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Paul Constant at Seattle’s Stranger may be even better on the Charlotte convention than his excellent RNC coverage:
… I have never been a fan of Bill Clinton. I resented his baby-boomer smugness, the calculating way with which he inveigled the Democratic Party into giving up some core values for a few fleeting moments of centrist popularity—particularly, giving up its devotion to the citizens who could not, for reasons of mental or physical competence, take care of themselves. And I detested the way he tried to tear Barack Obama down, to force him into waiting his turn in line for the presidency back in 2008. But I had never seen Clinton speak before in person, and so I could never understand what makes him so appealing.
Clinton has that one-in-a-million mixture of crippling neediness and unadulterated, (almost literally) unimpeachable self-confidence that generally breeds rock stars, or the kind of writers whose books teenagers keep lovingly rolled up in their back pockets. He desperately needs the love and affection of every single person in the Time Warner Cable Arena (some 26,000 people, with many thousands more turned away at the door) and he has the gall to believe that he deserves that love and affection, too. You can’t deny that kind of pulsing spiritual vacancy, that starving need for love, in a person. You want to help fill his need for attention, and you’re flattered by his attention in return… He seduced a small army of people all at once with facts and figures and his masterful ad-libs. I still think his presidency was too complacent and that he squandered some opportunities that could have at least partially prevented the mess in which we find ourselves now, but I cannot deny—nobody can deny—that Bill Clinton possesses a rare genius…
Something that I often forget about Obama, though, is that he has another, special kind of genius. He always knows how much energy he needs to expend, and he doesn’t expend any more than that amount. Obama never plays an ace when a two will do. During the 2008 debates, Obama surely could have blown John McCain away with a sharp comment or a figure that would have torn McCain’s argument out from under him. But the problem with those showy moments is that they bear a certain amount of risk; every dive for the jugular can result in a self-inflicting injury…. Instead, Obama just ran out the clock on McCain, being reasonable and common-sensical, to show Americans that he wasn’t a freak or a socialist or a monster. By being patient, and by expending just enough energy, he won the whole contest, even though he didn’t give the commentariat the blood for which they were bellowing.
Obama’s speech, then, was like that. It contained promises and mentions of important liberal causes like global warming and marriage equality, but it didn’t reframe the conversation or try to wriggle out of charges of class war by positioning himself as a moderate. This is presumably because Obama and his team have done the calculations, and they’ve realized that they can win on this conversation, that Americans don’t believe that self-interest should be the prime motivation of the country, that fairness and cooperation do have their place in the United States that they want to live in…
If you haven’t time for the whole thing, at least read the last four paragraphs following the final dropped cap, concerning Gabby Giffords: She was there for just another dumb press event that congresswomen have to show up for every day if they expect to keep their jobs, and a mentally unhinged man who slipped through the cracks tried to force his will upon her, to make her dead so that he could have something he could call his own. He took something precious from her that will never be replaced, but he failed…
Seriously, click over, and get yourself a pretty fine headstart on yet another Monday morning.
@VividBlueDotty
Thank you for this nice start to my morning! I clicked over to the article on The Stranger, not expecting much, but got sucked in. In the first few paragraphs, Constant’s tone struck me just right. Heading back to read the rest.
Bruce S
The Clinton part of this article is actually pretty fucking generic and indicates (aside from expressing an absurdly sweeping resentment that is churlish and childish at best) a kind of shocking cluelessness for an alleged political reporter. If Constant had to see Clinton “in person” at this late date to come up with this generic and recycled estimation of Clinton, he’s not much of a journalist. What’s shocking for a supposedly competent political reporter is that one would finally see something “in person” that’s been blazingly familiar to even relatively casual observers of politics – yes, even those who do it via their TeeVee – for at least 20 years and decide to come up with an extended rewrite of – wait for it! – conventional wisdom and requisite banalities (which, of course, contain an element of truth.) I have no idea where Constant was sitting in that convention hall, but it’s hardly like he had such close contact with Clinton that he could have observed – in the context of a nationally televised speech – something for the first time that hasn’t been available to anyone who gave a shit for decades and that wasn’t evident – in so far as it matters and again for the Nth time – at the same moment to anyone who watched the Clinton speech at home.
raven
@Bruce S: Um, he’s pretty clear about where he was in the hall or didn’t you read that part? You got up on the wrong side didn’t you?
Great fucking article.
@VividBlueDotty
@Bruce S: I agree that Constant’s style is both churlish and childish. What drew me in was his storytelling ability as he recounts a slice of life while attending both conventions.
And FYI, he was sitting behind Clinton, so he had a view of Clinton’s artfulness in going off the teleprompter. Not that that changes anything, but it’s very possible he DID observe something of which he was previously unaware.
There’s context for this and more if you read the whole article.
raven
@@VividBlueDotty: Since he’s about 26 years old he might not be as respectful and mature as some might like. jesus
raven
Mornin Joe and the crew seem to be having a funeral for the Mitt.
Bruce S
VividBlueDotty – that would be a more interesting detail if Clinton hadn’t given an entire State of the Union address flawlessly with the teleprompter broken back in 1994. Again, this was vintage Clinton. I’m not a particular Clinton fan, loathed the idea of him coming back into the White House in 2008, blame his lack of impulse control as much as Nader and Gore’s incompetent campaign for the Bush nightmare and am more immune to his charms than most folks, but this stuff is sooooo recycled. Just saying. Probably wouldn’t have bothered to take his dumb shit apart were in not for his wiping snot on the page with that idiotic “smug baby boomer” line.
raven
This party just took a turn for the douche.
Bruce S
@raven:
I didn’t click on to the entire article because the excerpt didn’t warrant it. The Clinton paragraphs were just fucking lame. Maybe there was better stuff to draw me in than recycled Joe Klein psychoanalysis of Bill Clinton that has been repeated maybe a thousand times over 5 campaigns and counting. If he’s 26 I assume he has access to Google.
@VividBlueDotty
@raven: Apparently so, since some need to invoke the name of “jesus” on others for merely having an opinion. I guess Bruce S isn’t the only one who woke up on the wrong side.
Thank you for telling me the correct opinion to have of this article, which I’d already stated HAD been a positive influence this morning. Can you also advise me of what age a journalist must be to evoke respect and maturity in his or her tone? I would like to note it for future reference.
raven
Waaaaaah, read my blog not this whippersnapper!
raven
@@VividBlueDotty: Oh, did it offend you that I used HIS name? Guess what, just like you, I’ll say whatever I goddamn please. How ya like me now?
gene108
Never fully understood this sort of criticism of Clinton.
He started his term in office by trying to pass universal healthcare reform that would’ve taken care of a lot of people.
He tried to lift the ban on gays serving in the military and settled for DADT as a compromise. Prior to DADT even being a closeted homosexual was grounds to get kicked out of the military. There was a zero tolerance policy towards homosexuals.
He wasn’t LBJ waging his War on Poverty, but he also did try, though ultimately failing, to push parts of the liberal agenda through.
Also, too sCHIP, for example has helped a lot of people Constant feels were ignored under Clinton.
@VividBlueDotty
@Bruce S: Loved the phrase
Born at the tail end of the baby boom, I’ve always taken for granted that the boomer hate is not for me, but it still rankles.
Mystical Chick
I don’t think I’ve seen this much early-morning in-fighting here in a long time! And it’s just Monday!
I enjoyed the article, FWIW. But what do I know? I’m only on my first cup of coffee.
arguingwithsignposts
The Horse Race Must Go On!
The Times’ email headline this morning: A Tight Election May Be Tangled in Legal Battles
All the more reason to nuke the Romney/Ryan ticket from orbit with votes.
@VividBlueDotty
@raven: As a long time lurker, I never really liked you. Overwrought interjections, regardless of word choice are likely to reinforce that opinion.
@Bruce S: I don’t HAVE a blog, so perhaps its yours that raven is referring to. If so, a link will indeed yield a reader.
arguingwithsignposts
@@VividBlueDotty: If someone’s name is blue on their comment, it’s a link, and points usually to their blog.
PsiFighter37
Obama outraised Romney last month. Awesome news.
@VividBlueDotty
@arguingwithsignposts: Thank you – both for the information and for not needing to make me feel stupid for not knowing.
Steve
C’mon, “unadulterated, unimpeachable self-confidence” was worth the price of admission on its own.
AxelFoley
Too early for this shit, ya’ll. LOL
Raven
@@VividBlueDotty: Oh no! A long time lurker doesn’t like me.
jayboat
Love the Monday morning dialog around the bj breakfast table.
More coffee, please. 8-]]]
Todd
Morning’ Ho is definitely doing dirges for the Romney campaign. Halperin looks shellshocked.
Comrade Mary
@Todd: GIF or it didn’t happen. Extra points if he breaks down weeping.
raven
@@VividBlueDotty: reinforce this
Todd
Hahahaha! David Fucking Gregory just shivved Romney.
MikeJ
I’m gonna agree with Bruce. Constant is often ok, but this excerpt is lame. I’m sure somebody will be along to tell me I just don’t like it because he uses the word fuck or something.
raven
@MikeJ: So you didn’t read it?
raven
“Giffords was broken on that day, and she’s broken now. I’m broken, too, and so are you. Every day breaks us in a different way. But broken is not the same thing as dead, and if you’re not dead, you’re alive, and if you’re alive, you can do something. That’s not courage; it’s just what you do.”
Helen Montana
Wow, that’s cold, what he said about Bill Clinton. True, mind you–undeniable. But cold, freezing cold.
Todd
This Americans Elect wingnut douchebag needs a good curb stomping, though.
MikeJ
@raven: I read the 500 word excerpt. Too clever by half. Spinal Tap described him perfectly.
Randy P
@raven: The widespread crankiness on BJ this morning, combined with John’s “I hate you all” which I just read, has got me cracking up on my morning train. I love this place! You’re my kind of people!
Randy P
@PsiFighter37: Yeah, saw that. The constant email pleas are irritating as hell, but I know these things are important. They were all telling me the critical importance of August fundraising bragging rights, so I upped my contribution level and I’m really proud to be part of that number.
Romney’s number comes from the 1%. We out-raised the 1%. Wow. Makes me feel good about the balance of power in our future.
Linda Featheringill
From the linked article:
Beautiful.
I wish Gabby a long and interesting life filled with adventure and love.
Soonergrunt
@Todd: link?
Gadgetry_Owl
The piece isn’t that great but some people here need to get it in their heads that for a whole generation of Americans, their first political memories will be of the President talking about blow jobs he may or may not have received and being attacked from the right AND the left. Anyone with a brain would admit he was a far president than Dubya but, unless you were raised in a pro-Clinton household or were a particularly savvy 12 year old, the love for the man may not come as easily as it would for some others.
@VividBlueDotty
@Raven: You’re good at this game. You say
, I say
and then you mock me. Not my style, but very effective, nonetheless.
Randy P
And a Clinton story. I once read that when he would go to local Democratic party events, he would greet everybody by name even if it had been years since he met them once. Phenomenal memory for names. He gives a lot of fuel to the haters, but I still like and admire the guy. And Hilary gives me starbursts.
raven
@Randy P: I dunno, I woke up, applied 5 different meds to Lil Bit, took the dogs for a walk and opened up the BJ. Anna posted an article so I read it and thought it was pretty interesting. Then I read one person who was “drawn in” so kept reading and another who was insulted by a diss of the baby boomers so didn’t read it. Then the one who did read it decided they didn’t like it either.
I wasn’t cranky when I woke up.
raven
@@VividBlueDotty: What style?
Linda Featheringill
William Jefferson Clinton: When he is good, he’s very, very good. And when he’s bad, he’s horrid.
At this convention, he was very good.
I note from the polls [dangerous place to derive conclusions] that Clinton’s speech may have helped Obama’s approval rating.
Raven
@@VividBlueDotty: If you going to quote yourself at least be accurate otherwise you may appear childish and churlish. ” I never really liked you. . .”
Valdivia
@Linda Featheringill:
Actually Sam Wang at Election consortium says it was Michelle’s speech that drove the first high spike in approval.
J.D. Rhoades
@raven:
And this reveals something about how fragile Mittens’ support really is. One tap, in the form of a couple of discouraging polls, and the cracks begin to appear.
HIT IT AGAIN!
AWJ
This cartoon by Terrence Nowicki Jr. is gold:
http://thisishistorictimes.com/2012/09/rope-a-dope/
@VividBlueDotty
@Linda Featheringill: You just summed up Bill Clinton very well. And his speech may indeed have helped Obama which is good news for us all.
I also second your well wishes for Gabby Giffords. That part of the convention was amazing for me, as the standing ovation lasted every second of her labored walk across the stage.
@Gadgetry_Owl: That is a good point. It’s understandable that the default view of Clinton for younger folks might not be so positive. I just think some of us resent the serving of smugness that comes with that view.
greennotGreen
I don’t understand the boomer dig. What is it but pure ageism? Would he even think of writing “Negro smugness” or “northeastern smugness”? There is a word for someone who attributes characteristics to a group based on characteristics of an individual: bigot. (That driver cut me off. I see that he’s black; black people are bad drivers. My wife was unfaithful; all women are whores.) I like Paul Constant’s work, but that line was a misstep, and he should be called out for it.
@VividBlueDotty
@Raven: Thank you. I stand corrected.
khead
An invitation from Joe Manchin….
West Virginians have a unique opportunity to lend a hand in fixing America’s finances by joining me tomorrow in Charleston for a back-and-forth conversation with two of the people who know more about fixing the federal budget than anyone else in this country: Republican Sen. Alan Simpson and Clinton White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles.
Now, that might sound a little dull, but let me assure you that it is the kind of presentation that will keep you at the edge of your seat — and the kind of dialogue that every American who cares about our future needs to participate in. Alan and Erskine are straight shooters, and they will paint a dire picture of the facts — but they will also outline a bipartisan solution at our summit: “Our Finances & Our Future” — at 9 a.m. (Monday) at the Culture Center Theater. I invite all West Virginians to come and tell it like it is, too, because Washington needs to hear the hard truth from you about what the country’s runaway spending is doing to our families and businesses.
TS
@Linda Featheringill:
I grew up living next door to my grandmother & an uncle who was struck in the head by a bullet in WWII. He probably wasn’t as damaged as Gabby – and he recovered to live the life of a 12-14 year old boy. His favored pastime was making models of cars/boats/planes – the sort that came in big boxes and had tiny plastic parts & you could buy paints to color them and make exact replicas of many of the tools of war.
He played with we children – and we took full advantage of his kindness and patience – and he loved toy shops and we were always willing to go with him as he had much more money than our Saturday chores provided.
What went on in his head, how much he knew about his past & what he had lost we never knew – but he lived to 85 years old and when he died we shed tears, more for the life he didn’t have, than the one he had.
And when Gabby recited the pledge, I cried buckets of tears for the life she will not live (and for the lives of those who died) – and those tears will never put out the flames of outrage for those who created the hatred in her attacker.
Another Halocene Human
@greennotGreen: Am I the only person (I’m GenX) who recalls the endless media wanking in the early 1990s about Bill Clinton being a Boomer, and what that meant for American politics, blah BLAH BLAH?
We’re just all supposed to forget that until W ruined everyone’s illusions forever that Boomers were supposed to govern differently from the previous generation, the special snowflakes who came of age in the 60’s?
I’m not one to join Boomer bashing (hey, by most metrics Boomers are more liberal than GenXers, who tend to have a negative and selfish attitude in general towards the world, imo) but I do resent this attempt to erase the past. Bill Clinton associated himself with his generation by choice. Hell, he wanted to be remembered for that. And plenty of you willingly went along with that notion 20 years ago.
So let’s do each other the basic respect of not attempting to rewrite history. We’re better than that.
Todd
@Soonergrunt:
Sadly, no link. It was on Mornin’ Ho. The upshot was that there was sadness over the candidate inexplicably refusing to dictate specific plans to the stenographers, and that perhaps there is some disarray in the Romney campaign. He looked a little gray under the eyes.
priscianusjr
@Bruce S:
FlipYrWhig
@Another Halocene Human: Clinton was the first president not shaped by World War II since FDR. And then we managed to get only two presidents shaped by the Vietnam era.
Culture of Truth
Good observation on Obama. I have often observed how is patient until he moves in for the kill. It may appear he is perenially “lucky” but no more so than other politicians of our time, from FDR to JFK to Nixon to Reagan to Clinton
I would note, though, that the part about McCain not knowing who the leader of Spain was was just too good to pass up in the debate.
“Spain is a NATO ally!” Killer.
Darkrose
@gene108:
He also signed the Defense of Marriage Act, which means that my wife won’t be able to get my Social Security benefits if I die. It means that I get to pay taxes on the amount my employer pays for my wife’s health insurance, unlike anyone else in my office. It creates nightmares for same-sex couples where one isn’t an American. It means that while I’m considered married in the state of California, as far as the federal government is concerned, that piece of paper doesn’t exist. And he did all of this when the entire country knew damn fucking well how glassy his house was on the subject of “the sanctity of marriage”.
Darkrose
@greennotGreen: I’m a fair bit older than Paul Constant, but…I get that. I was a teenager in the ’80’s, and it was simply impossible to avoid the deluge of boomer nostalgia and navel-gazing. If movies and TV and magazines weren’t telling us how awesome the ’50’s and ’60’s were, they were inviting us to examine the angst of a generation–or at least, the rich straight white part of the generation. And of course, we got to refight the Vietnam War over and over and over again. As a flaming lefty even then, I found the boomer generation especially annoying because so many of them seemed to have swung to the right. There was resentment too, because they got to have all the fun: the boomers got dope and free love; we got “Just Say No” and AIDS.
I remember all the debates over draft-dodging when Clinton ran, and the questions about whether or not he’d smoked pot and thinking, “Who the fuck cares?” No, it’s not rational, or right, but I know what Constant’s talking about there.