a Rodney King type incident), then a peer to peer network makes it possible for everyone to know.
Here is the link
www.davidbrin.com/transparent.html
Obama's words about guns and religion just served to reinforce my feeling that, by a country mile, he's the most intelligent and perceptive of the three candidates remaining. (Barely, in Hillary's case.)
And her seizing on them to, once again, rally the peckerheads to her, also reinforced my belief that, just like george bush, there is NOTHING she won't do, to avoid the reality that's coming down on her now.
As she drags this out, just as bush is dragging out Iraq, we might get a twofer with Obama: that is, he ends the republicans chances at the white house for a good while, as he does the same thing for Hillary Clinton.
:o)
(TB practices the end-zone boogie. :o) )
So many shades of ugly to this primary season.
but I do think time will heal some of the negatives, on the supporters' side.
I felt bad for Hillary for this very reason: if I were her, I'd be shocked, too.
The question is, what does your character lead you to do after the shock?
right now, the answer isn't pretty.
Lots to think about in this piece, LM. Thanks.
I agree that the good news/bad news coming from this campaign is how much the scab has been ripped from constant wounds of class, race and woman-hating, especially among and between people who need to function as allies.
Obama's as shitty with gay stuff as many Republicans; the deep wells of racism in the Democratic party structure as well as in the new DKos Dems (which manifests in the latter as Obamamania without any fucking comprehension of actual anti-racism work) is leaking through Clinton's pores; white media boys and "liberal" testosterone-soaked bloggers squeeze out every last drop of hate they can; and ALL of them are completely out of touch with working people.
I keep reminding myself of Sara's message about how we have to undo the very language we've used to discuss politics for decades now, because the Right successfully reframed our mode of discourse. We have to stop slash and burn, we have to make alliances without raising the spectre of masculinity or ignoring white domination, we have to accept that identity politics (race, gender, class) are silently RUNNING the goddamned show and find a way to validate the realities of non-white, non-male, non-rich Americans without stopping there as it if was a destination.
And I believe that leadership will not come from factions who were ever taken in by Reagan, Bush, Clinton OR the current version of "I'm more than a politician, I'm an ideology". From the bottom up, baby.
Like Digby, I think it WILL happen. Over the next thirty or so years, and as a result of listening to each other rather than marking territory. When I can tell someone's not listening, I usually leave, unless they're a friend worth the investment. Not listening to the hostility and misdirection is a good start.
And yeah, listen to James Brown in your head. Ditto Nina Simone, Mercedes Sosa, Alix Dobkin, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Buffy St. Marie -- whoever makes you ready to hit the streets en mass.
I'm embarrassed for her. These gaffes, misspeakings, naked appeals to Americans who are more afraid of black President than a dumb one...
I'm very embarrassed.
Since 1992, I've been told by the media, Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton that she's a brilliant woman who can make a real difference for Americans and the world ....
this campaign strategy is making me wonder what happened?
How is this going to end when she and her campaign are making these choices?
I just read on AOLNews (AP/Reuters, so take it cum grano salis) that Obama has achieved a lead in the superdelegate count. A very small, slim lead, but a first-time achievement.
Great post. I am afraid that Hukkary Clinton of all people is going to go down in history as the only candidate post-George Wallace to run nationally on an explicit appeal to white voters. The only way out is an apology. It is possible, as you say, it came out a little more explicitly than she meant it to sound -- just as Obama's comment did. But he acknowledged that he could have phrased that better. I don't think, alas, that admitting errors is in her repetoire.
America is insane because of race. Until we drop the conceit we will remain insane. One of the benefits of Obama's candidacy is to get beyond race into a realization that intelligence, empathy and hard work is more important. Anyone who thinks Obama has a problem with white voters just needs to look at Idaho, Minnesota and any of the other states where the vast majority of people are white and went for Obama. His speech about race as a divisive force harming America will go done as a turning point in our history along with Hubert Humphrey's Civil Rights speech at the 1957 convention.
Hillary Clinton is New York's problem now. I have written her and her husband out of my Democratic pantheon... pure ambition just trumped the ideals of the Party and destroyed the legacy of both of them.
Let us look forward to the struggle to get Obama on that stage January 20, 2009 and the end of the Bush nightmare.
We also have the still-tinged-with-rage makeup sex to look forward to.
So we've got that going for us.
The common thread here is something we've discussed before: a failure to adapt to new realities about how we get and digest the news. The MSM, that critical component of the Boomer BS Machine, is being supplanted by something new.
Candidates are now more likely to be captured by an individual's camphone or MP3 recorder than by a friendly and pliable MSM Betacam. People stop buying into the MSM fiction that Bill Donohue represents Catholics just because he's a media whore who'll hang around outside Radio City waiting for a MSM john to call for his services. ABC trys to air propaganda like "Path to 9-11" as if we'll swallow it without discussion like it's 1977 and there are only 3 top-down networks. And ABC follows it up with the most embarrassing debate in modern history, and are shocked when members of the studio audience boo them. Try racist dog-whistle calls, Senator Clinton, but don't be surprised when non-MSM pundits deconstruct it and let everyone know what you're up too. Try to play the race or gender card, and politically aware people will ask what the Boomer BS Machine will not: do you have anything more than identity-politics soundbites? And on and on. LM's article provides tons of examples.
This is ultimately why Hillary failed, and why McSame will too if we keep this up. Call it "citizen media," call it "the netroots," call it "many eyes," call it the blogosphere ... it all amounts to the same thing: a whole lot of clever and hungry young mammals invading the media ecosystem. Never a good thing for the old kings of the jungle.
Adapt or die.
James Brown had some other words of wisdom for Hillary. He said:
"Money won't change you
But TIME will take you out."
I came of age in the Jim Crow fifties, and one day in the North, in a state that had helped win the Civil War, I actually heard a kindly, well-meaning white woman tell me, a little kid: "See, THOSE are GOOD colored people. They know to get out of the way when a white person is walking down the street."
Fifty years later, I am sensing that it is TIME to get this discussion of race out into the open, to CONFRONT the haters and the fearful with their shit, and to tell them:
"All men are created equal? SHOW me!"
"Any kid can be president? SHOW me!"
"Racism is over in this country? SHOW me!"
It is put up or shut up time for these motherfuckers, and as the Rev said: "NOW is the time!"
We'd be fools to think it will be easy, or that the outcome is certain. Now might NOT be the time, and we have to recognize that. Still, we will have to roll the dice and find out. We can't afford not to. I'm in.
The question is, what does your character lead you to do after the shock?
right now, the answer isn't pretty.
Terri Hussein Brush in Tokyo
That's the crux of it, isn't it? We are told, even as children, that how we act when the chips are down is what we truly are.
Because with the Clinton triumph in the depths of the 90's, they did get a sense of entitlement. We are the only ones, they told themselves and each other. The only ones who beat the Republicans, the only ones who know how to do it, the only ones who have the key. Follow us.
When you're the only ones, there can be no others.
As human beings, we cling to whatever works. Even when it's no longer working. Even when it's no longer working.
When the games changes, we have to change our game. The ones who are quickest to grasp that, win.
Which is why it is so ironic that a couple considered so savvy politically would be so slow to figure out things have changed.
It was supposed to be a walk in the park for them. After the screwups of Republicans for the last seven years, it should have been. But they were still playing the old game. And when it didn't work...
It was our fault.
We should all be happy that Clinton getting down in the mud didn't work. That would have been infinitely more depressing.
That's how much the game has changed.
I think almost all Americans have come to a place where they could vote for the best candidate, regardless of race. I'm not sure they're there on gender yet, but Hillary Clinton is not really a fair test, since she is not the best candidate.
Ironically, it may turn out that Clinton helped us get to this largely post-racial place, because her blatant racist appeal will (I think) turn so many people off. Not what she intended, in my opinion, but there you are.
But I want us to turn away from Hillary Clinton, who is truly yesterday's news, and return to what's important. This was a letter in the Virginia-Pilot (Hampton Roads) today, Saturday, May 10:
"The Long War
"Bryan Michael Rogers, our grandson, was 14 years old when this war started. He left for Iraq this week."
This matters. This is what the campaign is about.God keep him safe and whole.
"whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me"
It seems to me that this can be interpreted also as Clinton saying that the less education one has, the more likely one is to support her. I understand the dog whistle here, but isn't it perilously close to saying: "You gotta be dumb and/or misinformed to vote Clinton."?
Someone should point out to Clinton and to the pundits that she doesn't have that much a hold over white voters, or female voters. Obama has a far bigger share of women votes, of white votes, and I suppose of Latino votes, than Clinton has of Black votes. That should tell her something.
LM, good as always.
Also, what is your opinion of Hillary's standing in NY and whether she faces serious issues getting re-elected.
Most of the NYers I've asked about this say that she is a shoe-in no matter what because 1) the NY Democratic machine is behind her and 2) because of that no credible Dem candidate will challenge her.
I've gotten the impression that she and Bill have nuked the bridges between themselves and blacks in NY.
I'm wondering if that is enough to cause serious problems for her since she needs black votes to keep her seat.
Wonderful post, LM. This and Drifty's place are still my favourite hangouts--can't beat the writing, aged like a fine whiskey.
This latest Clinton ugliness reminded me of Michael Richards' racist tirade. Basically, "how dare you not laugh at my jokes? How dare you? And, because you didn't like my lameass material and my feelings are hurt, I am going to come back at you with the ugliest insults from the depths of my lizard-brain, knowing, as I do, that I can pull this race card out, like a super-duper secret weapon because of the colour of my skin."
I will never forget nor forgive the Clintons for bringing out the ugly, the nuclear ugly, during a race which, in the beginning looked like it was heralding in a new era for the United States, making so many feel joyous and optimistic. Joy-killers occupy the top spot on my shit list FWIW.
Anyway, we'll get through it.
joe frantic
oh yeah, i know that chilling the inner hothead drill. there have been so many times when i'm ready to pull out the scalp knife and feathers and just go fucking tribal on these assholes, but, i stop. i chill. in the cool down portion of the exercise i start to remember things like how just about every single native american victory was merely a stopping point before the ultra super duper monster sized ass kicking that would inevitably come. i've heard historians say that the single worst political move red cloud and the ogalalla souix made was to win a war against the US. winning a war, forcing that treaty made flat out genocide an attractive option for the folks in washington. it gave the military a grudge and ax to grind.
in many ways, defeating a US army, for an indian nation, can be as dangerous as the prosperous black communities in the old south became. it forces them into full on psycho smack down mode.
when cochise shut down tucson and cut off all supplies to bisbee he took himself, and his people out of "more trouble to bring in than they're worth" status and, with his victories, ensured the eventual destruction of an entire tribe.
yeah, LM, chilling the inner hothead is a skill that must be learned.
and thank you, for taking us once again, several steps beyond the sound bite, several steps beyond the obvious.
since we're this many steps into it, hell, might as well dance.
it's when the rez drums stop that you have to worry. . .
Going back to the pain idea, the bitterness idea, the festering boil upon the body politic that racism is, and that LM points out here in remarkably fair terms as being something that has stretched a gloomy mist over this election season -- let's look on the bright side. Yeah, it's even more painful to lance that thing, but lance we must. Maybe we'll see some healing by August. I'm wishing that for you LM. Thanks for a very temperate analysis.
I mean, It's been evident for quite some time that there's a level of upset in the Clinton camp over the seeming abandonment of them by a once-faithful African American voting public.
I think it goes beyond "a level of upset." I think it's deep shock at learning that a lot of black voters weren't as truly enamored of the Clintons as they had thought they were. They're like a rich old guy who truly thought his pretty young wife married him for himself, not his money. And when she runs off with an up-and-coming younger dude she's really crazy over, the disappointment cannot be measured.
Those black voters are the pretty young wife, and Obama is the younger dude. No wonder they hate him.
Thank you for articulating many of the discussions I've been having with friends over this everlasting gobstopper of a primary season.
When Edwards dropped out and I became an Obama supporter, it was partly due to the fact that as a 41 year old African-American woman I was intrigued that he wasn't just in it, he was competitive.
Other than the war (a very important issue to me) Obama's policies weren't that different from Clinton's. In the end, given the choices, I planned to vote for the Democratic candidate on Election Day.
Then there was Bill in SC...
Then there were "important" states and votes...
Then there was "as far as I know"...
And the dog whistles
And obliteration
Until finally, Clinton is so far behind it ends with hard working white people being the real votes. If there was any question in my mind, that was when whatever shred of respect I had for her was dead.
I agree that this is politics every candidate should play to win. However, the same way she choose to try and win by appealing to America's racism, I'll be eagerly looking at her competition in the Senate race.
Thanks again LM for an insightful post.
Assume, arguendo, that Barack Obama is elected president. Four years later, he would be running for re-election. So will Hillary, as senator.
I have a feeling that she will have to make a call to ask a favor. All it will take is one joint campaign appearance, in Harlem, or in Hollis, and enough of the hurt will begin to melt away.
Can she bring herself to call and say, "Mr. President, I need your help?"
Can he bring himself to say "You have it, Senator?"
If she wants her biography to have a good last act, as an effective, brilliant Senator on the order of Ted Kennedy, or Lyndon Johnson, or Clay or Webster, she'd better make that call.
The sad thing about it all is ...it did not have to be this way.
Hillary made the choice to use Rovian tactics.
Hillary made the choice to bring the ugly spectre of race into the election.
Hillary had the name recognition, the campaign apparatus, the campaign warchest, and the endorsements.
She thought her being the Democratic nominee was inevitable.
Until Barack Obama became a competitor.
When that happened, she didn't talk policy; she went directly to the race card.
I wonder if she'll be running for re-election to the Senate?
"I have a feeling that she will have to make a call to ask a favor. All it will take is one joint campaign appearance, in Harlem, or in Hollis, and enough of the hurt will begin to melt away."
-It better be more places than just Harlem.
"Character is what you are in the dark."
Dr. Emilio Lizardo
The Clinton campaign has been a textbook example of what happens when you mistake the map for the territory. They followed the map that had served them well enough in the past, but the ground has changed. They were caught flat-footed, and every response has had the stink of desperation, culminating in Hillary's latest example of foot-in-mouth disease.
Frankly, it makes me wonder if her "tough campaigner" persona is just as bogus as the inevitability argument has proven to be.
About Capt. C's comment back at 7:44--
Let's not forget that college costs have risen dramatically since 1981, the same year Saint Ronnie Reagan [may Cthulhu piss on his grave] and his merry crew of buccaneers began slashing the programs that allowed working-class and middle-class people to go to college, and also slashing funding for public schools. They did this not only so they and their rich friends would not [oh, ultimate blasphemous horror!] ACTUALLY HAVE TO PAY THEIR FAIR SHARE OF TAXES LIKE THEY WERE RESPONSIBLE ADULTS OR SOMETHING, but also to reduce the access of the working people of this country to higher education, both by making college too expensive and by making sure that working-class kids from underfunded schools wouldn't be educated enough to enter college in the first place. The Elephascists hadn't forgotten that many of the much-hated activists of the 1960s came out of the colleges.
A lot of undereducated people are NOT undereducated because they're unintelligent, but because they didn't come from wealthy backgrounds and/or they went to deliberately underfunded public schools that couldn't prepare them to pass entrance exams.
Can President Obama say, "You have my help," to Senator Clinton in four years? Great question. I think he will because he is inherently so very decent and that will allow him to forgive. It also solidifies his strength. She will owe him. ie...being decent does NOT mean weak.
Still loving the way he has handled himself this week...and cannot wait to watch the Obama v. McCain comparisons begin.
A thought here: Could she have been deliberately outrageous...or should I say sunk deliberately into the trough of ugly, Rovian dog-whistle politics just to get the attention back on her so people wouldn't have much time to admire the way Obama deflected McCain's tacky little Hamas comment???
I am STOKED!
Hillary's whining:
"I got my ass kicked by the internet!"
See how powerful we are? :o) :o) :o)
Rangel: "I can't believe Senator Clinton would say something that dumb."
Now, now, Charlie. Play nice.
(No pie fights...:o) )
You're talking about the candidate for whom the phrase "She's politically SAVVY!" was invented.
:o)
Very nicely put LM, thank you.
Glad you're feeling better.
As Shivani HH listed above, every one of those vomit spewing episodes was another knive in the back by the first plausible women candidate for president. The better person is obvious.
Outside the fishbowl of the US Dem campaign, looking in, what still strikes me is HRC meeting with the likes of Scaife - the same guy that slung mud at her husband ... or going on the overtly anti-Dem FOX NEWS ... or happily sucking up an endorsement from Ann Coulter ... or saying Limbaugh's always had a crush on her. You ARE judged not just by your words & deeds, but by the company you keep. I've heard of zero repudiations of these "bizarre" sources of support, or even of anyone getting a straight answer as to WHY she'd let them stand as is. Even more mysterious is her supporters shrugging off support that should be a red-flag as to what said "endorsement" is meant to achieve & why: Obama terrifies them as an opponent because unlike Clinton, he's so hard to Swiftboat, & they just don't have anything positive to offer on their side, so it's their only option.
Like I said before, the sincere defections from the GOP will tend to be much more sympatico with a high-road message than with the same old mudslinging a la Rove. DINOs will likely no more vote for a woman than for a black man, nor will GOP voters who loathe McCain - they'll just stay home on voting day. Shooting herself in the foot with nastiness like "as far as I know" was bad enough, but she's since reloaded WITHOUT MOVING THE BARREL ... & let off round after round.
Looking at the current numbers, it's mind-boggling to think that HRC was deemed the "inevitable" candidate at the start of this race. Seldom has a candidate lost such an overwhelming advantage ... which again, argues strongly against making her the nominee (what's to stop her from making the same disaster happen in the fall?).
The sooner she drops out the better.
At this point, she's effectively campaigning for McCain.
"he's so hard to swiftboat"
Two words: BILL AYERS.
IBW - Hillary Clinton just called all her white supporters racist and stupid and you're worried about bill ayres? feh.
I cannot believe there is no outrage over the aborant behavior of these two people over the last year and I still can't. "Hillary Clinton can win" was, and is, a manufactured story by the people she surrounded herself with; people to construct the same bubble that bush lives in. The same thing. Exactly. And then all the people who cannot look forward climbed inside. The very premise of her candidacy was as paper thin as a soap bubble wall.
What did people think John Edwards was talking about on his early campaign stops telling crowds we were going to "get our party back"? Back from the DLC republicans. There's no denying they act just like republicans. There's no denying they were running the same campaign for the primary that the dnc has run in the general the last two times.... and lost. Its as plain as day. They spent all these years laying the ground work/network to "win" according to the maps and charts of the 2000/2004 campaigns. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.... definition of insanity. Americans are a leeeeeetle more creative and forward thinking than that.
And that's advantage Obama. They haven't the slightes CLUE what his strategy is. Scares the crap out of them. And I dare say it scares the crap out of the clintonistas. Who cares what the pubbies do. We have TWO fronts to beat here.... the pubs and the media.
Look how Obama shut them down on revi wright. When someone betrays you, you cut them loose. When its clear they are not FOR you, then they are against you and you cut them loose. You move on to the better thing waiting up the road that you can only reach BY cutting them loose. You drop the baggage and walk on. Let those who want to trail you toting that baggage and see how they finally either have to fall away under the weight of it, or drop it to keep up.
Keep moving forward. Let the past stay there..... no clinging. Fight Onward!
Jim:
"At this point, she's effectively campaigning for McCain."
THAT is one, cut-to-the-chase sentence. I'm gonna steal it, Jim.
:o)
And, as this thread seems to be winding down, I'd like to get this little prediction in:
She's not done with spouting off this right-wing shit.
It's the only direction she can go, now, and it's one that she picked, a good while ago, when she voted to authorize the shitmire, and bought ticket on the triangulating bus.
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