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What is Hillary Winning?
By David Glenn Cox
Horatio: He (She) waxes desperate with imagination. Marcellus: Let's follow. 'Tis not fit thus to obey him (her). Horatio: Have after. To what issue will this come? Marcellus: Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. Horatio: Heaven will direct it. Marcellus: Nay, let's follow him (her).
Years ago, while in school, my love of algebra was so deep that my instructors insisted I repeat the class so as to savor my appreciation further still. It was for naught, I learned no more the second time than the first. But a lesson I did learn is that cheaters are caught, not by what they get right, but by what they get wrong.
A cabal of like-minded and like-skilled mathematics students conspired to cheat on the exam. The ringleader sat next to the smartest girl in class, and she, as a habit, was very casual with her paperwork. I feel certain that some of you are thinking, “This is about him, but he just won’t admit that he cheated on a test.” I didn’t cheat, not because of my high moral standards but out of concern for my friends. Had I cheated and received a score higher than 65, the teacher would have been tipped off immediately. As it was, the three like-skilled students were called to the teacher’s desk after class.
As they stood in front of his desk, he praised their improvement. He reflected on how good it made him look as an instructor. Their sudden and remarkable improvement would most certainly lead to teacher of the year honors for him. “But fellows, I only have one question. Why? You all missed the same three questions, numbers 2, 5, and 17. Why? Here’s what we are going to do. After school today I will return your test papers to you and you three will take turns explaining to me why you chose the answers you chose. Or I will give you each an F and call it over, or we can go down to the principal’s office and let him decide."
Come three o’clock, no one showed. The instructor had been tipped off by what they got wrong, rather than right. So what do Shakespeare and algebra have to do with Hillary? Hillary is the student who made sudden and astounding progress. Eight years ago Hillary Clinton was the most reviled, hated and lampooned character on the Republican airwaves. Combined with her husband, Bill, they were the embodiment of all evil. Right wing mothers frightened their children by saying Hillary will get you if you don’t watch out!
She was called Hitlery and Billory and there was no limit to the Clintons' evil; they were accused of murder and rape and drug dealing. And Hillary, to her credit, took it all and didn’t bow her head. She took all they could throw at her and came out looking tall. Eighteen months ago she was the presumptive Democratic nominee; she had the money, the name recognition and the party establishment behind her, and the Republican spin machine said, bring her on!
But as the primary season commenced, a true schism developed in the Republican Party. The Reagan coalition of wing nuts, dollar whores and Bible thumpers was smashed by all-hat-and-no cattle George Bush. When John McCain emerged as the front runner in the Republican Party and Obama began his challenge in the Democratic, the spin tone changed. The mainstream media and the Republican noise machine began to praise Hillary as by far the better candidate.
She suddenly became the darling of CNBC and MSNBC and even Fox news. She received praise from Bill Kristol and other right wing pundits. Then, as Obama emerged as the front runner and overtook Hillary, the media began with flag pins and Rev. Wright. The Republicans in North Carolina ran TV ads tying local candidates to Obama but not to Hillary.
There are only two groups in America that won’t admit that the nomination is Obama’s, the Clinton campaign and the Republican mainstream media. Take note of how the question is asked: who would do better against John McCain in the fall? Invariably the media tries to show that it is Hillary Clinton. But to the point, who died and made John McCain the incumbent? The man to beat is the man who barely polled three quarters of the West Virginia vote while running unopposed? Clinton beat Obama 67%-26% in West Virginia. Fox News said that the electorate was sending a message but what message were the West Virginia Republicans sending? As the media asks, If Obama wins the nomination, what percentage of Democrats will cross over?
The latest ABC/Washington Post poll said 86% of Americans were unhappy about the direction the country was going and the question is how many Democrats will cross over? Many had suspected the Clinton campaign was looking to exit gracefully, to end on a high note after West Virginia. But the candidate and Terry McAuliffe are on all the news outlets, promising to fight on while the media pundits yell, Hell yeah! It’s your right!
CNN’s Lou Dobbs was nearly apoplectic that the Democratic Party was trying to rob Mrs. Clinton. A travesty of democracy in America, he called it. That the peoples of Florida and Michigan would be disenfranchised, forgetting that they were still free to vote in the general election, but the primaries are party affairs and the parties set the rules. The leadership of the party told Florida and Michigan party leaders not to move their primaries or face punishment. The candidates at the time all agreed. MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough asks guests Ari Fleischer and Terry McAuliffe, does this seem fair to you?
This positioning and impetus of the media, the sudden lovefest coalition of the right wing for Hillary Clinton and their message, vote Hillary or else! This is where they got it wrong; the election is the Democratic nominee’s to lose. John McCain is the worst Republican candidate since Wendell Willkie. He claims foreign policy as his strong suit then doesn’t know the difference between a Sunni and Shia in Iraq and the media says nothing. He identifies Vladimir Putin as the President of Germany and the media says nothing. But that is where they all get it wrong, and that’s the tip off, ignoring McCain’s gaffs while ripping Obama’s plans to atoms.
But like the algebra students, they all get it wrong the same and so the question is why? Either it's group think, which is possible, but not likely. Or an agenda to keep the campaign going to bloody and weaken the Democratic nominee forcing them to spend money and fight battles while McCain only runs for President on a part-time basis. And Mrs. Clinton, is it just pride? Is she willing to take the party down in flames from the Fuehrer bunker? Or is she a Manchurian candidate who says, “Gee, thanks, Mr. Potter!”
Horatio: He (She) waxes desperate with imagination. Marcellus: Let's follow. 'Tis not fit thus to obey him (her). Horatio: Have after. To what issue will this come? Marcellus: Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. Horatio: Heaven will direct it Marcellus: Nay, let's follow him (her).
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