One by One, Angry Liberals Turn Their Backs on Team Clinton
Bill Clinton speaks to a crowd in Independence, Mo., Saturday, on the campaign trail on behalf of his wife. (AP Photo)
Like lovers scorned, Bill Clinton’s longtime liberal supporters are walking out on him, slamming the door behind them and rebuking the 42nd president for his behavior leading up to last weekend’s South Carolina Democratic presidential primary.
Clinton’s base seems to be eroding fast as liberal Democratic stalwarts join up with Barack Obama, whose message of change seems now to apply not only to the Bush administration of the last seven years, but the eight-year Clinton administration that preceded it.
Obama’s biggest “get” was Sen. Ted Kennedy, who abandoned his neutrality in the presidential race and endorsed Obama over Hillary Clinton on Monday. While Obama insists the Massachusetts senator’s endorsement was not a repudiation of anyone, it was clear that Kennedy - along with his niece Caroline Kennedy and son Rep. Patrick Kennedy — had reached beyond the Clintons to pass the mantle of the Democratic party’s liberal wing to Obama.
And while the Kennedys may open the floodgates, they were hardly the first liberals to abandon the Clintons for Obama. In recent weeks the Clintons have watched many of their supporters drift to the young senator from Illinois.
Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy and Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, the Democrats’ 2004 presidential candidate, endorsed Obama recently. On Tuesday, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius climbed aboard, the morning after she delivered the Democrats’ rebuttal speech to President Bush’s State of the Union address.
Even novelist Toni Morrison, who once called Bill Clinton the “first black president,” has come out for Obama.
Liberal criticism of the Clintons has come from inside and outside the Beltway, from former supporters and colleagues. It ranges from the thinly veiled to the blatant:
Robert Reich, former Clinton labor secretary, on his personal blog: “Bill Clinton’s ill-tempered and ill-founded attacks on Barack Obama are doing no credit to the former President, his legacy, or his wife’s campaign. Nor are they helping the Democratic party … Now, sadly, we’re witnessing a smear campaign against Obama that employs some of the worst aspects of the old politics.”
Leahy: “He is not helping anyone, and certainly not helping the Democratic Party.” (The Washington Post)
Columnist Nicholas von Hoffman: “By the time Hillary and Bill have finished with Obama the real man may be unrecognizable to voters in Iowa or any place else … If he can wipe enough of the Clintonian slime off himself, Obama may be able to come out from under and explain to the world that sometimes less experience is more and better.” (The Nation)
Columnist/Editor Jonathan Chait: “Am I starting to sound like a Clinton hater? It’s a scary thought. Of course, to conservatives, it’s a delicious thought. The Wall Street Journal published a gloating editorial noting that liberals had suddenly learned “what everyone else already knows about the Clintons.” (By “everyone,” it means Republicans.) It made me wonder: Were the conservatives right about Bill Clinton all along?” (The Los Angeles Times).
Columnist Maureen Dowd: “It’s odd that the first woman with a shot at becoming president is so openly dependent on her husband to drag her over the finish line. She handed over South Carolina to him, knowing that her support here is largely derivative.” (The New York Times)
Columnist E.J. Dionne Jr.: “That’s why the Clintons’ assault on Obama is so depressing. In many ways, Obama is running the 2008 version of the 1992 Clinton campaign. You have the feeling that if Bill Clinton did not have another candidate in this contest, he’d be advising Obama and cheering him on.” (The Washington Post)
San Francisco Chronicle: “One might think a man who struggled with the definition of ‘is’ and wagged his finger while lying on national television would not be in a position to accuse others of ‘fairy tales.’ But humility and statesmanship are nowhere to be found in the Bill Clinton who attacked Sen. Barack Obama in underhanded and unseemly ways.”
Al Sharpton: “But I think that it’s time for him to just be quiet. I think it’s time for him to stop. As one of the most outspoken people in America, there is a time to shut up, and I think that time has come.” (On The View)
Kerry: “I think you had an abuse of the truth … I mean, being an ex-president does not give you license to abuse the truth, and I think that over the last few days it’s been over the top.” (On National Journal radio)
Daschle: “… this backbiting, bitter give-and-take that we’re beginning to see more and more of, especially from the Clinton campaign. It’s wrong. Everybody know it’s wrong and it’s got to stop … It’s not presidential. It’s not in keeping with the image of a former president.”
Ted Kennedy: “With Barack Obama, we will turn the page on the old politics of misrepresentation and distortion.”
Though the Clintons have been staring at a lot of backs recently, it’s not a full-scale rebellion. As Ted, Caroline and Patrick Kennedy endorsed Obama, three other Kennedys endorsed Clinton.
In a newspaper column Tuesday, former Maryland lieutenant governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Kerry Kennedy wrote:
“We believe that (Hillary Clinton) is the strongest candidate for our party and our country.” They invoked President Kennedy’s ideals and the desire to give voice to the voiceless as they described Hillary Clinton.
The column made no mention of the candidate’s husband.
When they make comments on how our military has to stay longer stints because there are not enough troops to rotate shorter tours, those same whiners never mention that it was the serial abuser Bubba that CUT the military to the bone so he and Al BORE could claim that they had cut the size of the government. I also recall that Bubba had a priority the first week in office to pander to the perverts that call themselves GAY. They have ruined a perfectly good word. Bob Hope and Bing Crosby had a GAY time making movies. It meant happy and joyfull, but that’s all gone now. I prefer to look at them as odd. Another word for odd is “QUEER”.
A Secret Serviceman having worked for many Presidents couldn’t take it any longer once Bubba came into office. They draged their friends from Arkansas to serve in the White House. Many could NOT pass a simple drug test. Dee Dee Meyers was his Press Secretary for a time with out clearance. I could write a book on the behavior of this pair. Hillary is acting like Eva Peron. She wants her fingers into everything. Watch the movie EVITA and you too can see the similarity.
SOL said:
If you like the idea of a bitter and divided nation, the best option is the Clintons.
ABSOLUTELY! 8 years of a bitter and divided nation are enough for me! I’m voting for Hillary because I can’t vote for Bill again.
To paraphrase author Debra J. Dickerson, Bill Clinton was called the first black president, why? Because he had no father at home, poor nutritional habits and an out of control libido? Surely Senator Obama, who has run an effective campaign, along with any literate black person, must consider this moniker for Clinton an insult. (I am no supporter of Obama or any other liberal, but I will give him credit for what has so far been a clean and issues-oriented campaign.)
The ongoing Clinton soap opera continues at the expense of much needed discussion of vital issues before the American people. The team of Clinton & Clinton is comprised of two whiny, self absorbed, power hungry and overrated boomers whose time on the stage has long since past. It is at least refreshing to see that liberals are finally learning - nay, admitting - what the rest of us have known all along about these two.
thanks verna berg, don’t people see that Obama is not authentic when he speaks, that he is not ready for the position or the power, I might add! He is a celebrity candidate..and Hillary is not Bill…she has worked hard for the get where she is..not perfect, but none of them are, by the way…and she has earned the right to be our next president…Obama needs more time…and I bet time will show him…well we shall see…
Lord knows we don’t need another Clinton drama in the White House. I am pulling for Obama all the way and I just hope others will see the light as well.
Shaping up for a Hillary vs McCain face off. Choose your poison! We obviously haven’t reached bottom yet, but after a four year presidency by either of these clowns, we will.
I voted for Bill in ‘92, my rationale being “okay America now you’ll see what us baby-boomers can accomplish.” What we received was an eight year soap opera, arrogance, self-gratification, moral depravity and more information about oral sex than I thought my two youngest children should know about. I will NEVER pull another lever for a Clinton!
I guess even Liberals have a bit of common sense and see through the Clinton facade. This is all about power for them, not what is best for their party or the country.
Vote GOP
Garbage!!!! is what you wrote. IT is the media that has ginned up all this negativity about Dear President CLINTON BECAUSE YOU ARE ALL JEALOUS of their accomplishments. All the people you mentioned are losers; check their records. KENNEDY; KERRY; DASCHEL; SHARPTON!!!! sHARPTON? When did the media decide to give him any credibility? When it suited their purposes to add to the Clinton Bashing? BARAK OBAMA is an empty suit and not qualified to be President of the USA. Sen. Clinton will be the next President. Shame on you all.
Hillary has faults for sure but she has street smarts and experience. Is Obama too green for the job? Does he have the experience and above all, support from competant people for the job? If so, this would be a real change!!