January 25, 2008, Honor and Integrity
Words not often associated with Bill or Hillary Clinton... indeed, "restoring honor and integrity to the White House" was the rallying cry of George W. Bush in his campaign against boy scout and demigod, the sainted Al Gore, only to replace the Clinton Administration with not only one of the most incompetent Administration in our lifetimes, but probably the single most cynical and morally debauched in American history, and one that will leave so much perhaps irremediable damage in its wake.
Anyway, where was I? Oh yes... Bill and Hill are at it again, trying to pull the ultimate switcheroo to capture tactical advantages by their decision to try to renege on a deal by insisting that MI and FL delegates be seated at the Convention. It had been understood that Michigan and Florida would lose their delegates for putting their primaries ahead of the first four contests (IA, NH, NV and SC) and the candidates would not participate in MI or FL... a deal honored by the other candidates, but deliberately broken by Hillary who left her name on the ballot in Michigan. Now, she wants to blow the deal (and indeed, the race) wide open by claiming preemptive victory in Florida (where she leads in beauty contest polling)... thus screwing her rivals, and demonstrating that she is sneaky, dishonorable and, let's face it... DISHONEST... all at the same time! Sounds like a Clinton win- win-win, to me!
What's fascinating is how the overall campaign is now reported-- Obama on the ropes while Bill Clinton injects the toxicity of racial division and outrageous accusation into this race (John Kerry thinks Bill Clinton's gone overboard on this lying thing)... and despite the fact that in the three relevant contests so far (IA, NH and NV), the candidates are, in fact, 1-1-1, with NV properly being a tie insofar as Hillary had a slight vote win but Barack won more delegates (as he has overall). And yet... you'd think it was an out and out Clinton landslide thus far. Just wait... we are building up to "Superfund Tuesday" in just 11 days!
While we may not have yet seem a landslide, we have certainly seen a mudslide. It certainly seems that Bill and Hill would much rather see a President McCain than a President Obama... if they can't have it, no one can.
The kind of reason why so many of us look forward to yet another Clinton Administration... (We just never knew that sensible policy and competent governance could be so darned... dirty.)