Veronica

By Andrew Sullivan

The new meme is that politics has returned to normal and that this election will now be run by Clinton rules. Many are relieved by this. You could sense the palpable discomfort among many in Washington that their world might actually shift a little next year. But if elections are primarily about fear and mud, and who best operates in a street fight, Beltway comfort returns. This we know. This we understand. This we already have the language to describe. And, the feeling goes, the Clintons can win back the White House in this atmosphere. What she is doing to Obama she can try to do to McCain. Maybe Limbaugh will help her out again.
What I think this misses are the cultural and social consequences of beating Obama (or McCain) this way. I don't mean beating Obama because the Clintons' message is more persuasive, or because the Clintons' healthcare plan is better, or because she has a better approach to Iraq. I mean: beating him by a barrage of petty attacks, by impugning his clear ability to be commander-in-chief, by toying with questions about his "Muslim past", by subtle invocation of the race card, by intermittent reliance on gender identity politics, by taking faux offense to keep the news cycle busy ("shame on you, Barack Obama!") and so on. If the Clintons beat Obama this way, I have a simple prediction. It will mean a mass flight from the process. It will alter the political consciousness of an entire generation of young voters - against any positive interaction with the political process for the foreseeable future. I'm not sure that Washington yet understands the risk the Clintons are taking with their own party and the future of American politics.
The reason so many people have re-engaged with politics this year is because many sense their country is in a desperate state and because only one candidate has articulated a vision and a politics big enough to address it without dividing the country down the middle again. For the first time in decades, a candidate has emerged who seems able to address the country's and the world's needs with a message that does not rely on Clintonian parsing or Rovian sleaze. For the first time since the 1960s, we have a potential president able to transcend the victim-mongering identity politics so skillfully used by the Clintons. If this promise is eclipsed because the old political system conspires to strangle it at birth, the reaction from the new influx of voters will be severe. The Clintons will all but guarantee they will lose a hefty amount of it in the fall, as they richly deserve to. Some will gravitate to McCain; others will be so disillusioned they will withdraw from politics for another generation. If the Clintons grind up and kill the most promising young leader since Kennedy, and if they do it not on the strength of their arguments, but by the kind of politics we have seen them deploy, the backlash will be deep and severe and long. As it should be.
He has a million little donors. He has brought many, many Republicans and Independents to the brink of re-thinking their relationship with the Democratic party. And he has won the majority of primaries and caucuses and has a majority of the delegates and popular vote. This has been a staggering achievement - one that has already made campaign history. If the Clintons, after having already enjoyed presidential power for eight long years, destroy this movement in order to preserve their own grip on privilege and influence in Democratic circles, it will be more than old-fashioned politics. It will be a generational moment - as formative as 1968. Killing it will be remembered for a very, very long time. And everyone will remember who did it - and why.

The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

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So what, sayeth savvy Politicos.

People will remember Donald Rumsfeld for a very, very long time, what he did and why. Stanford University offered him a chair.

People will remember Karl Rove for a very, very long time, what he did and why. He is now a "respected" FOX News Political Correspondent. He won't have much influence THERE.

People will remember Paul Wolfowitz for a very, very long time, what he did and why. Since his departure in disgrace from the World Bank, he has been invited back to the State Department by Condoleeza Rice.

People will remember this election for a very, very long time, what people did and why. But the bottom line is, all the Major Players will be enriched by the infamous Process.

The People are minor players, at best.

Unless they would find, forge or fake solidarity...that would be a WHOLE other story.

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Veronica

She can be a political pundit for Fox, just not the President of US

CosmicRocker

I dont take ANYTHING Sullivan says about Hillary seriously.
I do take criticism of Hillary seriously, but not from this guy.

He's a jealous guy.

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Traveling Wilburys (l to r)

Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty, George Harrison, Roy Orbison

Heretic

Seems Andrew Sullivan has the same sense about this I do, that Hillary can- at best be the slayer of dreams.

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"In space no one can hear you scream. in D.C. it won't matter..." -Clinton Resurrection: The Alien Queen lives!

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You feel then, despite your characteristic disdain for the Democrats, that Barack Obama can prevail in the General Election this year, while we remain mired in Iraq, over a white male Republican with combat experience?

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Heretic

I watched my first pick, Joseph Biden, who had REAL decades worth of experience, lose Iowa getting only one percent of the vote.

Yes, Obama can clean McCain's clock!

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"In space no one can hear you scream. in D.C. it won't matter..." -Clinton Resurrection: The Alien Queen lives!

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The Clinton Rule, singular:

ALL BETS ARE OFF

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But, see, that's the thing.

Stipulating that there's always something not to like about anyone, WHAT ON EARTH WAS NOT TO LIKE ABOUT JOE BIDEN, if the chief objective was to secure the White House?

Joe Biden vs. John McCain, after these tortuous years under George Bush, seems like a slam-dunk Democratic victory to me. But noooo, Joe Biden wasn't even considered "viable" by trendsetting Iowans.

But, somehow, Obama is sure-fire?

I appreciate that Obama's got the 'fired up' thing going for him. But does 'fired up' play in Peoria? SNOOP DOGG endorsed Barack Obama, for fuck's sake, on Larry King...in the same interview, offering up that he dealt drugs for cool and cash back in the day. You think THAT plays in Peoria?

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RK77

Yeah, he's jealous because Hillary's penis is bigger than his!!