Monster of Ambition

My new novel of the post-oil future, World Made By Hand, is available at all booksellers.
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      I was pretty disturbed eight years ago when Hillary Clinton up and announced she was running for a New York seat in the US Senate. Say what? She didn't even live here after she quit Arkansas. Why didn't she run for the single non-voting District of Columbia House of Representatives seat (in a primary against Eleanor Holmes Norton)? Why? Because Hillary is a monster of ambition.

      So, Hillary and Bill bought a piece of real estate in Westchester County, NY, and that theoretically qualified her to run for that senate seat. Of course, her move was a huge slap in the face to the 15 million or so adult native New York staters who were also theoretically entitled to run for that office -- including especially the smaller but still substantial number of New Yorkers with serious qualifications. They all rolled over for Hillary, allowing the Clintons to maintain a major power base in American government when the Big Show of Bill's White House tenure was up.

     Her run for president took off on schedule with a disturbing sense of inevitability. It was clear that she had internalized the arc of the women's movement to the the degree that the nation owed her a turn in the White House, since this was the logical symbolic destination of the Boomer political ethos: absolute equality above all other considerations -- Hillary gets to play, too!  The American public seemed willing to go along with this national psychodrama. It satisfied a certain school days sense of morality. Then Barack Obama had to come along and spoil it all. The nerve of that... uppity Negro!

      Or so, apparently, Hillary would have us believe, now that her campaign has run off the rails. In awful desperation she has so much as said that the Democratic party has to nominate her because non-white people are unelectable -- forgetting for a moment that Barack Obama is as much white as he is black.

     The spectacle of Hillary's un-making has been pretty horrible to witness, the efforts to stage her as a lumpenprole Nascar mom drinking boilermakers while celebrating her latest hunting exploits. (How worried is Hillary about making her mortgage payments, or filling her gas tank?) Naturally, the final act of this nauseating play takes place in Hillbilly Heaven, the states of West Virginia and Kentucky, where Hillary expects to make a big "statement" about exactly whom voters will go for. She'll win big and the effort will symbolically disgrace her.

     She's carrying on now like William Jennings Bryan at the Scopes Trial -- an obvious, gibbering loser unwilling to shut up and go home, even after every measure of consensus from the bailing super delegates to the cover of Time Magazine has made it clear who the preferred party nominee will be.

     I hope New York voters will not fail to remember this ghastly final act of the 2008 primary season. I hope a bona fide New Yorker will step up and challenge Mrs Clinton for the senate seat she will return to for the next several years. I hope the Clintons will move offstage and do something else -- enjoy their millions... make even more money... use it to "go green" or something....

     Back around the year 2000, I used to joke with my friends that Bill Clinton would return (despite the two-term limit) as Emperor Bill the 1st. He almost made it. I voted for him twice in the 1990s, but the new script addition wasn't so appetizing. It would have been one of the stranger occurrences in all of modern world history. The political "death" of Hillary and Bill is a story of Shakespearean dimensions.  It seems to be ending as farce, though. Who knows, before the day is over, Hillary may yet put on a pair of overalls with one suspender and have her picture taken sucking on a jug of moonshine likker. Of course, irony has been the Boomer's intellectual stock-in-trade.

      Whatever America's fate may be in these very trying times of peak oil and climate change, a consensus seems to have formed that we can't afford to leave the same old cast of characters running things.

Comments

[marcyincny]

I didn't vote for her. I like to mention that whenever I have the chance. Thank you.

[oneEyeOpen]

Jimmie,

You say you voted TWICE for Bill Clinton. Once is almost forgivable ( I say "almost" because you had to be asleep at the switch to not have seen through this rube.) But twice?

Nothing, regarding the shameless attitude of the Clintons, that it is all about them, has changed from day one. What you see is what you get. The fact that far too many Americans are too blind to see is the real story here.

[oneEyeOpen]

Jimmie,

You say you voted TWICE for Bill Clinton. Once is almost forgivable ( I say "almost" because you had to be asleep at the switch to not have seen through this rube.) But twice?

Nothing, regarding the shameless attitude of the Clintons, that it is all about them, has changed from day one. What you see is what you get. The fact that far too many Americans are too blind to see is the real story here.

[umass82]

Never voted for a Clinton never will, They are showing their true colors (white) in this primary season and despite what Toni Morrison would have us believe Bill's true color is very white, and very racist.

[lindany]

Go for it, Jim. We don't have anyone else here in NY. I voted for Clinton in '92, mostly against Bush 41,and I can't believe I actually took comfort that at least his vp was Gore. What a waste of 8 years.

[Riddick]

What is disturbing to me are the masses of people who apparently support her, standing behind her in every camera shot like a high school pep squad. She is obviously so full of herself that her head looks ready to pop off those Wellesley educated padded shoulders. It is basically embarrassing that she can't gracefully admit defeat and move on to support the party against the redux of Bush...John McCain or better known as "Bush Lite"... even less intellectually filling yet all the robust elite pillaging.

If all the cards piled high do indeed fall as so many pundits and so many blogs, authors, investment gurus, survivalists, etc. predict. Well, then Houston we have a problem and "Big Head" Hillary will still not see the light of reason that 4 more years of Bushies will literally end the middle class as known.

Will Obama make a difference? I think he'll at least try to and that is probably the best we can get at this point in our history.

BTW...Just finished Jim's latest book, World Made by Hand and it was an awesome read. Jim is a great writer who indeed "gets it", despite some of the rhetoric I read on this blog.

[enobarbus37]

Jim, your column is decidedly minor key. Where is the real vitriol that this grotesque monster crawling from hell to destroy human life deserves?

I mean it.

[asoka]

JHK said: "...she has so much as said that the Democratic party has to nominate her because non-white people are unelectable..."

Except that of the 16 mllion Americans who have voted for Obama, the majority have been white.

[Flamsey]

I wish we could have a do over and find another group of characters. Has anyone done a psychological breakdown of Obama's personality? I am concerned about his abandoning father, his itinerant youth, the years spent away at boarding school, away from his mother, living with his grandparents... not mention his overall lack of experience.

I am surprised that he has not been swiftboated yet. I can only imagine the Rove Machine has someone waiting in the wings that will swear Obama sold him cocaine in college. God Help Us... we are in for a bumpy ride.

[LaughingAsRomeWasBurningDown]

Hillary's Bitter Victory

How the Democratic campaign turned into an absurd and acrimonious culture war that threatens to split the party in two

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/20626517/hillarys_bitter_victory/print

In the meantime, one thing about this contest can be said with absolute surety: Everyone involved has lost their minds. For Clinton supporters, the race has taken on a meaning that transcends politics. One gets the sense that Hillary's campaign has become an idée fixe for any Democrat of a certain type who has ever been fucked around or disrespected or abused or disappointed. Far more than any policy position, it is Hillary's "fight to the finish" mantra that is reaching her supporters on some elemental level that is hard for outsiders to comprehend.

Her campaign has become a symbol of not giving in to those who would wish us to surrender, of defying the smug assessments of those who think they know better, of not letting someone else's diminished expectations for us — maybe those of a boss, maybe an ex-boyfriend or ex-wife, maybe a Madison Avenue ad world that tells us we have to look a certain way/age to be worth loving — rule the day. I would say that Hillary is the electoral incarnation of a Gloria Gaynor song, but Gloria Gaynor is too campy and even a little bit too black for this crowd; the vibe at Hillary events feels more like nostalgic white suburban angst, a numbing misery of a type that runs deep enough it can hear the same song over and over again in the car on the way to work for 20 consecutive years and yet still sing along to it, lips pursed defiantly in Billy Crystal's white-man's overbite, when it hears it twice, three times, even four times in the same hour. In other words, this Hillary campaign is basically Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down" running for president.

[Dave]

kinda funny

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAaHime9aaM

[Dave]

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d4b_1209679341

fuck all politicians. they all hate you. they will kill all of you. they will kill your entire family to fuel thier own delusions of granduer and power. ignor all politicians. it's the only way.

[FARfetched]

Hillary's not the ideal candidate. She's not even the closest to ideal in the remaining field of not-ideals. But I'd vote for her without hesitation over McCain's promise of a third Bush term. Fortunately, it doesn't look like I'll have to. Bill's official laser-focus on the economy reaped the country many benefits, all of which Bush-league immediately pissed away. Yeah, he wasn't focused much on energy issues… no crisis, no attention, that's CFN politics for you. But that in itself argues against President Hillary — she would have focused on health care to the detriment of energy issues, I believe — we need someone in the hotseat who can deal with multiple crises. Is Obama that guy? I dunno. But Hillary (again, IMO) is one issue at a time, and McCain's "solution" would be to open another front in the Bushwars.

«Has anyone done a psychological breakdown of Obama's personality? I am concerned about his abandoning father, his itinerant youth, the years spent away at boarding school, away from his mother, living with his grandparents... not mention his overall lack of experience.»

Flamsey, you've just described a huge subset of the American public. A few years ago, my wife was teaching a vacation Bible school class of teenagers, and started delivering the standard "nuclear family
good" line. The kids dogpiled her! "You had this 'Leave it to Beaver' kind of childhood — you have no IDEA what it's like these days!" Taken aback, more than a little, she polled the class and found that none of them had both parents at home. None. Some of them were being raised by their grandparents. A couple had been shunted around to various relatives. Those kids are of voting age now.

In a country where people will vote for a president that they'd like to have a beer with, a lot of people are going to relate to Obama because of their shared experiences. (Yeah, I'm sounding like Asoka. Deal.) Obama got my primary vote not because of his background, but because he's most likely (or least unlikely) to be able to respond to the all-too-real domestic issues we're facing. Besides, Edwards (my first choice) had dropped out before Planet Georgia's primary.

[redterror]

Well, it's not as if New York was a virgin when it comes to carpetbagging senators. RFK moved to New York for the very same reason and launched his presidential campaign from the very same base.

[FARfetched]

Whoops, almost forgot. New FAR Future is up!

http://farmanor.blogspot.com/2008/05/far-future-episode-32-thanksgiving-in.html

[Uncle Remus]

Until each American returns to taking care of themself, covering their own ass and expecting nothing from the government, then they should expect lies, obfuscation, pandering and subversion of every stripe from politicians.

[bud4wiser]

Hillary is running for president, but for the next term. The strategy involves splitting the dems enough for McCain to win and then crash and burn after four years.

She has nothing to lose in driving this bus right off the cliff - either way, she's either solidifying a 2013-2017 term - or through some crazy chicanory- maybe she engineers an Obama "self-destruct moment" - ala Dean style......

[bud4wiser]

Hillary is running for president, but for the next term. The strategy involves splitting the dems enough for McCain to win and then crash and burn after four years.

She has nothing to lose in driving this bus right off the cliff - either way, she's either solidifying a 2013-2017 term - or through some crazy chicanery- maybe she engineers an Obama "self-destruct moment" - ala Dean style......

[montysano]

There seems to be some surprise at having "voted for Bill Clinton twice". Of course I voted for Bill twice. Of course. Was I going to vote for George H. W? Bob Dole? Ross Perot? No way in hell. Bill Clinton, depsite all his warts, was one of the smartest people ever to sit in the Oval Office. He was a decent president, and if the Republicans, batch of lockstepping treasonous assholes that they are, hadn't spent the entire 8 years working against him (i.e. against the best interests of the country), he would have accomplished even more.

Don't misunderstand: I have no illusions about Bill. He's a globalist, and in some ways he's to the right of Richard Nixon. While I'd rather vote for Dennis Kucinich, or Ram Dass, or Hunter S. Thompson, I'd vote for Bill again in a heartbeat, and would have voted for Hillary if forced to.

I'm fine with Obama. Indeed, I think that the First Lady sweepstakes may be a deciding factor. Michelle Obama vs. Cindy McCain? Please. An articulate, passionate Princeton/Harvard lawyer vs. a hillbilly heroin lovin', crazy-eyed heiress? No contest.

At least I think there's no contest. If McCain makes it to the Oval Office, then we truly deserve whatever is in store for us.

[LaughingAsRomeWasBurningDown]

We get the government we deserve. I can truly agree with that sentiment.

[Nudge]

Bud, that sounds like a better strategy than I'd wish it to be. A 12-year run of Repug nonsense, with the US ending facedown in the dirt and getting it from behind, ought to leave people with lasting memories of what the Repug experience tastes like. Letting McCain go down at the helm of the ship o' state would be a kindness anyway.

OTOH, it's not hard to imagine the trainload of schadenfreude that would erupt of all the Obama supporters got their wish for "change". Hint: not all change is good change .. try bombarding critters with massive doses of radiation to see which of them evolve into better specimens.

[montysano]

"A 12-year run of Repug nonsense, with the US ending facedown in the dirt and getting it from behind, ought to leave people with lasting memories of what the Repug experience tastes like. "

But Rush said libruls and eleets are bad@!

[EEofDC]

mi·sog·y·ny -–noun
hatred, dislike, or mistrust of women.

I had some private e-mail exchanges--I'm a native New Yorker and lived in his neck of the woods after college--a while back with JHK which were quite different in tone than his hyperbolic public screeds such as today's.

Above and beyond all the statistical issues pressing down on us that have been discussed here at CFN, the real issue that needs to be dealt with if we are to survive on this planet is the underlying and pervasive global fear and hatred of women.

JHK is perpetuating the problem--and simultaneously exposing his own prejudices and limitations, reflected many times over by his acolytes--when he attacks Hillary for her ambition, as if McCain, Obama, Edwards, and every other male candidate were not ambitious. Get a grip, Jim. Time to get some counseling about your "wimmen" issues.

P.S. Dave-

Many thanks for the video link and the sentiments.

[EEofDC]

mi·sog·y·ny -–noun
hatred, dislike, or mistrust of women.

I had some private e-mail exchanges--I'm a native New Yorker and lived in his neck of the woods after college--a while back with JHK which were quite different in tone than his hyperbolic public screeds such as today's.

Above and beyond all the statistical issues pressing down on us that have been discussed here at CFN, the real issue that needs to be dealt with if we are to survive on this planet is the underlying and pervasive global fear and hatred of women.

JHK is perpetuating the problem--and simultaneously exposing his own prejudices and limitations, reflected many times over by his acolytes--when he attacks Hillary for her ambition, as if McCain, Obama, Edwards, and every other male candidate were not ambitious. Get a grip, Jim. Time to get some counseling about your "wimmen" issues.

P.S. Dave-

Many thanks for the video link and the sentiments.

[Evelyn]

I'm with you EEofDC. The histrionic stridency of JHK's anti-Hillary rants savages his credibility and leaves me wondering what accounts for his hatred of women. If want to read his kind of crap I can go to plenty of other sources: Coulter, Limbaughtomy, Savage... And what's with that anyhow, he's supposed to be nurturing doomers.