This is what I used to call her, in blog posts at ncobrief.com during the run-up to the 2008 primaries; Hillary Clinton; who seemed so … inevitable. She would be there, a power to behold and take seriously in the presidential primaries. “In the place of a Dark Lord you would have a Queen! Not dark but beautiful and terrible as the Morn! Treacherous as the Seas! Stronger than the foundations of the Earth! All shall love me and despair!”
Well, I am certain that some of Hillary Clinton’s supporters have loved and despaired, in the resulting contest between ebony and ovary in the 2008 primaries. Eh – I didn’t care at the time, still don’t care and can’t be made to care. I will note for the record that my daughter was taking college classes then, and both of us were annoyed beyond all reason by the assumption that because we were both women, and politically involved, that we were OF COURSE all about Hillary. Our support was taken as a matter of fact. THE FIRST WOMAN PRESIDENT! This possibility was apparently intended to make us both go wobbly in the knees and vote with our vaginas instead of our brains.
I might have considered Her Inevitableness with a little more seriousness if – after departing the White House, she had formally divorced the charming serial-abuser she was married to, and devoted herself earnestly to a political career on her own hook and her own efforts. But even if to all intents and purposes Her Inevitableness and the Big He appear to mostly live separate lives, the prospect of the wife of a former president in turn being nominated, elected and installed in the White House just gives me the heebie-jeebies; this is not Argentina and she is not Evita. As a small-l libertarian and strict constitutionalist, any whisper of a hereditary political elite in this country gives me the cold chills – and yes, I was at least as upset about the Bush family appearing to have a lock on high political office as I was about the Gores, and the Kennedys. It’s not a good thing, even if such political dynasties like the Adams family have been around from the very beginning. We should not be doing a hereditary nobility here, end of discussion.
Of course, Her Inevitableness arrives with more baggage than Delta Airlines anyway, and she does not seem to have much of her husband’s easy charm and liking for the necessary rounds of schmoozing required. She has always come off to me in interviews as stiff, forced and uncomfortable – and shrill in making speeches. But those are superficial qualities, and not necessarily the kiss of death politically. Richard Nixon wasn’t particularly personally charming either, and watching old footage of Lyndon Johnson and imagining being in the same room with him makes me want to take a shower. No, what will be the biggest piece of old baggage in Her Inevitableness’s luggage van will be Benghazi and the deaths of four Americans there at the consulate, including the Ambassador. What exactly was going on at the consulate, and why it appears that there was no real effort made at rescue is still pretty murky. Her impatient response at the subsequent hearings will come back to bite, as much as the establishment media offers air cover for Her Inevitableness. “With all due respect, the fact is we had four dead Americans. Was it because of a protest, or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided they’d go kill some Americans – what difference, at this point, does it make? It is our job to figure out what happened and do everything we can to prevent it from ever happening again, Senator.” Six months after the event and she appeared not to know if it was a protest, or just one of those impulsive things, cared less if it was – and was certainly getting tired of being asked about it. Some job she did there; I am pretty certain that the matter of Benghazi will not die, but come roaring back again. There were too many people involved; eventually some of them will talk.
(cross-posted at www.ncobrief.com)
“the resulting contest between ebony and ovary”: roars of applause. More! More!
I echo the comment above praising the “ebony and ovary” formulation. I wish I had come up with that.
Back to the point, American politics has already become both dynastic and elitist. Both wings of the Governing Party, regardless of name, abhor the concept of someone not properly “sent by someone” becoming the candidate. Genuine popularity amongst the peasantry is a kiss of death and the entire body politic will rally to oppose such.
I think that it is a reasonable observation that once politics becomes dynastic [Three “families” in this case, think Mafia or Chinese Triads. The Clintons, the Obama/Chicago Machine, and the Institutional Republicans/Bush family. The Institutionals are the designated losers and will not take power, but they are tolerated for the protective coloration they provide.] the formal, culturally accepted routes to power are inevitably ignored in favor of kinetic methods.
Der Krieg ist eine bloße Fortsetzung der Politik mit anderen Mitteln. War is merely a continuation of politics by other means. When the allocation of power is determined by small groups of elites, the easiest route to power is the elimination of the other groups, rather than currying favor with inferiors. Think York, Lancaster, Medici. In modern times it is a failure of the dynastic process to have to resort to open civil warfare between dynasties. If nothing else, granting masses of citizens a role in combat creates the risk that they will insist on a voice in the allocation of power.
Instead; bribery, blackmail, and the occasional convenient expiration are the modern tools of political power. And we will see them, and are seeing them used. It is the only rational explanation for our current political situation.
American politics now being dynastic and extra-constitutional, I have grave doubts about the existence of honest, legal, elections in November of this year, let alone in 2016. Obama has the advantages of the levers of incumbency, “legal” and otherwise. Unless he leaves the pooch walking bowlegged [not beyond conception] I expect the Queen to fall.
Subotai Bahadur
Be careful about mentioning certain body parts as you may already have sent hundreds of transgenders in search of fainting couches.
Seriously, I fear that the governing class is making the same mistake the French aristocracy made. If the governing class makes turnover so difficult, it leaves only violent turnoff as a last resort.
Argentina is a pretty good comparison and better every year.
I do have my word-smithing moments … seriously, though; I think it’s going to be a death-match between the Clinton machine and the Chicago machine. The amount of dirt they have on each other probably requires those earth-moving machines the size of an 18-wheeler.
The fight between the establishment GOP and the insurgent Tea Partiers will pale, in comparison.
Sgt Mom,
From your lips @ 3:02pm to God’s ears. I’m more than ready for a little fratricide on the left.
She was inevitable in 2008, but she was taken out by an empty suit. I don’t see how she got to be more inevitable this time.
I think she got blind-sided, Robert – according to some Hillary-fans, the dirty-dealing at the nominating convention was epic. She won’t get caught out again, I don’t believe. The vibe that I am getting when these things are discussed soberly in various venues, is that the Clinton machine and their sympathizers are doing all they can to make it happen. She’s apparently the vengeful sort – and it’s not as if the Dems have a deep bench of possibles.
She also was over confident. She was planning to have the nomination by the time of the Texas primaries. Obama stopped that and she ran out of money. She won’t make that mistake again, hence the donors at State functions.
Will she be the nastiest piece of work since LBJ to be President?
Well, apparently she was a piece of work as First Lady, Dearie. The original founder of the mil-blog Sgt Stryker was on the maintenance crew of Air Force 2, during the Clinton administration. He had to sign on all sorts of non-disclosure agreements when he rotated out of that assignment, so he couldn’t be flamingly indiscrete; but one of the things that he did say on the blog or in comments that the only two of the political class that his AC hauled around who turned in a reasonable facsimile of being normal, considerate and thoughtful human beings were Tipper Gore and Louie Freeh.
On my last overseas tour, I knew an AF SP, who had just come off a tour where he was assigned to duties which took him to protecting the family of Bush #1. He liked the Bushes enormously, especially Barbara. He asked for reassignment when the Clintons came in – he did not care for them at all. Tacky trash from the word go, or so he said. (No means of verifying this at all, I realize – only his word for it, but he did have very high-end body-guard experience.)
My younger son called me on day during his first Irag deployment very excited. He’d almost managed to run down Hillary with a gurney at Baghdad ER (Ibn Sina hospital) in the green zone. He’d yelled ‘coming thru’ and she just stood there, but her escort jerked her out the way at the last second. They started to get all pissy, but the surgeon told them “If you’re not against the wall, you’re in the way. Get out of my O.R.”
The boy said “dad, I tried. I really did.”
The book Un limited Access caused a lot of heartburn among Clinton aficionados at the time. Lots about Hillary. I expect new sales to peak in 2016.
Ah,Unlimited Access. Is that where Bill Clinton misplaced the code for The Football but didn’t report it?
Sgt. Mom
I think she got blind-sided, Robert – according to some Hillary-fans, the dirty-dealing at the nominating convention was epic. She won’t get caught out again, I don’t believe.
I don’t know anything about dirty-dealing at the nominating convention. I do know that while Hillary won the TX primary, she lost out in the caucuses due to either due diligence or double-dealing on the part of the Obama campaign.My understanding is that TX wasn’t the only state where Hillary won the popular vote but lost in the caucuses. Can Obama and crew play hardball and dish out the dirt? You betcha. Hardball: getting all his opponents off the ballot so he ran unopposed in the Demo primary during his first run for an Illinois legislative seat. Dishing the dirt? Just ask those candidates for the US Senate in Illinois in 2004 who got their divorce records unsealed.
I don’t see necessarily why there would be a big fight between the Chicago and Clinton machine. Would the Chicago machine have an alternate candidate for President? Yes, there is no love lost between them, but would 2016 not simply be seen as an alternation in power?
The relationship is not that cordial. Not everyone is as “kinder, gentler” as the Institutional Republicans. The difference is more like Ernst Roehm -v- Himmler, or more on point perhaps, Stalin -v- Trotsky. Only one will prevail and survive.
Subotai Bahadur
SB said:
“Back to the point, American politics has already become both dynastic and elitist. Both wings of the Governing Party, regardless of name, abhor the concept of someone not properly “sent by someone” becoming the candidate. Genuine popularity amongst the peasantry is a kiss of death and the entire body politic will rally to oppose such.”
This is why, although I would love to see Scott Walker run for Prez, I think that the establishment R’s will spike him as soon as he makes the announcement and “things” will start coming out. They know that a guy like Walker would basically fire all of their friends and attempt to install competent people.
>>or more on point perhaps, Stalin -v- Trotsky
I think you meant that sarcastically, but professional, committed Leftists actually do see themselves that way and refer to each other that way. And generally, the Stalinists have no tolerance for the Trotskyists. They consider them watered down, weak-kneed versions of the real thing. Sort of the Left’s version of a RINO.
You don’t think it’s an accident or a coincidence that the Dems are using all the techniques of the Soviet Communist Party, do you?
the establishment R’s will spike him as soon as he makes the announcement and “things” will start coming out.
Oh? There’s dirt the donks and union thugs couldn’t find for the recall? Somehow I doubt it.
And as to dynasties, I have only three words, Adams, Harrison, and Roosevelt. They’re nothing new.
Actually, I was dead serious; speaking from the point of view of someone with some education in political science and world history, and more than a passing avocation in both.
American politics is wrapped in a fluffy mythos that avoids reality. Reality is about to come crashing in.
Subotai Bahadur
OK, I didn’t know if you were serious or not.
“What does it matter?” is going to make a pretty crappy campaign slogan.
}}} This possibility was apparently intended to make us both go wobbly in the knees and vote with our vaginas instead of our brains.
Hey, it worked for skin color!!
Are you saying black people are stupider than women? Racxist!!!
:-D
}}} “What does it matter?” is going to make a pretty crappy campaign slogan.
Seems to me it makes a FANTASTIC campaign slogan….
For the republicans.