Empirically speaking, Barack Obama possesses a special kind of charisma that inspires and uplifts people, as evidenced by the talk of an Obama baby boom due to the euphoria surrounding his election. What I don't get is the diametrically opposite reaction that the Clintons, both separately and together, seem to evoke in The Villagers. Chris Matthews' obsession is long documented, and there's no one better to get your unhinged, irrational Clinton hatred on with than the drink-soaked popinjay Christopher Hitchens.

Let's keep score, shall we? Hitch is the guy that has been cheerleading the Iraq invasion and occupation (still does, as you can see from the video). Cheering arguably the biggest blunder of foreign policy we've ever committed and one that most people understand to be an epic fail. And he's on to criticize Bill Clinton--who will NOT be a member of Obama's cabinet--and while highly imperfect, did manage to lead the country to a prosperity and global status that we can only distantly and fondly remember. Why? Doesn't his continued support of our actions in Iraq speak for his judgment and grasp on reality?

And can I just object right here and now to the misogynistic and patronizing framing? Apparently the meme is that Hillary is too ambitious and self-serving to actually serve Obama's agenda. Based on what? Running a bare knuckle campaign? I don't think that if his primary rival had been a man that this would come up at all. The media was falling all over itself to talk about how cordial the meeting between Obama and McCain was yesterday. And what does it imply about Obama's strength that the assumption is that Hillary would railroad him (presumably with Bill, because to hear the media talk, you'd assume they were some sort of Machiavellian conjoined twins)? It's completely insulting on many levels.

The back-stabbing Bill and Hillary meme (one entirely conceived by GOP strategists, dutifully regurgitated in the media and swallowed sadly all-too-often by otherwise smart liberals) has gotten so out of hand that as Eric Boehlert reports for Media Matters, Fox News is already openly contemplating how Obama needs to fire her. For a job that (as of this writing) she has not been announced for and that does not take effect for another two months. Strike anyone else as premature?

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The Republicans in Washington have just been handed a devastating setback as the majority of Americans showed by their votes that they realize that the GOP just can't govern, what's a RNC propaganda arm to do? Do an hourlong special on the Clinton presidency, or more precisely, on the Clenis.

Did you know how amazing and magical the Clenis is? It is, my friends. It's so powerful that it even got Hillary Clinton a Senate seat. You read that right. Not out of sympathy or admiration for Hillary for sticking with her man, but it was a deal struck between the Clintons:

DICK MORRIS: And the deal was ‘you take over, you defend me, you absolve me and in return you can get what you want' and she settled on that Senate seat. Some guys give necklaces, Bill gave a Senate seat.

And all this time I thought that the people of New York voted for her. But no, according to Fox News, Bill Clinton gave her the Senate seat, much the way Kobe Bryant gave his wife a $4M diamond ring. I tell you, that is one magic Clenis.

You've probably been hearing a lot of Republican talking points that rewrite history by saying that as soon as Bill Clinton came into office, he adopted a loony left-wing agenda that was rejected immediately, and he suffered for it. The Villagers and right wingers are thus warning Obama to govern like Republicans (which, if you think about it, would mean giving the other side of the aisle the hot poker while proceeding with the most extreme agenda imaginable).

Bill O'Reilly and his pals are so very afraid of Obama's upcoming agenda. After all, look how great our country is running right now after eight years of Bush. Check out the jobless statistics today. It's staggering.

As I see it, Obama is not as progressive as I am, not if you look at his voting record, but is a moderate Democrat and will probably govern that way. Howie Klein and I wrote a piece back in May that outlined Obama's record when FOX and pals were trying to scare the country into thinking that Barack was the most liberal Senator in Congress so you should be very afraid. That argument didn't work too well even to Conservatives. Nearly Half of Conservatives Confident in Obama

Anatomy of a Right Wing Myth: Obama is the most liberal Democratic Senator

Lately John and I have been gnashing our collective teeth every time we see one of the Republican shills on TV repeating, mantra-like, the #1 GOP Big Lie of the campaign: "Barack Obama is the most liberal member of the U.S. Senate."

If only! Actually there are 39 Democrats with more liberal voting records, although Obama does at least beat perennial Bush rubber stamps Holy Joe Lieberman (CT), Ben Nelson (NE) and Mary Landrieu (LA). His voting record-- however you slice it, however you dice it-- points to a solidly mainstream centrist...read on

I know I'll disagree with some of his policies as he moves forward, but that's to be expected.

Digby writes an excellent piece that outlines what happened when Bill Clinton took office.

Continue reading »

Part 1.

Part 2.

Bill Clinton on the campaign trail with Barack Obama in Kissimmee, FL, Oct. 29, 2008 before a crowd of 35,000.

From the C&L inbox, Rick writes:

I loved your recap of the McCain interview with Brokaw. Just wanted to point out that not only did Reagan raise taxes during a recession, but Bill Clinton raised taxes in 1993 a year after his election. We were mired in the worst recession since the depression at the time. Not one GOP Congressman or Senator voted for Clinton’s tax raise at the time and they all claimed it would ruin the economy, the same as now. Well, as you know, Bill raised taxes and we saw the greatest growth in our history along with record surpluses that will probably never be equaled. Under Reagan we saw the beginning of the deregulation era that brought us the savings and loan crisis, the Enron debacle and this current banking crisis that we find ourselves in today. When Reagan took office in 1980 our total debt was under 1 trillion dollars. Today it is 11 trillion and we had surpluses under Clinton. So under Reagan, Bush 1 and Bush 2 we increased our national debt from 1 trillion to 11 trillion.

It’s time that everybody realized that Milton Friedman and Reaganomics is a totally failed policy and until we do realize it, we are doomed to keep repeating it. It’s remarkable that more so called experts have not addressed the failed “deregulation” policies of the GOP as the main contributor to this collapse of our banking system.

  Bill Clinton gave a blistering endorsement of Barack Obama's leadership at a huge rally in Ft. Pierce, Florida today.

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Clinton: We have to elect a President that will rebuild the American dream, repair a badly shattered financial system and restore America's standing in the world. Look at the mess that we have  in our financial  system. This is not accidental folks. It doesn't have to be this way. It matters who the President is, it matters what decisions he makes and it matters what the policies are. Obama's got better answers.  He knows what it will take to get this country back on track.

Obama's answers are better!

Bill Clinton explains the financial crisis and how Obama will be able to grow the economy and lead America back like no other.

Questions answered.

My fellow Democrats, I say to you: Barack Obama is ready to lead America and to restore American leadership in the world.

Barack Obama is ready to honor the oath, to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. Barack Obama is ready to be president of the United States.

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The contrast between the Clinton legacy and the Bush/McCain legacy is just devastating:

People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power.

Look at the example the Republicans have set.

In this decade, American workers have consistently given us rising productivity. That means, year after year, they work harder and produce more.

Now, what did they get in return? Declining wages, less than one-fourth as many new jobs as in the previous eight years, smaller health care and pension benefits, rising poverty, and the biggest increase in income inequality since the 1920s. American families by the millions are struggling with soaring health care costs and declining coverage.

Full transcript below:

Continue reading »

Dave Schuler at Outside The Beltway:

... like us, Russia is quite paranoid. Or, as Woody Allen once quipped, what’s a three syllable word beginning with ‘P’ that means you think that everybody’s against you? Answer: perceptive.

Dave argues that the Bush administration simply went along "fat, dumb, and happy" with the Clinton Administration's policy of making clear to Russia that there had only been one winner of the Cold War and I think there's a lot of truth in that, although the Bush hawks have taken it to a whole new level. But as Clinton-era hawks commenting on the Georgia crisis have reminded us, they don't really believe in compromise and diplomacy. While in domestic politics "It's Clinton's Fault" doesn't hold water 8 years later, in foreign policy, where other nations see "America under successive leaders" while Americans see "the Clinton and Bush administrations", 8 years is just enough time to put a good hoppy head on the home-brew of resentment.

The real problem, however, is that we're in danger of turning that perception into one of "three successive American leaders".

Finally, it's happened. Barack and Bill will talk about the upcoming campaign.

Clinton campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe assured CNN’s Candy Crowley that former President Bill Clinton and presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama will be discussing Clinton’s role in the campaign within the next two days. I believe that in the next 24 to 48 hours they will talk and off we will go,” McAuliffe stated on Sunday’s Late Edition.

UPDATE: It took place today:

Senator Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton spoke by telephone today, their first conversation since the combative Democratic presidential primary season ended at the beginning of the month. “Senator Obama had a terrific conversation with President Clinton and is honored to have his support in this campaign,” said Bill Burton, a spokesman for Mr. Obama. “He has always believed that Bill Clinton is one of this nation’s great leaders and most brilliant minds, and looks forward to seeing him on the campaign trail and receiving his counsel in the months to come.”

The Clinton hating Villagers will be screaming about this one way or the other. They can't stop talking about Bill and Hillary even when you know Obama wanted the spotlight for himself. I mean, he earned it. He won. It's like they lost their fix or something. I wrote this during the Obama/Hillary NH event on Friday,

When you start hearing the media elites attack Bill Clinton---just turn it off. They need controversy. They don’t want us to come together…

Here's Cafferty's first segment on CNN right after:

And then, of course, there's Bill Clinton. The former president and Barack Obama have not spoken since Obama won the nomination. Wouldn't you think the last sitting Democratic president might want to talk to the party's presumptive nominee?

I think it speaks voluming that there hasn't been a single word exchanged between Bill Clinton and Barack Obama since he wrapped up the nomination.

BLITZER: I suspect that will change probably at some point.

CAFFERTY: It better change pretty soon.

BLITZER: Yes. He's overseas right now, but at some point it will change.

CAFFERTY: Do they have phones there?

BLITZER: Yes, they do.

CAFFERTY: Yes. That's what I thought.

Blitzer knew the score. Here's a memo to the media: Obama won. It's his time and he calls the shots on what happens to the party and who says what and in what time frame. Please, there's plenty of other things to focus on right now. As Obama has said, he wants Bill to help his campaign and he is a huge asset. Yes, it was a heated primary, but we're healing as a party. It doesn't happen over night, but it's happening very, very fast. Too many of these phony right wing strategists (not Cafferty, he's a good guy) go on tevee and in some liberal bloggers comment sections and have been given a free pass to attack, attack, attack.

This morning on Face The Nation, host Bob Schieffer gave props to Hillary Clinton for her speech yesterday. While noting that there were parts of her campaign that weren't pretty, and that she ultimately came up short, there were other victories to be found in her work.

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"...She told her followers that she had not run to be the first woman president, but had been a woman running for president and that the next time a woman runs, it will no longer be so remarkable. As a father of two daughters and three granddaughters, I believe she's right about that. She lost this race, but she has advanced the cause of women everywhere."

There are still lingering frustrations felt by supporters of both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama as we can see from the comments.  And nobody can argue that there weren't some pretty significant mistakes made by her campaign, but it would be equally dishonest to not acknowledge the historic nature of her running as well, and how she has opened doors (as well as delineated some media land mines) for future campaigns by women.  Clinton's call for unity and rallying behind Obama was exactly the note she needed to hit and she deserves credit for that, as Schieffer points out.

It's important to remember that  John McCain and the Republicans are on the ropes in the general public's estimation and they know it. Hell, McCain is already trying to co-opt Barack Obama's campaign themes, which is a sure sign he's scared to death. Their only hope is to divide the Democratic Party and pray that we fail to unite behind our candidate in the fall.  Let's not fall for their trap.

After a long, grueling primary season, Senator Hillary Clinton called for party unity and vowed to support Senator Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee. In an inspirational speech to supporters in Washington D.C., Clinton called on her supporters to rally behind Obama:

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The way to continue our fight now, to accomplish the goals for which we stand is to take our energy, our passion, our strength, and do all we can to help elect Barack Obama the next President of the United States. [applause] Today, as I suspend my campaign, I congratulate him on the victory he has won and the extraordinary race he has run. I endorse him and throw my full support behind him. And I ask all of you to join me in working as hard for Barack Obama as you have for me.

I have served in the Senate with him for four years, I have been in this campaign with him for sixteen months. I have stood on the stage and gone toe-to-toe with him in twenty-two debates. I’ve had a front row seat to his candidacy and I have seen his strength and determination, his grace and his grit. In his own life, Barack Obama has lived the American Dream. As a community organizer and State Senate and as a United States Senator, he has dedicated himself to insuring the dream is realized and in this campaign, he has inspired so many to become involved in the democratic process, and invested in our common future. Now when I started this race, I intended to win back the White House and make sure we have a President who puts our country back on the path to peace, prosperity and progress. And that’s exactly what we’re going to do by insuring that Barack Obama walks through the doors of the Oval Office on January 20, 2009.

This was the speech that she needed to give. Senator Clinton showed class, courageousness, determination and a unshakable commitment to the causes she and the Democratic party believe in -- yes, there were bumps in the road over the last 16 months, but she never gave up and we commend her for sticking to her guns.

UPDATE: Heather has put up the entire speech up on YouTube: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.  Full transcripts available here.  MSNBC will rerun the speech in its entirety at 4:00 pm Eastern.

UPDATE II: As a further sign of unity, Hillary Clinton is showing her support for Obama on the front page of her website, and Barack Obama says Thank You to her on his homepage, and wrote this inspiring message to her and her supporters.

We must now be relentless as we move forward, to do everything we can to elect Barack Obama. Visit his campaign website and contribute what you can. If you can't donate money, please donate your time and volunteer.

Bill Clinton is still upset about what happened during the South Carolina primary. The victimization used in this campaign has been tiring. From the WHYY blog:

“I think that they played the race card on me. We now know, from memos from the campaign that they planned to do it along.” - President Bill Clinton.

And that’s how President Clinton begins his answer to WHYY’s Susan Phillips who, during a phone interview earlier this evening, asked the President how he feels about one Philadelphia official who says she switched her support after interpreting Clinton’s remarks in South Carolina as an attempt to marginalize Obama as “the black candidate.”

Unbeknownst, President Clinton expresses himself:

His frustration comes through towards the end of the recording when, apparently unaware that he was still on the line, Clinton asks whoever is with him, “I don’t think I should take any shit from anybody on that, do you?

However, today Bill Clinton denied saying what he said:

CLINTON: “No, no, no. That’s not what I said. You always follow me around and play these little games, and I’m not going to play your games today. This is a day about election day. Go back and see what the question was, and what my answer was. You have mischaracterized it to get another cheap story to divert the American people from the real urgent issues before us, and I choose not to play your game today. Have a nice day.”

Noted comedian and long time civil rights advocate Dick Gregory shook the house at last weekends' State of the Black Union. Gregory did so numerous times that afternoon, including this bit where he "apologizes" on behalf of all African Americans for "confusing" the first Black President on just who is and who is not Black. As with all brilliant satirists, Gregory spares no one, least of all those in attendance.

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Leave it to Bill O'Reilly to make a fool out of FOX News for us. Thank you, Bill. It's not like they need any help but we'll take it. I'm sure Roger Ailes didn't like his 60 million dollar man trashing Murdoch's property.

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O'Reilly: ...and this video surfaced of President Clinton pointing his finger at an Obama supporter who was apparently baiting him. Now there are plenty of nuts on the campaign trail , but you don't legitimize them if you are a responsible news agency. However, NBC news gave the Clinton guy airtime...cut to Holeman....cut to Hannity:

Hannity: Holeman claims the confrontation got physical, but the Clinton campaign denies it. Joining us now to tell us his side of what happened is Barack Obama supporter Robert Holeman, thank you for being with us.

O'Reilly: but you don't legitimize them if you are a responsible news agency.

O'Reilly would certainly qualify as a nut on the campaign trail.

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BillO attacks NBC as not being a "credible news" service because they gave plenty of air time to the Bill Clinton/Obama supporter dust up. It's a minor story on the campaign trail, but as usual the media craves to go after Bill. it wasn't that long ago when a person would need to sign a loyalty pledge to get into a GOP event. Too bad BillO didn't check to see what FNC's GOP attack dog, Sean Hannity was up to immediately following The Factor. Did he really believe Sean would let this one pass? C&L's billw spliced two segments together for us.

Steve posted Fri about ABC News’ Jake Tapper's article that completely misrepresented what Bill Clinton said in a speech delivered in Denver on Wed regarding climate change and the economy. Brad at Sadly No! justifiably raked Jake over the coals for his apparent illiteracy in interpreting what Clinton meant from the transcript, but I must add that after seeing the video which Tapper has posted several links to in his article, I'm inclined to believe there's just no way anyone could have misinterpreted what he meant. See for yourself.

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Even though Tapper apparently watched that same video, he has since added in an update that he "wasn't sure just what Clinton meant." Now whether it is even possible for a journalist at ABC to be that stupid or whether he just continues to be deliberately misleading, I suppose that could be open to debate, but the problem is that now, days after Jake's misleading piece had been thoroughly debunked and taken to task by blogs on the left and the right, the story unsurprisingly made it into the echo chamber where it was picked up by the likes of Drudge, Rush Limbaugh and now is showing up in publications with titles such as "Bill Clinton Wants An Economic Slowdown" and "Slow The Economy? Chill, Bill."

I can only shake my head. Churchill was so right.