Through the Lenz
The Transcripts from the recent Democratic presidential debate held in Chicago,
Illinois, are comically entertaining at best and downright horrifying at worst.
One gets the sense after reading the transcripts of this debate that the top
tier Democratic candidates are willing to say just about anything to get
elected. Reading the very much-rehearsed scripts of Hillary Clinton and Barrack
Obama reminds this writer of recent episodes from a college bar, in which two
men battled desperately for the rights to bring home one girl. One man fed
her those types of pre tape recorded compliments like “baby you’re the
hottest girl in this bar” that every woman knows are insincere. The other man
just resorted to attacking his opponent’s personal integrity telling the
girl that he heard rumors that his opponent was a lousy lover in the bedroom and
hence could not get the job done. While the candidate’s animal instincts
may not have been quite as raw as those expressed by the two men at the bar,
the concept is still very much the same.
Like the man at the bar hurling disingenuous compliments in order to
get into the woman’s pants, Clinton likewise sweet talked the audience in
order to get into the voters’ pockets. Clinton said things like “who has stood
up to the right-wing machine for years.” She was also responsible for such
clever ditties as “I’m your gal” when emphasizing her “support” for
organized labor over the years. What Clinton failed to mention was that the very
interests that comprise the “right wing machine” (see the banking,
pharmaceutical and oil lobbies) that she has taken credit for fighting against have also
played an instrumental role in financing her campaign. As for being organized labor’s “gal” Clinton might have some serious explaining to do for her fervent support of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) passed back in 1993 under her husband’s administration. Obama, on the other hand, played the man at the bar who could “seal the deal” by attacking his adversary’s character. Obama criticized Clinton for being “vastly influenced” by corporate interests. He pointed to the large contributions she has received from the corporate lobby. If Obama was Dennis Kucinich or Ron Paul (2 candidates who have refused donations from
corporate political action committees) his words might have carried some moral weight.
However, Obama is hardly the man of integrity that he describes himself
as being. He too failed to mention that while he was painting Clinton as a
servant of corporate power he himself had received the largest campaign
contributions from Wall Street to date. In the second quarter alone, Obama ledthe entire field of both republican and democratic candidates in campaign contributions from employees of the top ten investment banks. He raised
$739,579 compared to Clinton’s $ 424, 545 and Rudy Giuliani’s $330,000; almost as much money as Clinton and the top republican candidate combined!
Even John Edwards got into the act reminding the audience of mostly
organized labor supporters that he “stood with them in crunch time.” But when
asked a question later in the debate about possibly repealing NAFTA, Edwards
stopped short of saying it should be repealed.
The “players” have arrived at the bar and they all want to take you
home!
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Comments
yea i agree with you originally on the obama part. yet, i have to say, he has inspired a whole movement of previously unpolitical persons to get political. i think there is a new found interest in american politics for which we may have to credit obama. although the man is not without flaws, i think in comparison, he is the best we have. until we have some sort of radical revolution, this is the best material we are going to get. and i think he has inspired many people, i think we can't look past the value of inspiration. in fact, how is there suppose to ever be a revolution if no one is inspired enough to get off their seat and get political. i think his message of hope means a lot to many, whether or not it is phony or real. i think people need hope before they have revolution. maybe obama is the charismatic character people need to get inspired by politics again. think about it. che inspired a revolution through hope. in fact che said,“Let me say, at the risk of seeming ridiculous, that the true revolutionary is guided by great feelings of love.” and i think in order to have great feelings of love, one must have great feelings of hope
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January 31, 2008 01:39 AM