Not alone

Riverdaughter

It’s wrong, Bill.  You may see Obama as facing a pragmatic dilema, trying to cut a deal to keep us from falling further.  But the problem is fundamental.  And it can’t be covered up or deleted from media websites and explained away as being the best that can be arranged at this late date before the Republicans take power.  It must be addressed.  Is it moral to steal from working Americans and are you going to let them get away with it?

Bernie was out there yesterday, all by himself on the Senate floor, speaking about the immorality of greed and speaking up for the working class.  But he is not all alone in the country where people talk about this to their friends, families and neighbors every day.

Yes indeedy. Just yesterday, I was chatting with a couple of co-workers who I’ve never engaged with about politics before, and they get it. Boy oh boy do they get it.  They know there’s a war going on. And our side is losing. And they are sick and tired to death of politicians and bosses who tell us that they “feel our pain” and then turn around and shove a shit sandwich in our faces, tell us to take it or leave it because, gee, it was the best meal they could come up with under the current circumstances.

Fuck that.

As I noted over at The Widdershins in the comments to this post in which it is inferred that Clinton is playing Obama somehow to make him look bad and smooth the way for a Hillary run, I wrote:

I’m sorry, but I’m unhappy about Bill doing this press conference. As I recall, he was the enforcer for the POS health care bill as well.

Nope, not jumping on this “what a great guy the Big Dawg is” bandwagon.

And yeah, if HRC had brought Bill in to be her enforcer, the howls would have deafened us all.

AND:

I’m sick to death of 11-dimensional chess.

Hillary has said she’s not running. I believe her. Bill is shilling for this POS, just as he did for HCR.

What could he possibly be up to? Tying his endorsment [to this POS], and that’s how it is playing out, does nothing for him or HRC in the eyes of the pissed off left/progressives/liberals.

So he makes Obama look small. Big deal.

What the clown said

Bill Bashing

For one thing, he didn’t “betray” any of his constituents. He openly supported NAFTA and welfare reform when he was running. After he was elected, he still supported them. Don’t we WANT politicians to keep their promises?

The Bill-Bashers hate him for the promises he kept and ther hate him for the promises he tried but failed to keep. He gets all of the blame and none of the credit. They even hate him for the genocide in Rwanda, as if he could have single-handedly ended the crisis.

Most or all of the newer faces (and a few of the old ones) claim they don’t support Obama, but they really don’t seem to hate him. Not like they hate the Big Dawg, anyway. It’s like they would rather bash Bill than talk about the current situation.

I’m seeing a pattern, and wondering what is behind it. We know Obama is afraid of Hillary and for good reason. If she ran against him in 2012 she would beat him in a fair fight, and maybe even one that was supposed to be fixed. They can’t attack her as long as she is Secretary of State, so are they attacking Bill in an attempt to cast a stain on her?

Three years ago I would have just thought I was being too paranoid. That was before I saw Left Blogistan get covered in astroturf. Now I wonder if I’m not being paranoid enough.

I’m seeing a pattern too. There are a lot of articles out there claiming that the Big Dawg is only on the campaign trail to boost Hillary’s chances in 2012 or 2016 (depending on who’s talking).  It couldn’t possibly be that they are super-strong party loyalists, now could it? I heard the same thing over and over and over again during the primaries, especially when Hillary did something true to Dem principles (and Barack did not — FISA anyone?) - They’d say something along the line of, “Oh she’s only doing that to fool everyone into voting for her (or make Obama look bad).”  If that were true, then why didn’t she and Bill take their collective ball and go home after the 2008 primaries? They didn’t. They’re far more loyal people than I could ever hope to be.

Yes!

What Anglachel said.

This gets back to Bill Clinton being the most gung-ho Democrat on the planet. FDR would be hard pressed to be as big a party booster as the Big Dog, which is weird given how much grief the party has given Clinton over the years. I think he even beats out Hillary, which is a hard trick to pull off. This stands in contrast to Obama not using the word Democrat on his campaign literature, calling his followers “Obamacans”, and doing pretty much everything he can to distance himself from the party. If there is a lack of commitment between the party rank and file and the current administration, I think there needs to be some honesty about who walked away from whom.

[...]

Yes, Obama came in to office with a hellacious mess on his hands – and a majority in both houses and an electorate screaming for change. He had the political opportunity of a lifetime to transform the fundamental terms of political engagement, just as both FDR and Reagan did. He could have taken on the banks. He could have charged ahead for substantive health care reform. He could have pounded the shit out the failed policies of the Reagan Revolution and pinned the blame for everything on them, and the country would have lapped it up exactly the way they responded to FDR. But he didn’t and now he will play (at best) catch up for the remaining two years.

WKJM is not the only one who is trying to avoid talking about the reasons for party discontent by presenting a half-assed and historically inaccurate picture of the 1994 mid-term election. What he doesn’t seem to get is that because the majority of the nation doesn’t hold the Clintons in contempt the way he and the other Purchased Fellows do, every time he (and others of his ilk) make this comparison, he keeps reminding us about the way Bill never quit, never gave up, never stopped articulating his vision of what the party should be and how he was going to work to achieve that end. And that resulted in retaining the White House in 1996, and gaining back House seats in the next three elections – 1996, 1998, 2000.

Go. Read it all.

Get better, Bill

From one mended heart to another, take it easy and see you back doing what you do real soon!

Update: From Kendra at CGI:

Doug Band, counselor to former President Bill Clinton, said in a statement: “President Bill Clinton was admitted to the Columbia Campus of New York Presbyterian Hospital after feeling discomfort in his chest. Following a visit to his cardiologist, he underwent a procedure to place two stents in one of his coronary arteries. President Clinton is in good spirits and will continue to focus on the work of his Foundation and Haiti’s relief and long-term recovery efforts.”

Bush sighting

Oh, I know, it’s awfully early in the morning to post this, but this has been one of life’s little mysteries to me of late.  Why so much Cheney and ZERO Bush?  This picture reminds me all over again why I don’t miss him. At All. Does he look smashed to you too?

Former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton appeared together Friday for the first time as Frank McKenna, a former Canadian ambassador to the United States, moderated a talk on global affairs in Toronto. The two were paid $150,000 each. Photo: TD Bank Financial Group

From the New York Times:

Former President Bill Clinton really misses the presidency. “All of a sudden nobody plays a song,” he told an audience here on Friday, referring to “Hail to the Chief,” the anthem played at presidential events.

Former President George W. Bush hardly misses it at all. “Free at last,” he proclaimed before the same crowd at the Metro Toronto Convention Center. “I like being in Texas, and I do not miss the spotlight.”

Sounds like there were very few sparks at the event. And this is interesting:

Indeed, though rarely reported upon, relations between the two men had begun to thaw significantly midway through Mr. Bush’s second term, after Mr. Bush teamed up Mr. Clinton and his father, the first President George Bush, on relief efforts after the tsunami in Asia and then, Hurricane Katrina.

Aides to Mr. Bush said he warmed to Mr. Clinton as his predecessor formed an affectionate bond with his father.

Mr. Clinton, meanwhile, offered frequent advice, sneaking into the White House for a secret lunch as early as 2007 to discuss Mr. Bush’s postpresidential plans.