The Fall of the House of Clinton

The Fall of the House of Clinton
By Cal Thomas
Thursday, January 31, 2008

The man of hope has beaten the man from Hope (and possibly his wife).

The endorsement of Barack Obama's presidential campaign by three
Kennedys from different generations was a political trifecta for the
young upstart from Illinois. He is not to be confused with Sen.
Hillary Clinton who is from Illinois, Arkansas, New York, or wherever
you want her to be.

The contrast of sincerity (Obama) with insincerity (Hillary and Bill
Clinton) could not be starker. Critics can say that "Camelot" was a
myth created after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, but it is a
powerful myth and to see Ted, Caroline and Patrick Kennedy standing on
the same stage together at American University endorsing Obama brought
the myth back for those of us old enough to have lived through it. It
also inspired younger people who want to believe that politics can
still have purpose.

There is nothing wrong with myth so long as it does not obliterate
reality. We like our fairytales. The film "Enchanted" is doing well at
the box office. But the Kennedy endorsement is more than myth. It
represents a potential divorce between the Democratic establishment
and the Clintons.

Recall the early 1990s. Democrats were desperate for a presidential
candidate who could take back the White House after 12 years of Ronald
Reagan and George H.W. Bush. They rejected the establishment and chose
a little known governor from a small state who Republicans would have
difficulty sliming as a card-carrying member of the ACLU. Clinton was
part of the new Democratic Leadership Council, which bills itself on
its Web page as "an idea center, catalyst, and national voice for a
reform movement that is reshaping American politics by moving it
beyond the old left-right debate."

It was a shotgun wedding between the old Left and new moderates within
the party, some of whom hid their liberalism behind moderate rhetoric
for political gain. Now the old Left wants the party back and the
endorsement by the Kennedys is the opening salvo.

The trouble with using people is that when someone better comes along,
you get dropped like a bad habit, or like a woman who believes Bill
Clinton will call her in the morning. Liberal Democrats don't need the
Clintons anymore. They think the Republican field is weak and the time
to re-take their party and the government is now.

There can be no question that Obama is the most exciting political
orator for Democrats since JFK. Notice in Caroline Kennedy's
endorsement how she skipped over Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter and even
Bill Clinton (not to mention, which she also didn't, Ronald Reagan) as
inspirational leaders. What a slap in the face that was to the
Clintons. Caroline Kennedy, though a liberal, has class, but the
Clintons know little about such things, as they troll for power and
personal advancement, obliterating all who get in their way. They
define the politics of personal destruction.

Will this split have the same result as the Kennedy-Carter clash in
1980, which involved another former Southern governor and ended with a
Republican victory? It's too soon to tell, but Super Tuesday on Feb. 5
will make things clearer.

In an email to me, author and liberal Democrat Neal Gabler says,
"Frankly I don't think it is so much the bona fides (Kennedy) provides
that could help Obama as the network and infrastructure. Kennedy has
the best staff and the best connections of any politician in America
and if Obama is able to tap those he will get a real boost."

Former Clinton aide *** Morris has accused the Clintons of using race
in the South Carolina primary in an attempt to energize white voters.
Clinton cynically used blacks during his runs for president and two
terms in office. They are just now awakening to the fact that Clinton
was not "America's first black president," as writer Toni Morrison
once dubbed him, but rather a flimflammer and exploiter of things
blacks care about.

On his blog, Morris writes, "The boldness of Obama in accepting the
Clintons' injection of race as an issue and his insistence on an
enlightened answer challenges us all. Even as one's head warns that
the strategy will fail, one's heart hopes that it will succeed. Either
way, Obama has made the Super Tuesday vote more about who we are than
who the candidates running for president are."

While it's a long way to November and Obama's lack of experience has
yet to be fully tested and his background fully vetted, it might
almost be worth his election if he could force the Clintons to finally
leave the stage. Almost.



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