Clinton And Obama: Where’s The Enthusiasm?

The Nation: America Is Ready For Them, But Campaigns Lack Energy

(The Nation)  This column was written by Barbara Ehrenreich.

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Just a year ago the hot question was, Is America ready for a black or female President? As the campaigns wear on, the question has shifted to, Can America survive the tedium of its black and female candidates?

Obama, for example, hasn't turned out to be any more challenging to white America than re-runs of the Cosby Show. He was slow to pick up on the Jena 6 case and never showed up at the rally -- although, to be fair, neither did Clinton or Edwards. Like the others, he has refrained from noting that Rudy Giuliani, in addition to being a cellphone exhibitionist and a 9/11-abuser, presided over a New York City police department famed for its torture and killing of young black males.

But it's Hillary who's causing the citzenry's heads to pitch forward and collapse on their chests. Every time she opens her mouth, her flat, monotonic voice lays out yards of opaque white gauze, muffling any possibility of "discourse." Where does she stand? Over here, and a little to the side, and maybe a few steps to the right. Hers is known as the "flawless" campaign, but no one in it seems to be able to turn off the endlessly triangulating tape in her head.

Lately she's taken to emitting to sudden, inexplicable, bursts of deep laughter -- known in the media as "the cackle." Whether this is a deliberate "humanizing" touch or a glitch in the computer program no one knows. According to The New York Times, the "weirdest moment" came in response to a question from Bob Schieffer about Republican charges that her health plan would lead to "socialized medicine." As the Times reports, "She giggled, giggled some more, could not seem to stop giggling -- 'Sorry, Bob,' she said -- and finally unleashed the full Cackle."

Maybe she has a better sense of humor than I'd imagined, because the thought that her plan to turn health care over to the private insurance companies might be "socialist" has me rolling on the floor too.

I just wish I could work up the same degree of enthusiasm for Hillary as my friend Katha Pollitt, who recently told the Times: "If people don't stop saying incredibly sexist things about Hillary Clinton, I may just have to vote for her." But what are these incredibly sexist things? True, there was the whole faux "cleavage" issue, and the occasional wack-job who writes to enlighten me about Clinton's bisexuality or Chelsea's true daddy.

Then, in of all places -- feminist Maureen Dowd's column on Sunday -- I found a genuinely sexist comment about Hillary. Dowd apparently approvingly quotes Leon Wieseltier, the literary editor of The New Republic, saying that Clinton is "like some hellish housewife who has seen something that she really, really wants and won't stop nagging you until finally you say, fine, take it, be the damn President, just leave me alone."

Now I'm all for having literary editors, poetry editors and the like commenting on our political process, but the "nagging housewife" image is not only a sexist stereotype -- it's about fifty years out of date, stemming from an era when most married women were financially dependent on their mates. Besides, male politicians are never likened to stereotypical husbands, even though some of them can be equally hard to dislodge from the recliner in front of the TV or, as the case may be, the Oval Office.

But the "hellish housewife" comment does not make Hillary a feminist martyr, nor does it make me any more willing to listen to her, either now or for the next five years. Trying to say nothing to offend, she ends up saying nothing to inspire or even inform, and Obama, though still far more engaged and human-like, risks ending up with another Ambien candidacy.

Part of the problem is structural. We make our presidential candidates campaign for at least a year at a stretch. Take a normal person and subject him or her to month after month of trail mix and chicken Caesars, sleep deprivation and the need to be "on," smiling and handshaking, sixteen hours a day. No solitary moments of reflection, no walks in the park, no escape into thrillers. What do you get after a few months of this? A golem, the artificial, man-like creature of Kabalistic lore, a personoid incapable of normal responses.

So yes, America is ready for a black or a female President. Just be sure to wake us up when it happens.

[bill1fj]

Clinton or Obama?
NONE of the above.
Lets vote all these professional politicians out of office. They''ve done nothing but talk while in congress. If they were going to do anything they should have done it long ago.
Vote the rascals out.

[aldee41]

The next President will be a Democrat.
Chose wisely. Chose Richardson.

[pepperwood2]

The Politics of Humanitarianism

Why did the international community so quickly abandon Rwanda at a time when its presence might have stopped the genocide? Like Kofi Annan, many of the diplomats and government leaders in office at the time blame the failed Somalia mission, in which U.S. soldiers attempting to capture a Somali warlord were ambushed -- resulting in a fierce, 17-hour firefight that would leave 18 U.S. soldiers and more than 1,000 Somalis dead, 84 U.S. troops wounded, and images of dead American soldiers dragged through the streets of Mogadishu flashed around the world.

"The Clinton administration was brought to its knees by the problem in Somalia," says Michael Sheehan, former peacekeeping advisor to the U.S. Mission at the United Nations. "Our secretary of defense was fired, our presidency was dramatically weakened, they were enormously criticized for this adventure in Somalia and now you had another situation unfolding in Rwanda. There was no democratic political operative that could advise President Clinton to virtually turn around the ships steaming out of Somalia and send them back into a new African adventure of a raging civil war in the early parts of this genocide."

Annan is more succinct. "To some extent," he says, "Rwanda became a victim of the Somali experience."

President Clinton affirmed his Legacy: Civil War or Genocide?

[oleander8]

The campaigns start so *** early that it''s a big yawn just when things should start picking up.

[votepaul12]

*** STOP THE WAR & END CORPORATE CORRUPTION ***

Who Is Paying For Your Vote To Keep Control Of You And To Keep This War Going? Remember The Bankers Hold The Stock In Companies That Are Getting Billions In War Contracts From Your Tax Dollars That Has Ruined This Country And Made The Dollar Drop 35% Over The Past 4 Years, We''ve Been Robbed!

Obama''s Contributers: Bankers / Special interest!
http://tinyurl.com/2nd4f8

Hillary Clinton''s Contributers Lawyers / RealEstate:
http://tinyurl.com/2ontpq

Rudy GIULIANI Contributors: Bankers / Hedge Funds!
http://tinyurl.com/2m2c4n

Ron Pauls Money Is From the People! We have someone who is NOT Paid Off By Special Interest or Bankers Money!!!
http://tinyurl.com/2q8vr3

If you ever want this War to End Vote Ron Paul 2008, No One Else Is Going To End It!
http://www.ronpaul2008.com/issues

Ron Paul Will:

** Stop Iraq War Immediately
** Eliminate IRS
** Eliminate Federal Reserve
** Eliminate Government Wasteful Spending
** Restore America''s Work Force & Values
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It''s Not About Democrat Or Republican. It Is About
the People And Ron Paul Is America''s Last Hope!

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Join A ReVoLuTiOn Group In Your City:
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[xlib]

mistered9-this woman is no Golda Mier or Margaret Thatcher. She is a lying, cheating, two faced biotch. Now that I have sunk to the level of the left by attacking and resorting to name calling, I need to take a bath and wash my mouth out with soap.
Perhaps if you had asked a real question and not attack you would have gotten a civil response.

[mcvett]

If the Democrats are stupid enough to nominate
Hillary for their party ticket,

I will vote Republican for the first time in my life.

As a gay man, this will be difficult for me.
xoxoxoxo

[perception5]

"The Jewish Nation: America Is Ready For Them, But Campaigns Lack Energy"

Oh The Jewish Nation can''t help but support their pals the Democrats.

They really need to go back and look at their 1865 Mission Statement and either follow it or rewrite it.

Basically it says that they wouldn''t align themselves with any "political party".

They, The Jewish Nation, needs to implement "affirmative action programs" to include NOT EXCLUDE other religions and ideologies.

[brianbwb-2009]

The Nation: America Is Ready For Them, But Campaigns Lack Energy

The Brian: But Campaigns Lack Energy Because They Are Bought And Paid For By The Bush Gang''s War Profiteers, So It Is Hard To Preach Very Loudly Against Them.

[digger123451]

I have seen Obama twice and after reading your column it is clear that you have never seen him. He is like a cerebral Ronald Reagan. He is drawing huge crowds, raising enormous amounts of money and bringing in a new group of political activists in numbers that shock other campaigns.

He is running ads in one state so far: Iowa. There, it appears he is leading. When he starts spending his money on ads in other states (and he has the money to do it), you will see a change in the polls. So far, the polls are a reflection of how candidates are viewed through the media filter. Later, we will see how they are viewed without the filter.

[adian1-2009]

What a piece of garbage!

[pepperwood2]

Apologies

In March 1998, President Clinton visited Kigali, where he apologized to the Rwandan people and the victims of the genocide. "The international community, together with nations in Africa, must bear its share of responsibility for this tragedy," Clinton said. "We did not act quickly enough after the killing began. We should not have allowed the refugee camps to become safe havens for the killers. We did not immediately call these crimes by their rightful name: genocide."

Those sentiments were echoed weeks later by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan. In an apology to the parliament of Rwanda, Annan said, "We will not deny that, in their greatest hour of need, the world failed the people of Rwanda...."

"Ghosts of Rwanda" concludes by examining the aftermath of the genocide, the lessons learned--and not learned--by the international community, and by questioning whether the phrase "never again" has more meaning today than it did 10 years ago.

"When you are faced with the question [of] whether I think that we can avoid the Rwandas of tomorrow...my answer is I really don''t know," Annan now says. "I wish I can say yes, but I am not convinced that we will see the kind of political will and the action required to stop it."

I guess their expressions in the photo tells the story.

[bill1fj]

They are both just professional politicians that will say anything to get elected. All talk.
Look at what they have done in Congress. NOTHING - Except talk.
We have a war going on that was started based on lies. No plan to end it. We have 20 million illegal aliens in the country and both hilary and obama want to give them amnesty. We have many other problems and these two, and others, have just talked for years and done nothing. Vote the rascals out.

[bizzzz-2009]

Almost EVERYBODY I have spoke to is voting for Hillary because Bill will be there.
We are faced with potentially the greatest struggle this country has ever faced- I think even more serious than World War II. Radical Islam, combined with despot regimes, are spreading like cancer throughout the world.
You have to ask yourself- Are we going to elect a President during this time in our history that, for most people, doesn''t even stand on her own merits? Is that the profile of a war time leader? You ask what Hillary''s accomplished, most people will answer what Bill accomplished.
This war is not going to end because we want it to end. This war is going to end when the enemy stops attacking us. Remember that. I don''t anyone of the candidates could stop this war if they wanted to or unless we all agreed to bow at the hand of radical Islam.
If Iran poses a nuclear threat by passing a device off to a terrorist organization, then Bush''s decision to go to Iraq was correct. Unfortunately for some people, that pill is hard to swallow.
I look forward to electing a different Republican to office. I think that Giuliani, Thompson, Romney and McCain aren''t crazy about Bush either and will do things differently than Bush. Plus, they all have more leadership capabilities that any of the WIMPY Democratic candidates who, by the way, the terrorists are licking the chops for- hoping and praying they get elected. Don''t take my word on it, Osama Bin Laden mentioned them on his last video.

[bizzzz-2009]

Iran Could Strike U.S. by 2015, U.S. Officials Say
Iranian technology is on pace to build a long-range missile that could strike the United States within a decade, a high-level Pentagon official stated.
IS HILLARY THE PERSON TO DEAL WITH THIS??????????

[mistered9]

Hey Bizzzz, where were you when God Past out brains. Ya, I know in your office.
Woman are doing great elsewhere, so why not her???

[mistered9]

Are we ready for a female President? Hell yes and passt due.
You elected an idiot, so why not?

[cfin5]

Enthusiasm? Where is there any happiness in the entire history of ANY socialist/communist citizenry? When they get the chance, they get the ''ell out of there! Their leaders aren''t socialist or communists. They live as/more luxuriously as our own capitalist leaders do. America works best as long as socialist and neocons leave us alone.........Ron Paul, the un-socialist in ''08!

[xlib]

I do have one question for the "author". Now, are we sure that obama is BLACK enough (a question asked by a lib pundit remember)and is hill really a woman?? That last question is serious on my part.

[xlib]

bizzzz-shoot, you took my post. Oh well, ditto.