U.S. Infiltrated by Poison Candy Salesmen

The incredible sway of this country to the Right has occurred because the so-called voices of the Left have gone silent, only to pipe up once in a while to talk about increasing the minimum wage and other marginally Left band-aids. The elections, which could be used as great forums to help change the conversation in this country to the concerns of the people (see Left) have become nothing more than pageant shows, as candidate after candidate tries to appear moderate (see mediocre) while making appeals to the non-existent “Center.” The media is increasingly seen as “liberal” even as the stock tickers and constant market updates drone on and on, while employment issues are virtually ignored, labor unions are viewed as scourges despite all the benefits that today’s workers have derived from them and government “regulation” is the enemy of business everywhere, though it is the only thing that stands between us and anarchistic fascism. This country is clearly dominated by the Right and as far as those of us on the Left are concerned, it’s for all the wrong reasons; like the failure to observe that to speak on issues on the Left requires tremendously greater amounts of courage than speaking on the simple ideas of the Right, something tantamount to selling free candy to children.

Would the real Hillary please stand down?

I have to admit that when I lived in New York I voted for Hillary Clinton but it has become clear to me that the problems facing her candidacy for president are absolutely insurmountable and detrimental for the Democratic Party as a whole and liberals in general. Even the fact that Hillary is running for president shows just how out of touch she is with the American people.

There are 2 major problems facing her candidacy. The first involves the liberals in the Democratic Party. Many of the moderate Democrats have yet to understand that the problem with the illegal war with Iraq occurred before the invasion and occupation. The liberal side of the party recognizes that the quagmire in Iraq wasn’t just a function of how the occupation has been conducted. Hillary has publicly and obstinately held on to the view that the problems with the occupation is and was just a matter of incompetent management. This was a calculated political risk that Hillary took to hedge her bets between her vote for the authorization of the war and the public’s perception of those who admit that they were wrong as flip-floppers. If she was successful or more importantly if Iraq didn’t devolve into such a seemingly hopeless situation she may have had a chance with the moderates who can provide the financial backing for her candidacy as well as with the liberals who offer the party the principles upon which she can base her leadership.

The 2nd major obstacle facing her candidacy is the people themselves. Just as the Democratic party has forsaken better qualified candidates in favor of John Kerry because of his decorated soldier status, the people don’t believe that the country is ready for the wife of a former disgraced president and an easily paintable liberal Senator from New York who supports the occupation of Iraq. At this point if Hillary had any chance at all she would be the front runner in the polls. The fact that she isn’t says volumes about what the people believe are her chances of becoming president. Hillary at this point has far more money and more name recognition than any other challenger both Democrat and Republican yet she trails a relatively unknown Barack Obama in the polls. At this point she is NOT going to move up in the polls, she is only going to lose support.

The problem facing the Democratic Party is that Hillary Clinton is a very strong part of the leadership and they couldn’t untether her name from the presidential race if they wanted to. As long as Hillary stays in the race the greater and greater the corporate sponsored right-wing hate machine opens up their very fat pocketbooks to fund any Republican challenger who they believe can beat her. The smartest strategy that the Democrats could adopt at this point would be to minimize the divisive personalities like Clinton in the race while maximizing the candidates who offer the greatest prospects for leadership and opposition to the ideologies of the right that are destroying our country. This would keep the demoralized conservatives energy levels to a bare minimum. Hillary’s entry into the race will only rally the right wing base and create an impetus for the conservative party to not settle for a socially liberal candidate like McCain or Giuliani in favor of a contrasting candidate (see old conservative presidential looking white male). In this scenario the aesthetic contrast between Hillary and the unknown white-haired stoic presidential looking Republican challenger clearly favors the opposition.

The best thing that could possibly happen for the Republican Party would be if Hillary continues to run long after it becomes clear that she has a snowball’s chance in hell of becoming president as she pulls the Democratic Party down around her. As it is her candidacy already offers the Republicans an incredible opportunity to mobilize and energize their radical base which absolutely hates New Yorkers, strong women, liberals and anyone with the last name of Clinton.

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