Activism Works

Down, Big Dog, Down

I like Rich Lowry. He's a conservative hit man, but not a total tool like Tucker Carlson. He's trying to wave Big Dog off Bambi's ass. I don't agree with most of Lowry's piece. But he gets in some nice zingers like:

"If the dignity of the office meant so little to him, why should the dignity of the former office restrain him at all?" Good one.

Then this:

"Clinton has usually delivered his anti-Obama broadsides in a state of red-faced near-rage .. What he is displaying is the face of aggrieved entitlement,"

That's just Lowry's guess. As long as we're guessing, my guess is Bill is pissed to see Obama getting a free ride from the press like no modern politician ever has--least off all Bill and Hillary Clinton. If there's anything that sends people into red-faced rage, it's blatant favoritism.

Entitlement? The Clintons have scrapped tooth and nail for their wins. In '92, Bill didn't win a primary until Georgia. He was declared dead after the Gingrich 1994 sweep. Governor Bill won in Arkansas, then got beat, then came back to win again. Hillary was getting the Last Rites just two weeks ago. Premature mambo dancing on Clinton tombstones is an annual ritual, as regular and silly as the Super Bowl half-time show. Yes, people who have paid their dues tend to get pissed off when they see someone else not paying their dues. Now Ted Kennedy, there's entitlement.

"It can’t be long before the Clinton team uses Obama’s relationship with a shady Chicago developer named Tony Rezko to try to make him seem as if he’s running the most corrupt political operation since, well, the 1996 Clinton re-election campaign."

Lowry tries the Shaheen maneuver to tag both Democrats. Nice try, but not even the Clintons could make Obama look dirtier than Bushco.

"He is running against Hillary, and therefore interposing himself between the Clintons and the object of their ambitions. This makes him as much fair game as Newt Gingrich, Paula Jones, or Ken Starr."

Don't see how you can put Paula Jones in the same category as the Speaker of the House and Special Prosecutor--that's pretty one-dimensional. I don't see how you fault Bill Clinton for treating a political rival like a political rival? Again, there's this unspoken assumption the Clintons are not supposed to treat Obama as they would a white political rival. That's more insulting to Obama than anything the Clintons have done.

"It’s hard to be hopeful at the same time you’re in a war of words with an ex-president who is willing to use any cheap and dishonest argument at hand."

Who in the upper echelons of world power isn't willing to use any cheap and dishonest argument at hand? Lowry debunks the entire premise of the Obama campaign. Doe-eyed hope dies a cruel death to reality.

Most of the attacks from Clinton are fair game. But there was one line from Bill that showed him raring to go into Clinton Scorched Earth Mode (run for your lives), and yes, I hope he doesn't go there: "They think they're better than you." That's Big Dog in the pit, ready to put Newt Gingrich in his grave. Down, Big Dog, down.

Betsy's Page thinks the Lowry piece is keen. "The Clinton camp decided her negatives are a given and that most people have already factored those in to their decisions."

Count me in on that. The Founders factored Clintonism into the Presidential equation when they drafted the Constitution. That document is a blueprint for channeling the talents of brilliant, flawed leaders like Bill Clinton, Nixon, and yes, Hillary. From the Federalist Papers:

"If men were angels, they wouldn't need a government. If they were governed by angels, they wouldn't need a Constitution."

There's the most succinct statement in defense of the Clintons. Right there in his Memorandum in support of the Constitution, James Madison blows away the premise of Obama '08. We are not and never will be governed by angels.

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The silliest thing I hear is all this stuff about Big Dog overshadowing Hillary. He didn't even overshadow her when he was President. Nobody can overshadow Hillary Clinton. She's the most intriguing personality in the world.

With all this, all the bad things I say (not about Obama, but about his premature presidential run), I give him a world of credit for going into the pit with Hillary and Big Dog -- the fiercest one-two punch in the game, the Bonnie and Clyde of American politics. Hillary will toughen him up with a string of respectful, instructional beatings, and he'll very well make a great President in the future. Obama is worlds and worlds above Rudy Giuliani -- who ducked Hillary in 2000, ducked Huckabee in Iowa, who ducks anyone he can't bully.

Kudos to The Kid. If I was up there against Hillary, they'd carry me out on life support. If all goes as I hope, I think I'll be an Obama-maniac in 2016.




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posted by 10-K @ 1:36 PM (permalink)