Comments on: “Just Politics”

By: morgan beeker

morgan beeker — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 09:09:15 +0000

Does it matter if Senator Barack Obama received his undergraduate degree in 1983?
Both Barack Obama and Bill Clinton received their BA’s at age 22 and their law degrees at age 27.
JFK received his BA at age 23. Age is not the issue, the issue is representation.
Hillary represents “business as usual” and the U.S. is in a state of disrepair.

Clinton was elected President at age 46. JFK at age 43. And Barack Obama will be elected at age 47.

As a side note, see this NYtimes.com article on Obama’s years as an Illinois Senator,
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/30/us/politics/30obama.html He’s hardly inexperienced.

By: Bob Lever

Bob Lever — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 05:00:22 +0000

There are so many negatives on Hillary, that it seems unwise for her to be the VP.
As for the Young Republican history, if Hillary had turned around dramatically fine, but she went on to represent large corps as atty for many years, and was the first women on the board of Wallmart. So as Mr. Reilly points out, “Hillary was there” but was she “one of them” ? . Jump to the present: the bills she actually got passed during her 1 term as U.S. senator are not that impressive (see http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/10/23/223205.shtml ) or just do the search .

But again, in the general election, I think having Hillary as a VP would hurt Obama more than help him. There is a significant portion of the electorate that will “never” vote for her. Presumably this is due to A. sexism, and B. her confrontational “politics as usual” manner. Re the sexism, many prominent feminists are supporting Obama simply because he is the better candidate.
( for example, http://www.thenation.com/blogs/anotherthing/?pid=279745 )

By: Don Nguyen

Don Nguyen — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 23:01:33 +0000

“In the 60′s, Hillary Clinton was a republican, and the President of the Young Republicans at Wellsley.”

There goes to show, she’s a Democrat now.

When i was young, i was foolish. I would like to think we all get wiser with time.

But i get your point, Bob.

I wonder if there is a way to get both of them on the ticket. Everyone i’ve spoken to seems to want it. So, who’s gonna be VICE-PREZ? Will the Senator yield?

By: Dave La Bounty

Dave La Bounty — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 02:20:17 +0000

I just turned 65, and like you have lived through more BS than a human being should endure. I just read your “Just Politics …” comments today in the SJ mercury News – and I couldn’t agree more with what you wrote. As a matter of fact, I wouldn’t give my wife ANY peace this morning until she also read your ‘Public Service Message’.

What you wrote is a rarity these days – the content AND the context. You explained ‘IT ALL’ – and everything anyone need know! It ranks up there with few other profound things that I have read – that should be on page one of every editorial page and page 1 of every newspaper, and on every headline news show – but of course we both KNOW, it won’t. I’ll even go one rare step further – it should receive the coveted ‘Clockwork Orange’ award – after EVERY adult in America has been forced (like the movie, of the SAME name) to read what you wrote – UNTIL ‘they get it’!

I probably don’t have to explain it at all, but if you recall, the movie ‘Clockwork Orange’ was set in the future – where bad people were ‘conditioned’ – if they turned on society. ‘Conditioning’ included a total ‘sensory experience’, including: audio, video, smell, touch/tactile and shock treatment for responding positively to ‘bad stimulus’ – and while IN treatment, patients were strapped in chairs and the eyes were kept open with tape or toothpicks?

I ‘WISH’ Hillary could use what you wrote as ‘talking points’ in today’s debate with Obama – and I wish she could also read some of the things I have written. Oh, well – just another debate that news pundits will use to throw Hillary under the bus – once AGAIN!

By: Jim Herlihy

Jim Herlihy — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 02:14:50 +0000

As a baby boomer, I feel somewhat wistful that Obama’s generation is about to supplant ours at every level of leadership in America: cultural, corporate, medical, academic and of course political. We didn’t seem to occupy the heights for that long ! Is anybody else beginning to feel like day old bread ? On the other hand, Obama’s generation (and having been born in 1961 he’s technically a boomer) is tired of the Clintons’ replay of stale 1960s themes like feminism, racism and many of the other 60s isms. In a sense, Bill and Hillary are culturally frozen in an era that many of Obama’s generation see as mildly amusing, yellowing, dated snapshots in the national family photo album. Like every generation before them they are rooted in the past. As stirring as President Kennedy’s calls to action were to our generation, it is time to move on.

By: Jerry Carroll

Jerry Carroll — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 23:27:53 +0000

The lacquer is slowing flaking off JFK’s reputation, but it will take another generation or so before it is generally understood that he was a mediocre president. A C+ if you’re feeling charitable. But he was an A+ candidate like Obama. Women swooning, people detecting wisdom in his cotton-candy rhetoric in which he gets off lines like we must go forward, not back. But the suckers are buying it! Poor Hillary with her plodding, reasoned arguments in favor of earned experience over jejune exhortations. She never had a chance.

By: Bob Lever

Bob Lever — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 21:20:07 +0000

Hillary Clinton likened to JFK, while Obama is compared to G.W. Bush! The spin is in full force these days. What is markedly clear is that the Democratic “establishment” has been stunned by Obama’s political savvy and the Obama Campaign’s ability to raise money over the Internet. The military industry, AIPAC, the oil industry, and many others are understandably worried about Barak Obama. Comparing Hillary to JFK! well didn’t Carolina Kennedy compare Obama to JFK? And she wasn’t being flippant, or strategic. In the 60′s, Hillary Clinton was a republican, and the President of the Young Republicans at Wellsley. She was a “Goldwater Girl”, and Goldwater was a race-bating, pro-nuclear republican who voted against the civil rights act. In 1968 Hillary did support McCarthy’s presidential campaign after attending the Republican National Convention but then she took a job as a corporate lawyer for many years. Barack Obama’s first work after law school was leading a voter registration drive, then as a representative for community organizers; he went on to teach Constitutional Law at U. Chicago. The rest of the histories are freely available online. Thankfully, the Internet provides not only a plethora of information to the masses but allows the masses to oppose the establishment.

By: Dzuy Ngo

Dzuy Ngo — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 20:08:52 +0000

Dear Clint,
Smart voters are outnumbered by American-Idol and Dancing-with-the-Stars voters who are attracted to rhetoric not substance, male chauvinism, Democratic Party wants to defeat its own DLC faction, Republican strategists are using the independent voters, etc. And I am scared.
Hillary Clinton is the first candidate I’ve ever made a contribution to. If she did not get the nomination I won’t vote for anyone. I’ve been waiting to see Hillary, the President, for a long time.

By: Don Nguyen

Don Nguyen — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 18:09:53 +0000

Perfectly argued and written. Can’t get any better than this. Hillary Clinton is a bleeding heart Democrat.