Questions on the Brink of Super Tuesday Pt. II
By Connect Mason Convergence Director and columnist Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
Out of this mess of a Sunday afternoon, I only have a few questions:
- Why is Ralph Nader running for President?
- Why is Huckabee continuing his unusual run for a nomination when he’s 80 or so delegates away from losing (and would need a 900 delegate maelstrom miracle to win)?
- Who the hell is Hillary Clinton?
No Place For Ralph
Having lived in Sweden and the United Kingdom for a decade of my short life, I would love for there to be strong third and forth parties here in the United States, but there aren’t and probably never will be (more than two parties sounds too much like Socialist Balderdash).
I wish folks like Nader would recognize this, recognize that while they may intensely dislike the Democratic candidate for President, they probably downright loathe the Republican nominee. Nader, right or wrong, is blamed for the fate of Al Gore’s 2000 bid. Granted, Al Gore has probably done more for America (and the world) as a civilian citizen than he could have as Commander in Chief. But still, why would anyone want to risk their career becoming something stuck between a sad joke and a horrid stain?
My advice, Ralph, play it off as a somewhat-funny joke and bow out. Take a page from Mr. Gore: do what you can where you are. Sadly friend, Huckabee has a better chance of seeing the inside of the Oval Office than you do.
Which leads me onwards to…
The Future According to Mike Huckabee
To be rather honest, I think Huckabee’s unrelenting ‘race’ against McCain signals the fact that many don’t believe McCain has a snowball’s chance in hell of becoming the next President of the United States. Not unless Hillary Clinton’s chameleon-like shape-shifting in the run up to the March 4 contests pays off and the Republicans get to battle an Old Enemy.
Huckabee is gearing up for 2012. He’s seen how one speech by Barack Obama in 2002 launched the young Senator on his way towards a Democratic nomination, and Huckabee is keeping his face in the limelight as long as he can. Brand Recognition. It works. I don’t care how similar the products are, there’s no way I’m taking Safeway brand ketchup over Heinz.
The Ever Changing Hillary Rodham Clinton
Well, she’s not insane. Insanity, at least boiled down to its simplified textbook definition, requires one to perform the same action over and over expecting a different result. Clinton has done anything but stay the same.
Tears have spilled down her face; her speech writers have attempted to parallel Experience with Obama’s call for Change; screaming rants have fallen heavily from her mouth (“Shame on you, Barack Obama!”); anti-Reagan, anti-Bush, anti-Republican sentiments have been allied alongside her public feelings about Obama; and now, strangely, the Former First Lady is the New Hawk.
She’s going to be the one at 3 a.m. that is going to make the Tough Calls, the Big Decisions, and Keep America Safe. She is trying to show herself as the Lieberman Democrat, the Lefty With A Military Mind.
Now Clinton’s Experience is being grafted alongside the Fear that Bush and his cronies have been selling us ever since the tragedies of 9/11.
Other than her overly-hopeful ideas on Universal Healthcare, what exactly do we know about Clinton? Is she going to crush terrorism with an Iron Fist or enter into a rather pathetic rant? ‘Shame on you, Terrorists!’
Up until these past few weeks, I held Clinton in high esteem. I’ve always regarded and respected her as an extremely intelligent, shrewd woman; exactly the type of person to redefine the idea of gender in American politics. It’s just hard to know exactly who this person running for Democratic Nominee is anymore, though. Her campaign will be studied and dissected for years to come, maybe even finding its way into a list of What Not To Do when running for President.
All I needed was a consistent message, a clean campaign, a contest between two politicians who are extremely similar. Instead, Clinton’s aides have redirected the currents every few days, her attacks on Obama have escalated with her desperation, and I’ll be very glad to see Clinton exit the spotlight for a brief while after the dust settles on Super Tuesday Part II.
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