I think Joe has greatness in him. Slippery is never a problem in Washington and makes a good projectile to deliver Warren’s policy payload. (BTW, never met him, blah, blah, blah…would love to, hint, hint, hint, but, sadly, too old to proffer a prom invite)
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Kudos to Alexrod.
That said, all people who are justifiably alarmed at the prospect of any GOP president should adhere to the motto:
“Don’t make the perfect the enemy of the good”.
Back in 2008, Hillary Clinton adhered to a few positions advocated by John McCain. Had she gotten the Democratic Presidential nomination, I would still have voted for her.
These are very unusual times. The so-called “demographics” seem to favour Democratic voters and Democratic positions. However, the Republicans have, at their disposal, assets which can delay or even eliminate any benefit from any so-called “demographic” advantage to the Democrats:
(a) They control all of the press
(b) They control the economy with fossil fuels (which means, “all of the press”)
© The business and banking sectors, which have never been more powerful in American history, greatly favour the Republicans.
(d) The sectors of the electorate which favour Democrats simply are not good at actually coming out to vote.
(e) Aside from African Americans, every sector of the country which favours Democrats can be converted into raving, TeaBagger conservatives:
(1) Latinos are becoming more "white"
(2) Asians, especially Indians, will become "white"
(3) Single women become Republican upon marriage
(f) The atrophied humanities sectors of the educational
system produce the types of mindsets (technically
brilliant but historically, geographically and civic-
mindedly wanting) which greatly favour
Republicans
(g) Unions are nearly extinct, compared to 40 years ago
Simply being of colour or single or young does not automatically mean that a person can resist the Republican Noise Machine, which is permanent and remarkably effective.
The upshot of all of this is that I am cautiously optimistic, but optimistic in the sense that FDR was optimistic in 1942. He had that mentality because people were awake in 1941.
The population still has not really awakened to the dangers we are in yet, and we have two last opportunities to make a difference:
November 2014
November 2016
After that…
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Once the 1% migrate to space, this sounds like a movie I know, it’s over.
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“‘Don’t do stupid stuff’ is not an organizing principle.”
Is anyone, outside of Jeffrey Goldberg, suggesting that ‘Don’t do stupid stuff’ is an organizing principle rather than just a general commonsense starting point for a more comprehensive organizing principle?
With all due respect to Secretary Clinton, but perhaps an organizing principle for your (potential) campaign should start with:
Don’t say stupid stuff (that people can easily take out of context).
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Actually, “Don’t do stupid stuff” is a great organizing principle—but no one but Goldberg has ever made a comment about it.
It’s also, as you note, a damned good idea.
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Please stop letting middle-aged writers attempt contemporary slang. You don’t “throw shade at” anyone. You “throw shade on” someone you want to marginalize or diminish.
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really. it may not be an organizing principle, but it’s an excellent rule to live by.
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All I see is her stupid comment being used for the next two years to bash a President that keeps getting it from all sides. Yeah nothing like giving the right wing more erroneous ammo to fleeing. So sorry Sir I will not get over it, I will contemplate if she is who I really want to represent the Democratic party. I don’t want another warhawk shipping our men and women overseas to die for the MIC.
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Fortunately, she has a long time to get back into the swing of campaigning… even if the pundits, right now, are basically saying “Wow! In 2016, everyone’s going to be saying ‘Remember that one line from that Atlantic interview in 2014?? That defined everything forever!’”
She didn’t put this terribly well. She took a legitimate policy disagreement and phrased in a way that too easily lends itself to out-of-context gotcha headlines. But it’s neither a) politically fatal nor b) a sign that she’s GWB in a dress. If she were, I think it just MIGHT have come out a bit when she was loyally supporting the President as Sec of State.
Can we keep a little perspective?
“Great nations need organizing principles, and ‘Don’t do stupid stuff’
is not an organizing principle," Clinton told Jeffrey Goldberg. "
Actually, Hillary, it’s a very good maxim to live by and should be good enough for any “great nation” as well. Further, Hillary, your interview smacked of a person who was running against Obama and not a republican. Correct me if I am wrong but Obama isn’t running for any office right now and you potentially are. You would do well to not waste ammo on targets that are not necessary.
Hillary, the flavor of your interview makes me think you’re considering switching parties.
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I don’t know why everyone is saying to keep the perspective. Beyond her idiotic statement, her stance sounds like a neocons foreign policy and I am done with that schtick. Yes I so want a Democrat in 2016, but not if it means more of my buddies, Army, go over to fight another ill conceived war.
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And in the absence of a viable alternative, will you oppose her because she isn’t your ideal, and help a far, far worse Republican replace the President you rightly admire… thus undoing everything Obama has achieved? You say that “all you see” is this one comment. Is that as far as you intend to look?
Purity is not a realistic goal in the real world. “Not Hillary” is not a viable candidate. Elizabeth Warren (who may be your preference) is a) almost certainly not running, and b) may not be nationally electable.
If you intend to look for someone you prefer in the primaries, but will support Hillary if she wins the nomination, then we have no particular quarrel.
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Maybe because the alternative is to hand the country to a right-wing loon who will DEFINITELY do what you fear, on very limited evidence, Hillary MIGHT do?
“She’s not perfect so I’m taking my vote and going home” will lead to total disaster, however pure it makes you feel.
Maybe people are saying to keep perspective because it actually makes sense in the imperfect reality of real life?
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Barack Obama’s entire presidency has largely been devoted to cleaning up the extraordinary mess that Bush/Cheney created. I am so sick of cons whining that Obama can’t blame Bush anymore and owns it all himself, blah, blah, blah. THAT is horse s*#%! I will vote for Hillary Clinton regardless of which one of the political pygmies the GOP nominates because not one of them has the character to be POTUS. And then I will cross my fingers and hope that her presidency can be a fresh start. She can start by not “doing stupid things.”
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I didn’t like her in 2008 and I still don’t like her. She is a backstabber with no core values. This is just another reason for me to not like her.
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Thanks for the clarification and further proof that I’m getting old.
I keep asking Republicans who rant and rave about Obama/HRC which Republican they would propose as POTUS in 2016 and I rarely get straight answer. When I do it is predictably scary. So If you dislike Hillary, who do you plan to vote for in either the primary or the general? And please don’t say Elizabeth Warren. She ain’t runnin’.
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Although I did not vote for her in the '08 primaries, I have a far better view of her than you do.
Nevertheless, the key point is – if she is the nominee, will you vote for her, or pretend she’s “no different” than the GOP and sit on your vote?
No, this simply isn’t true. Asians are trending more Democratic than Hispanics and voted for Obama at nearly 75%.
Latinos, particularly after the immigration reform debacle and crisis of child migrants, aren’t likely to start voting for people so openly racist and hostile to them. The idea that Hispanics would magically forget the way they’ve been treated by the Republican Party over the last several years is, frankly, a little offensive. The theory rests on the idea that Hispanics are stupid people with short memories. They’re not. What is much more likely is that they’ll begin voting in favor of Democrats in numbers closer to Black voters.
As for single women, the majority of single women voters are minorities. White women are going to continue to bury their heads in the sand as they’ve done all throughout history but women of color are driving the bus and won’t be abandoning their principals because somebody put a ring on it.
Lastly, minority participation has risen sharply over the last several years. Folks need to stop acting as though 2010 was the end all, be all of elections. It wasn’t. It was an anomaly.
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If you read the entire interview, and not just the snippet that the media has been salivating over and writing headlines about, she says “Don’t do stupid shit” is the exact approach Obama needed to take.
Context.
But TPM/Politico/HuffingtonPost/et al don’t want to muddy up what seems to be a dandy “Hil slams O” meme. Clicketey click click…
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