Bill Clinton’s legacy: the destruction of the Democratic Party
Let’s be honest here. The Clinton’s attacks on Barack Obama are designed to do one thing, make his skin color an issue. Barack Obama was able to win Iowa and place a strong second in NH without his race ever becoming an issue. The more race becomes an issue, the better it is for Hillary.
How did the Clinton’s make race an issue? Like all dishonest, sleezy politicians do, though their surrogates, of course. Bloomberg’s Margaret Carlson had a terrific column on this back on the 17th,
If Hillary Clinton’s campaign had taken only one shot at Obama, it might have been blown off as a mistake. But four shots constitutes a pattern, with Clinton’s former New Hampshire chairman, Bill Shaheen, Representative Charles Rangel, Clinton pollster Mark Penn and Black Entertainment Television founder Bob Johnson all getting into the act.
Surrogates don’t take printed instructions, but neither do they want to upset the candidate they’ve traveled to the hinterlands to please. And Penn isn’t even a surrogate. He’s the campaign’s top strategist.
Carlson continues, making the essential point,
For Obama, he lost the essence of his candidacy as the first black man to run as himself. Once the race card is on the table, no matter who puts it there, it’s impossible to put it back up anyone’s sleeve. Obama may look back on the first two weeks of 2008 as the time when he lost the nomination to Clinton.
The Washington Post’s Eugene Robinson absolutely nails the reason behind the Clinton’s attacks on Barack Obama,
Obama’s candidacy not only threatens to obliterate the dream of a Clinton Restoration. It also fundamentally calls into question Bill Clinton’s legacy by making it seem . . . not really such a big deal. That, I believe, is the unforgivable insult.
The most frustrating aspect of all of this is that Bill and Hillary Clinton should have been relegated to the ash heap of history a long time ago. Their behavior while in the White House was nothing short of disgraceful. Forget Monica for a minute. How about the White House coffee fundraisers, pimping out the Lincoln bedroom, savagely attacking women who credibly accused the president of harassment, all the while complaining about the politics of personal destruction. I voted for Bill Clinton in 1992. When nobody, and I mean nobody, in the Democratic Party stood up to these two, before, during and after his impeachment, I knew I could never again support a Democrat. Some things are bigger than holding on to power at all costs. The Democrat establishment chose to not just support, but hero worship the Clinton’s, especially Bill. How many “good government” types had to look the other way? How many alleged feminists turned their backs on everything they believed to support these two? The Clinton’s represent the complete intellectual and moral collapse of the Democratic Party. I will never understand why some party leaders didn’t tell him it was time to leave when they had the chance. Al Gore would have taken over, and been able to run in 2000 as the president, and not the VP who was too embarrassed to have the POTUS campaign for him. Could President Al Gore beat George W. Bush? We’ll never know.
What is it going to take for Democrats to learn that the Clinton’s and their win at all costs mentality have damaged the party immensely?
An editorial in today’s WSJ titled The Education of Barack Obama (subs req’d) gets to the heart of who the Clinton’s are, and it isn’t pretty,
The Illinois Senator is still a young man, but not so young as to have missed the 1990s. He nonetheless seems to be awakening slowly to what everyone else already knows about the Clintons, which is that they will say and do whatever they “gotta” say or do to win. Listen closely to Mr. Obama, and you can almost hear the echoes of Bob Dole at the end of the 1996 campaign asking, “Where’s the outrage?”
Barack Obama is still learning who the Clinton’s are and what they value most. It is not country, or even party, but power. If the Clinton’s are allowed to cynically use race to destroy the first legitimate black candidate for president, will the Democrat Party continue to say “thank you sir, may I have another”?
Earth to Democrats: the Clinton’s are poison. When are you going to wake up?
January 23, 2008 9:56 am 
I happened on your blog and would like to comment.
While I agree with most of this there is an aspect not yet picked up by the media. Or it’s simply ignored.
While too many democrats seem to have an addiction to the Clintons, and like all addictions, they are destructive, there are many who see the Clintons very clear eyed.
I have read many comments and have listened to call ins on Washington Journal on cspan regarding this topic.
Not that many believe the whole race thing. The Clintons may think they are chasing whites away from Barack, but, in truth, most are not. They support him still and know what the Clinton’s games are about.
Even white republicans still have a positive view of Sen. Obama as well as the independents.
The only ones who are buying into it are Clinton supporters who are the ones to are so loud and obnoxious that the media is probably only hearing them.
I have read many people who support Edwards, or are undecideds say they will never support Clinton if she’s the nominee.
I have heard that many inside the democratic party establishment are even getting ticked off at the Clintons.
It seems the Clintons have succeeded in one thing. They have driven a wedge in the party. She is someone who cannot get republicans or independents to vote for her. But, when half the party won’t, if she is the nominee it will be by miracle that she wins.
And the divisions the clintons have created in the democratic party are so deep now that there is no repairing it if the clintons are the nominees. They will have destroyed it. Many will simply become independents.
The problem is the low information voter. Those who are not tuned into what is going on and may support HRC because either they are old women or have a case of nostalgia (which they forget all the bad the Clintons did in the 90s). Those supporters, the latinos and the core base are the ones who may be able to join together enough to get her squeaked by into the nomination. They are also the ones who don’t believe it if you tell the truth about the clintons.
One good thing. I read on Politico yesterday an email sent to Ben Smith. The woman in Ca. said most of her female co workers and friends were supporting Hillary. However, because of the Clintons behavior, Bill taking over and overshadowing HRC and it looking more like Hillary is a trojan horse candidate, ect., most of them are turning against them. They are repulsed by their behavior and think Hillary is not a woman standing on her own two feet. It;s about Bill. They are definitely turning away.
Maybe enough will by Feb 5th that Obama will prevail.
Kevin: Earth to Democrats: the Clinton’s are poison. When are you going to wake up?
First, nice use of the possessive. Second,
I don’t know, perhaps about the same time you wake up to the fact that Islamofascism and the global terror threat are vastly over-hyped? Honestly, reading your critique of the Democrats is like watching a dog look at a bicycle. The dog can snap its teeth at the wheels but it is never ever going to get up and ride that thing.
Your Clinton hatred is breathtaking. One can only imagine your disillusionment with the Republican party.
William, I’m a Dem and I’d have to agree with this post. Even a stopped clock is right at least twice a day.
It’s become obvious the Clinton’s will stoop as low as they need to go in order to get back into the white house, and my fear is they’ll ruin the chance of a generation doing so. They’re making outrages attacks on Obama, then using back channels to inject race into the dialog.
Just a month ago I would have whole hardly voted for Hillary in the General election if she were the nominee, even though I support Obama in the primary.
Her recent actions, have put quite the bad taste in my mouth, and If she doesn’t turn sail from these rovian tactics fast, I’ll be abstaining.
Of course she’d rather tear the party apart, then give up her rightfully deserved nomination.
I’s also like to add, she alone can reinvigorate the GOP electorate, all the while souring her own base by her recent actions.
When the new boss plays by the same rules as the old boss, who I want desperately to leave, why would I want to vote her in?
She might make the nomination, but I think she’s poisoned her chances in the general, especially if McCain is the Nominee.
I find it interesting that so many of the people who moved heaven and earth to defend the Clinton machine in the 1990s (Daschle, Reich, Ted Kennedy) are only now “realizing” what a pair of lowlifes they are. Better late than never, I guess.
Your bias is showing when you announce “I knew I could never again support a Democrat”.
The way the system is supposed to work is: party members/supporters select their favorite candidates in the primaries. Then the voters have their say in the general election. You are not a Democrat, so who they select is none of your business.
Also, there is too much character assassination in political campaigning every before you got on your soapbox. And non-Democrats are as guilty as Democrats.
Pick your Republican or Independent candidate and tell us what they have to offer America. Stop your whining.
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