Answer to Mithras
If you did and she won, do you think you’d be complaining as bitterly or more bitterly now?
Mithras, in comments
Fair question, albeit one that’s impossible to answer. But I can tell you this: one of the reasons I didn’t support Clinton was that she was a known quantity. I knew her background, I knew her husband’s record, I was repelled by their cynical political, and I had a good idea of what a Clinton restoration might entail. I would probably be angry about a lot of things, but I don’t think i would have felt betrayed.
One of Obama’s speeches that helped seal the deal for me were his remarks on false hopes, and broken promises. It took me awhile to find it, and I’m pretty sure this is the one:
There is something happening- there’s something happening when, Americans who are young in age and in spirit – who have never participated in politics before– turn out in numbers we have never seen, because they know in their hearts that this time must be different.
There’s something happening when, people vote not just for party, that they belong to but the hopes; the hopes that they hold in common – that whether we are rich or poor; black or white; Latino or Asian; whether we hail from Iowa or New Hampshire, Nevada or South Carolina, we are ready to take this country in a fundamentally new direction. That’s what’s happening in America right now. Change is what’s happening in America.
You, all of you who are here tonight, all who put so much heart and soul and work into this campaign, you can be the new majority, who can lead this nation out of a long political darkness – Democrats, Independents, and Republicans who are tired of the division and distraction that has clouded Washington; who know that we can disagree without being disagreeable; who understand, who understand that if we mobilize our voices to challenge the money and influence that’s stood in our way and challenge ourselves, to reach for something better, there is no problem we cannot solve. There is no destiny that we cannot fulfill.“
It is not that Obama hasn’t kept his promises: it is that in so many ways, his promises have proved to be hollow, a shadow where there should be substance. for example here’s what he said in St. Paul, after winning the nomination:
And you can rest assured that when we finally win the battle for universal health care in this country, she will be central to that victory. When we transform our energy policy and lift our children out of poverty, it will be because she worked to help make it happen.
Then his administration took universal healthcare off the table before anyone had seen the menu. And then they decided to cut secret deals with the insurance industry and hospitals, so there would never be a public option, while campaigning for just such a policy. As for the “energy policy”, the administration sided with utility companies in a lawsuit to stop greenhouse gas emissions. His department of the interior granted 27 waivers to oil companies drilling, AFTER the BP gulfapocalypse. And that’s just two examples.
That’s the kind of cynicism I expected from Hillary Clinton, not from the guy who stood in racially-scarred Philadelphia and said:
[A]t this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, “Not this time.” This time, we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native American children. This time, we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids can’t learn; that those kids who don’t look like us are somebody else’s problem.
I voted for hope and change, REAL hope and change, and got cynicism. Again.
But there’s more. Despite my opposition to Hillary Clinton, there was one thing I was sure about at the time, and remain sure about: after having gone through the right-wing wringer, there would be no way in Hell she’d be rolled by the likes of McConnell, Grassley, Boehner, or any of the other right-wing ideologues. In fact, I have no doubt that the woman who coined the term “vast right wing conspiracy” would stared down Republican obstruction and industry attacks and said “They are unanimous in their hate for me–and I welcome their hatred.” Does anyone think Mr. Obama, the man who has had his conciliatory hand bitten off by the GOP repeatedly, who has watered down important legislation to the point of meaninglessness, would EVER say something like that? Please. He has been rolled repeatedly, by his generals in Afghanistan, by Republicans in the health care debate, and by the insurance companies which spent the 2010 funding attacks against the president and his policies.
So while I can’t tell you, Mithras, whether I “think [I'd] be complaining as bitterly or more bitterly now” if Clinton had won, I can tell you that I wouldn’t be feeling betrayed because I already knew that a Clinton presidency would be marked by cynicism. I wouldn’t be feeling abandoned, because I know Clinton would have fought back against the right, tooth and nail.
I hope that comes close to answering your question, which was fair.
November 12th, 2010 at 6:42 pm
Yeah. I’m disappointed but not surprised. And I remain hopeful. I don’t feel betrayed because I didn’t get invested in the man as much as the machine. By that I mean that all politicians suck, but a sucky Democrat is better than the best Republican (at least in our lifetimes), so a charismatic Democrat that got people juiced was a net positive. I said during the primary that neither Barack nor Hillary were all that liberal. I also agreed with you that Hillary was using despicable tactics. (I denied it at first but realized it was true in this thread.) Even so, I thought it was nearly inevitable that she’d be the candidate. I’m particularly proud of saying this before the outcome was clear:
I supported Obama after Super Tuesday because it seemed clear he could beat McCain and Hillary couldn’t. I just wanted the Dem to win, because the Dem would be better than the Republican. I would have worked as hard for Hillary if she had been the nominee. So guess what? Obama talked like a kumbayah compromiser and he ended up playing out that role. Hillary’s persona is tough as nails and she probably would have played that out, if she had won. Those are just roles. See through them to the underlying politics. I doubt we’d be in a materially different position now if she had won.
So, the way I see it, we’re in much better shape than we would have been if McCain had won, and the fact that the Democratic machine keeps throwing up these “centrists” is a product of both the machine and American culture. Liberals have been getting their asses kicked in the culture war (both on economic and social issues) for decades and that’s not any politician’s fault. No one is going to come along to save us. Politicians’ actions don’t live up to their rhetoric. It’s nothing to get overly bent about – just work to change it.