|
|
Add to My Group
Over the past several months, on my own website, I've posted a number of pieces --some by me, some by others-- concerning the choices the Hillary Clinton has made in her relentless pursuit of a victory, however improbable, and the damage she has done through those choices. Yesterday morning, at http://www.nonesoblind.org/blog/?p=1381, I posted a piece by Ezra Klein from the American Prospect whose thesis is that Hillary's goal now is to assure Obama's defeat in the general election. In that same posting, I gave my own thoughts: that I was skeptical about that interpretation, though I did not dismiss it; and that my own belief is that she (or she and Bill together) is being driven not by something irrational, not governed by the usual strategic political calculation. One of my readers suggested I should "chill out," that my aversion to Hillary's campaign went to far. This is how I responded: I don't think chilling out is what I’m supposed to be doing. Discerning the spirits of things is what my work has become these past several years, starting with the calling I experienced to work full-time, starting in 2004, to tell America about the evil spirit that’s taken over America through this Bushite regime. And, while I could of course be wrong on these matters on which I feel deep conviction, I feel as able to speak of the spirit of this Clinton campaign with as much authority as I have claimed in talking about the dark spirit of the Bushites. This perception, this conviction, about the darkness in what Hillary is doing comes from the level that I trust. I’ve worked hard for forty years to become trustworthy at the level of such convictions. And I've felt called these past four years to speak my truth with as much heat and passion as those truths seem to call for. The spirit behind the Bushites is appalling, cold, insatiable and cruel. The spirit behind the Clintons in this campaign process is not so unredeemably dark, but the darkness is evident and has become increasingly clear, with her 3 AM phone calls, her comments about “hard-working Americans, white Americans” and her bringing up RFK’s assassination in the context of why she is right to stay in the race. It looks to me very much like the situation with the Bushites and their supporters: there are none so blind as those who will not see. There are now a number of Democrats who seem blind to the extraordinary things that Hillary Clinton has done since she got worried that Obama had become unstoppable. She has proved willing to do ANYTHING that will stop him and get the nomination for herself. It has become a part of the problem in America that a great many Democrats are blind to what is right before our eyes: this destructive picture of the Clintons, with their their dirty tricks and divisive appeals, with their willingness to destroy our hopes to serve their ambitions, with their refusal to accept defeat graciously once it had become overwhelmingly probable. Just as millions of people bought Bush’s selling an image of himself as a righteous man, when the extent of his sociopathic moral indifference shows right before our eyes that he is something far darker than he pretends to be, so also there are now millions of Hillary-supporting Democrats who refuse to see what is right before their eyes. What's needed now is not for those who see this truth to chill out but to call out in order to get those who are blind to see. The American body politic has been far too indulgent of this bizarre and destructive display of political ambition and an unreasonable refusal to lose gracefully. We need for the people to help move this thing toward its proper resolution, which means pressing Hillary (and I expect Bill) to start making the choice that will best serve the cause of getting the Party’s nominee –Obama– elected. We do not need for destructive Democratic infighting to hand power back to the Bushite forces for another four years.
Andrew Bard Schmookler's website www.nonesoblind.org is devoted to understanding the roots of America's present moral crisis and the means by which the urgent challenge of this dangerous moment can be met. Dr. Schmookler is also the author of such books as The Parable of the Tribes: The Problem of Power in Social Evolution (SUNY Press) and Debating the Good Society: A Quest to Bridge America's Moral Divide (M.I.T. Press). He also conducts regular talk-radio conversations in both red and blue states.
Copyright © OpEdNews, 2002-2008 |
|
