[It's been a while since I last blogged. Sorry to all of you out there who follow me. But I've have had my head deep up my ass during this political season.]
I supported Hillary Clint0n since before she even declared her candidacy. When Bernie Sanders decided to challenge her in the primary I was very disappointed. For one thing, he only had one message: All the money is at the top. No kidding. He had a splattering of other domestic ideas like a minimum wage hike. All good progressive ideas. But c'mon man. Did he really think that he could win the primary and even if so did he really think the American people would elect a socialist? All that came of his run is divide the Democratic electorate into so-called "left" and "center-left" camps in which young people would follow him down his rabbit hole and continue to protest up to and through the convention. What a waste of time and resources.
There was a lot of talk in the media about how Sanders had "shifted the party to the left". I'm not sure how monumental this was. Spelling out his demands in the Democratic platform was a good thing but did anybody seriously think that Clinton would not had pushed for a hike in the minimum wage, free college, and the like? I think what we saw was an incremental change. But to be honest I think Clinton was more pragmatic. It's all fine and dandy to wish for, of demand even, an Easter basket of free chocolate eggs. Getting it out of the hands of a hostile Republican congress is another matter. Anyway, she won, and went onward to the convention.
I'd like to backtrack here a little and comment on the Republican convention which preceded the Democratic one. It was a pathetic dribble of nobodies. No political figure of significance was there to endorse him. Hell, the hall was half empty most of the time. A sea of white faces, old women wearing too much pancake makeup looking like dressed-up corpses. Every once in while the camera would single out a black man and linger on him as if to give the impression that Trump was anything other than a dyed-in-the-wool racist. The only ringing endorsements came from (who else) his children and a (no-doubt belittled) employees. The whole sorry, grueling mess finally to everyone's relief came to and end. Trump walked out in front of a gazzilion American flags under a huge sign that said "TRUMP". He accepted the nomination and gave a lengthy and rambling speech which managed to attack everyone and everything. Of course, all of the imagined terrible ills of the country were Obama's fault. Also, Clinton was singled out as having spent thirty years contributing to our nation's dismal state of affairs. It was mind-numbing.
Contrast this with the Democratic convention held a week later. A parade of elected and important communities walked onto the stage to offer their support. Even some republicans did this. One almost grew weary f the constant stream of dignitaries and service men and women and police officers and union leaders and so on and so forth. Of course president Obama made and appearance to will cheers. But it was his wife that brought the house down. Of course Bill and Chelsea had their moments, too. So amid all the trumpeting of Clinton's support her family, too, gave their endorsements. The whole shebang ended with Hillary walking out on the stage (not be speckled by American flags, a "failing" that would later be harped upon by the Republicans during the general election) in a white pants suit. She gave a rambling speech which news analysts rightly described as a "speech written by a committee." But the hall erupted with applause nevertheless. There were no echoes like those that characterized the Republican convention.
(More to come.)
I supported Hillary Clint0n since before she even declared her candidacy. When Bernie Sanders decided to challenge her in the primary I was very disappointed. For one thing, he only had one message: All the money is at the top. No kidding. He had a splattering of other domestic ideas like a minimum wage hike. All good progressive ideas. But c'mon man. Did he really think that he could win the primary and even if so did he really think the American people would elect a socialist? All that came of his run is divide the Democratic electorate into so-called "left" and "center-left" camps in which young people would follow him down his rabbit hole and continue to protest up to and through the convention. What a waste of time and resources.
There was a lot of talk in the media about how Sanders had "shifted the party to the left". I'm not sure how monumental this was. Spelling out his demands in the Democratic platform was a good thing but did anybody seriously think that Clinton would not had pushed for a hike in the minimum wage, free college, and the like? I think what we saw was an incremental change. But to be honest I think Clinton was more pragmatic. It's all fine and dandy to wish for, of demand even, an Easter basket of free chocolate eggs. Getting it out of the hands of a hostile Republican congress is another matter. Anyway, she won, and went onward to the convention.
I'd like to backtrack here a little and comment on the Republican convention which preceded the Democratic one. It was a pathetic dribble of nobodies. No political figure of significance was there to endorse him. Hell, the hall was half empty most of the time. A sea of white faces, old women wearing too much pancake makeup looking like dressed-up corpses. Every once in while the camera would single out a black man and linger on him as if to give the impression that Trump was anything other than a dyed-in-the-wool racist. The only ringing endorsements came from (who else) his children and a (no-doubt belittled) employees. The whole sorry, grueling mess finally to everyone's relief came to and end. Trump walked out in front of a gazzilion American flags under a huge sign that said "TRUMP". He accepted the nomination and gave a lengthy and rambling speech which managed to attack everyone and everything. Of course, all of the imagined terrible ills of the country were Obama's fault. Also, Clinton was singled out as having spent thirty years contributing to our nation's dismal state of affairs. It was mind-numbing.
Contrast this with the Democratic convention held a week later. A parade of elected and important communities walked onto the stage to offer their support. Even some republicans did this. One almost grew weary f the constant stream of dignitaries and service men and women and police officers and union leaders and so on and so forth. Of course president Obama made and appearance to will cheers. But it was his wife that brought the house down. Of course Bill and Chelsea had their moments, too. So amid all the trumpeting of Clinton's support her family, too, gave their endorsements. The whole shebang ended with Hillary walking out on the stage (not be speckled by American flags, a "failing" that would later be harped upon by the Republicans during the general election) in a white pants suit. She gave a rambling speech which news analysts rightly described as a "speech written by a committee." But the hall erupted with applause nevertheless. There were no echoes like those that characterized the Republican convention.
(More to come.)
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