Saturday, March 29, 2008

Threats and Blowback

Jiminy Jilliker had a pretty thoughtful response to a recent post of mine. I guess by thoughtful I might mean provoked an unusual amount of longwindedness, even for me, but self-disparagement aside, I decided to turn my rebuttal comment into a new post. The topic seems important, even if all I'm really able to do here is show you how my thoughts are swirling.

I at least appreciate the attempt to keep off the "I'll never vote for her" wagon.

Hard to know how to interpret this. Do you mean "I, at least," meaning you suspect no one else appreciates? Or do you mean you "appreciate, at least," but your gratitude may go further?

Kidding aside, I suspect you're giving me a dig for my hinting at not voting for Clinton, should she win the nomination.

If it came down to it, I'd put a clothespin on my nose just to prevent any seepage that got through the full containment hazmat suit from entering my sinuses, and go ahead and pull the lever for her.

Hell, if she had won Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina all in a row, I'd probably be enthusiastic (if wistfully so) about the prospect.

After the last 7 years, the possibility of McCain as president gives me cold sweats. It haunts my dreams. I'd vote for (nearly) anyone with a "D" after their name.

McCain grimaceIn reality, I agree with you. Should she win the nomination, she'll almost certainly get my vote. As distasteful as she has been during this campaign, the reality of four more years of McSame is too frightening to contemplate. The only question is whether we'd be ruined by economic policies or war first. And even if he somehow avoided catastrophe in either of those areas, I expect further debt and disparity in income from his view on taxes, no progress on health care, more wingnuts appointed to federal courts, and probably not a whole lot of action on undoing Bush's environmental damage.

However, there remains a part of me that is unwilling to commit. In addition to pushing policies, another important role the president plays is setting tone. In this regard, Clinton has been as bad as the Right-Wing Noise Machine. Given that she's purportedly a Democrat, I find such behavior even harder to forgive. If she continues with the lying and the smearing, I might just say, sorry, I can't countenance that. At some point, one has to stand on principle, and decide that cutting one's nose off to spite one's face is a minor flesh wound compared to the internal damage wrought by rewarding the Dems for becoming ever more Republican-lite.

Of course, my vote doesn't really matter. It's not like either of the Dems is going to lose New York. The more important point is that I won't actively support her. I certainly won't donate any money to her or work for her campaign, and I doubt I'll be able even to summon up the energy to argue on her behalf, online or in meatspace. Maybe all of these possible factors are as insignificant as my vote, or maybe not. There's always the potential of starting some small ripples, given enough effort to make a splash. Who knows what might tip Ohio or Florida in the general? And who knows how much the apathy that she provokes among the formerly enthusiastic costs the Democrats down ticket? It'd be nice to pick up some Senate seats, but I don't think her coattails are very long.

(I now pause to congratulate myself for resisting the urge to force a pantsuit metaphor into that last.)

The idea I'm trying to get across here is it's not so much that the election hinges on me, personally, but that I am representative of how a lot of people will react to a Clinton nomination. There is an enormous number of people who have dared to throw off the cloak of cynicism, thanks to Obama, and lots more who got interested in politics for the first time, also thanks to Obama. A lot of that spirit goes away when, once again, the only thing left to say is, "Well, my candidate is not quite as bad as your candidate."

You said that had Clinton run the table in the early contests, you'd probably be enthusiastic about her by now. I am pretty sure that I wouldn't be sharing your enthusiasm. While I grant that a lot of my animus has been raised only recently, it's crystal clear in my memory how I felt back when the MSM's favorite word was "inevitable." I felt the same way as I did when Kerry won early in the 2004 race: I started off meh and drifted down to ugh.

Thankfully, though, it ain't coming down to that. You can almost sense a shift of mood in the air the last couple of days. I think Obama's got this and it's just a matter of going through the remaining motions.

I don't know if I agree with you about the shift in mood, although you make a good case. Or, more precisely, I sense it a little bit, too, but I don't know how much it's going to last. If Clinton wins Pennsylvania big time, even though this is expected, we'll be back where we were after March 5th, at least in the vibe created by the MSM. She won't be in any better position to win, numerically, but we'll be subject to another month of "momentum!" spin and the beyond tiresome arguments from her camp that she is actually ahead, if you restrict the count to left-handed albino millworkers who have driven Fords for at least thirty years, since they're really the only ones that matter.

Hillary the MonsterWhen I take a few deep breaths, I will acknowledge that she has every right to stay in the race, and even a plausible case. From her perspective, it ain't over till it's over, and Obama hasn't yet clinched mathematically. Call her the Democrats' Huckabee (Hillarbee?) -- you never know what might happen until all the votes are cast. It's just that I'd find her a lot more tolerable if she ran as an underdog and emphasized what she had to offer. The way she's been going about things lately, it's very hard not to think that she cares only about herself. Yes, I buy into the 2012 conspiracy thinking -- most days, I really believe she could give a crap about the Democrats winning if she's not the nominee. I am unimpressed by her occasional pledges to work for unity. As I said in my previous post, I don't hear these as anything other than trying to change the message of the day when the news cycle is spinning against her.


(pic. source)

2 comments:

jiminy jilliker said...

First, that "at least" probably was misplaced. What I was getting at was that I appreciate that you are, at a minimum, attempting to keep off the "never vote for her" wagon.

Lots of people (lots of blog commenters, anyway-not exactly a perfect statistical sample, I realize) aren't even making the attempt. I understand their sentiment, but I really hope it's fleeting.

As I mentioned, McCain makes me really nervous. I think he would be a disaster to the economy, the military, and our already shattered image in the world community. I've explained my thoughts on that at greater length here.

Another thing that scares me even more is Supreme Court appointments. I think there is likely to be at least two retirements during the next term and possibly three. All from the side of the bench that I tend to agree with. Who gets appointed really makes a difference, and I think McCain would nominate socially regressive, pro-unitary executive troglodytes as a sop to the disaffected Christian right. He'd put the same sorts of people on District and Circuit Court benches as well-which actually has a more direct effect on most of our lives.

I also think he would continue the Bush tradition of gutting the executive branch and leaving citizens who rely on competent delivery of services in a lurch.

I'm in NY, too, so my vote is unlikely to make much difference either-as was the case in '04, when I voted for Kerry in CA. I also will have a hard time throwing my meager contribution budget at Clinton if it comes down to it, or agitating on her behalf. But I'd be happy to give some cash to an anti-McCain 527 or raising my voice against him.

I feel your frustration and disdain for Clinton and all that she represents, but I'm not to the point where I think it's time to let things get worse so they can get better.

(Sorry for the novel-length here, and thanks for the thoughtful response).

bjkeefe said...

Never apologize for a lengthy comment, JJ. I appreciate the effort.

I responded to your thoughts over at your place. Short version: I agree that McCain would be a disaster, I expect Democrats who are threatening not to vote for Obama or Clinton will calm down, and I will join you in your efforts to rebuild unity shortly. But not quite yet.

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