Saturday: Hillary 2016
Posted: June 8, 2013 Filed under: just because | Tags: Hillary 2016 65 Comments
Morning newsjunkies!
So yesterday was our weird anniversary, as Dr. Dakinikat blogged. I definitely remember five years ago yesterday. Almost as if it was yesterday, in fact. Needless to say, while some of the initial sting from June 2008 has subsided, the skin never grew quite back the same as before. The wound was actually first created on May 31, 2008…a wound reopened, with the scab pulled all the way off before it had healed, on June 7th, with the CNN sign blasting “The Clinton Exit” on our TV screens. The talking d00ds may be surprised how Our Girl never left the stage at all that day, but I know most of us here are not, and we never needed any tinglies up our legs to know the difference. (The Ready for Hillary chant grows stronger with every day.)
Looking even further back, Obama’s 2004 DNC speech was the first time I heard him speak. Not knowing anything about his politics at that point, I actually felt sympathy for him that the media kept acting as if he was ‘the first black man who could speak’ … ugh, wtf?! If someone called me ‘the first Indian woman who could speak’ at the DNC Convention, I would have pulled a Daria Morgendorffer eyeroll and just walked out of the building. (“La la la la la… this is my stuff, got to get off, I might go pop …’Excuse me, Excuse me…’ I’ve got to be direct, if I’m off please correct… la la la… you’re standing on my neck “)
At any rate, once the 2008 cycle was underway and all that, Obama grated for a Hillary ‘diehard’ like me obviously. For quite awhile.
Now, here five years later in 2013, I’m just kinda eh.
His speechifying is alright. I guess the kangaroo court-like atmosphere of the “new scandal” every day in the msm/Foxnutz zone grates way more by comparison. Nothing has really changed from Bush to Obama to Obama’s second term, except that the political landscape is even bleaker than that Chris Hedges “2011: A Brave New Dystopia” post at the end of 2010.
Bush III, yada yada political affective disorder-cakes.
But, hey ‘nobody’ could have ever predicted the way things would turn out. Right?
(Paging Emily Dickinson, yup, I’m a ‘nobody’ too, sister!)
I’m actually going to excerpt that second to last link–which is to one of my old posts I wrote in September 2010–in its entirety, because I think now is as good a time as any to revisit my words (plus, I’m an uppity goddess who likes to quote herself):
Evelyn De Morgan, Cassandra (1898)
Digby’s response to Obama’s state secrets (h/t bostonboomer):
Back when everyone naively thought that electing a Democrat would end these obscene royalist decrees, it was argued by a few of us that once given, these powers are rarely given back. But I don’t think anyone expected the Democratic constitutional scholar would actually double down on the dictatorial powers. I confess, I’m fairly gobsmacked.
I often start my frontpage rants in a comment section reacting to the latest buzz in the moment, so you may have seen me post the following bit before. Please bear with another repeat, because it’s the first thing that came to mind when I read about Digby digging up that sorry old excuse that “nobody could have predicted.”
Party of Nobodies…
Nobody could have predicted Bush-Cheney would be a massive failure.
Nobody could have predicted the Iraq war would be an unfounded war and a diversion.
Nobody could have predicted Obama would make Bush-Cheney’s policies the new normal.
I’m nobody, and I endorse this message.
Remember FISA, progressives? Remember criticizing Hillary for “making Obama look bad” ?
The Obama Left reassured themselves that the FISA betrayal in the summer of 2008 was something they could live with and then pep-talked themselves into supporting Obama all over again. Obama was not Bush, Palin, McCain, Clinton, or any other icky pol. They touted Obama as a “different kind of politician,” even though the writing was on the wall that he would make a very indifferent kind of president.
Had progressives not been so cluelessly and arrogantly preoccupied with demanding party unity and demonizing anyone who wouldn’t bow to it, they might have realized that the opportunity to put pressure on the next president of the United States was staring them in the face throughout the entire 2008 primary season and general election cycle.
Shoulda, woulda, coulda. “But nobody could have known.”
Unfortunately, there were many progressives and Democrats who did know better in 2008 but “didn’t care.”
From Matt Taibbi, September 2008, in a piece entitled “Obama on the Trail: He’s delivering the same message Dems always rely on. So why does it sound like a clarion call this time?” :
But all in all, you never get a sense that there’s a more interesting side of Obama lurking underneath somewhere. Oddly enough, the guy only really lights up when he starts delivering those same ham-handed lines about the American Dream that fell out of the mouths of Dean and Kerry like dead bullfrogs.
And maybe that’s the difference. When those other guys took this act on the campaign trail, it was obvious they were just reading lines in a bad script. But maybe it sounds different coming from Obama because he actually means what he says, as weird as that would be. The American Dream, after all, is dying. We do need something new. That much is painfully obvious.
What’s confusing about Obama is that he’s so successful at projecting an air of genuineness and honesty, even as he navigates the veritable Mount Everest of fakery and onerous bullshit that is our modern electoral system. And the reason it’s confusing is that we’ve grown so used to presidential candidates who fall short of the images they present in public, we don’t even know anymore what a man worth the office would look like. Is this him? Or is this just a guy with a gift for concealing the ugliness of the system he represents? As I watch Obama on the campaign trail, I know I’m listening to the Same Old Shit, delivered by a candidate who could cross the Atlantic on a bridge constructed entirely from Wall Street cash culled for him by party hacks and insiders. But I suddenly don’t care. It’s not just that the alternative is four years of the madman John McCain. It’s that, if Obama wins, it will be interesting to find out, at long last, if there really can be something truly different about someone who sounds so much the same.
The Hollywood sheep chanting O-baaa-ma in those black and white PSAs were easier to take than Taibbi’s kid glove coverage of Obama in ’08.
Taibbi had made misanthropy his signature, but suddenly he didn’t care. Suddenly, he wanted to find out if a happy ending really was possible.
Where have I heard this plot before? Oh, right. The first season of Grey’s Anatomy, among other places.
The politically worn and torn journalist had finally found his I-Can’t-Believe-It’s-Not-Political soulmate in Obeautiful… alas, Obeautiful turned out to be married to the same old special interests, not ready to divorce.
Nobody could have known! Nobody could have predicted!
Just like nobody could have known that the “best campaigner” and “media darling” would be a governing disaster. (That goes for 2000 and double for 2008.)
Just like nobody could have predicted that no matter who won in 2008–Obama, Clinton, or McCain–we wouldn’t be getting out of Iraq or Afghanistan.
All of the important somebodies in left blogistan could not see what the nobodies that they exiled from their pro-Obama blogs could see.
It is well past time for left blogistan to take an inventory of themselves and realize that they’ve turned into their own Village. Many of the things that today leave them gobsmacked about Obama were red flags that they pushed aside in 2008.
And, where the Digbys profess being gobsmacked, the Taibbis act as if they had been on the cutting edge all along. But, they all sold the sellout. Not unlike the MSM that sold us the Iraq war and then force-fed the electorate “anti-war” Obama five years later.
Of course, “nobody” knows better than to expect left blogistan to ever take any such inventory. The progressive blogosphere has become the insular bubble that they railed against in the early days when they were the nobodies trying to break through the hegemony of the mainstream media.
All that said, I do have to say here in June 2013, I love that Oprecious gave Susan Rice the NSA spot. Love.
I really resent the way the conservatives have scapegoated her for the past year and she was almost left for dead politically, to take the fall for the O’ministration. Currently with all the other crap going on, I’m just getting a kick out of at least this one good thing happening.
I would have loved to been a fly on the wall to see the look on the Benghazi-bemoaners faces when O announced he was appointing the wicked witch of the first black presidency as national security adviser. Bwahahahhahah! I just can’t stop smiling. And, laughing. Shrilly!
I’m actually really looking forward to see what the underground railroad of the feminist sisterhood has in store for 2014, 2016, and ahead–and even more importantly all the “Occupy” space for us sisters in between election cycles. Because that’s what matters most. And, I cannot even begin to tell you the amazing experiences I have had on this underground railroad, just within the last month alone. That’s going to require a separate post all its own. Suffice it to say in the meantime…
What a long strange trip it has been, huh!
Anyhow, I’m going to end my rant here and give you a few Hillary links, via the wonderful Still4Hill, to peruse with the rest of your morning reads and cuppa tea or coffee…
Hillary eulogizing the late Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey on Wednesday. S4H has it all, as always–photos, video, text. So please click.
Hillary’s schedule for June 2013:
The most traveled secretary of state ever, Hillary Clinton, is about cover considerable air miles this month as a private citizen. June will see her in Florida, Chicago. Toronto, and Los Angeles making her supporters in those locations .very happy campers.
Wednesday of this week, she will deliver the keynote speech at Pershing’s INSITE 2013 at the Westin Diplomat in Hollywood Florida.
Mid-Month the Clinton clan heads to Chicago for several days. CGI America will commence on the 12th with registration from 3 – 9 p.m. and run through the 14th. Hillary will deliver remarks at the plenary session on the 13th. Also on the 13th, at the Navy Pier Grand Ballroom, she will be honored by CURE – Citizens for Research in Epilepsy. On Sunday, the 16th, she will deliver the keynote address at the SHRM 2013 Annual Conference & Exposition at McCormick Place.
She hops the border on the 20th to deliver a Unique Lives & Experiences lecture at Toronto’s Metro Convention Centre, and wraps up June in Los Angeles at American Jewish University to deliver a lecture at the Whizin Center for Continuing Education.
Still4Hill’s Hillary coverage gets featured in “Inside Chappaqua Magazine.” Say what?! Ayup:
Inside Chappaqua Magazine Features Still4Hill
May 28, 2013 by still4hill
Many thanks to Ronni Diamondstein for this lovely article in the June issue of Inside Chappaqua Magazine. Thanks as well to the awesome Grace Bennett, founder and publisher of the magazine and recently celebrated its 10th anniversary.
It is so nice to see Hillary Clinton’s important work and this blog promoted this way.
Still4Hill:
May 28, 2013 By Inside ChappaquaBlogging for the former First Lady, Senator, Secretary of State and…
by Ronni Diamondstein
There’s no doubt from the media buzz around Hillary Clinton’s future since she left the office of Secretary of State that many people, not only in Chappaqua, but across the nation and world, have not given up hope that she will fulfill what many see as her destiny.
Numerous websites and blogs have followed Clinton since she lost the presidential nomination in 2008, and more are sprouting up now that her future political plans remain a mystery. You can find them on the web, on Facebook and Twitter. Still4Hill continues to be one of the most prominent.
Hillary 2016!
And, on that note…Your turn, SkyDancers. What’s on your Saturday blogger list?
peej
Carissa
bostonboomer
ecocatwoman
mablue2
peggysue22
quixote
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
Reblogged this on Let Them Listen.
Hey Mona, just a note to say I particularly appreciate the “nobody could have known” focus. It never seems to go out of style, in a bipartisan sort of way.
All of the male ESOTUS (empty suit of the us) and their acolytes in purple bipartisan ties…
Waving back at ya, Joyce 🙂
oh and since my cats are hyper and have me up, let me add the part I forgot but was thinking in my head…
Too bad those ‘purple’ bipartisan ties don’t come out on Spirit/Go Purple day for LGBT rights…
well not yet, but I have a feeling we’ve got the momentum on our side 😉
Mona, super postings this morning. Thank you for taking us there……………luv the photos, and still4hill…………………..and the party of nobodies……………
Fannie, so glad you liked it…thanks for going back there with me/us! Sisters before misters! We got to stick together….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZ3FYYTOn5U
Thanks so much, Mona. I too have not forgotten five years ago.
Hiya Riverbird… 🙂
A Hillary video for you…one of my very favorites:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adzkyretz6k
Gosh, I’m on the verge of tears watching it again…
amazing, quite simply amazing
Obama, Pelosi, and Reid have managed to stink up the joint so badly since 2009 ( before that as Speaker, Nancy wasn’t all that) come twenty sixteen should Hillary decide to become the print and broadcast media’s punching bag she won’t be able to do anything if she makes it to the White House.
I tend to think she’ll know how to do the Congressional maneuvering like an LBJ…probably better. But I’m admittedly biased 😉
And I couldn’t have imagined this at the time of Stupaksis and Pelosi proclaiming that being a woman was no longer a precondition. With a frickin straight smiling face and everything …. But I do miss her up there during the State of the Union addresses. The Boehner of our existence and Biden’s toothy grin and Obama speechifying…bleh…all grey empty suits….
Love the post Mona! I nerver tire of “nobody could have known”. 🙂
It’s a fantastic post! Actually, I did predict that Obama wouldn’t give up those executive powers though. Anyone else? Raise your hands…
Here!
BB, well of course!
your reporting and blogging > Digby+Taibbi. Any day!
For our resident Hillary supporting Dad and grandad… *points at Ralph* … 😉
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCQBYsoo_mc
Thank you, Wonk. Thank you to everyone in this community who understands.
“The Soul selects her own Society –
Then – shuts the Door”
LOVE! Thank you for posting this youtube, Beata.
TPM: Is This Who Runs Prism?
What Palantir does sure sounds like PRISM to me. It’s one of the only ways for the tech companies to be telling the truth about providing data to the government.
yea I remember may 31 2008 the day democracy died.
Hiya boogie…
Great work as always, Mona.
Every day, I thank Goddess, I stood my ground and did not vote for Osameo, this time around.
And to anyone who says that voting third party is just throwing my vote away, I say what’s voting for Obama? Fool me once, yada, yada, yada.
i voted for Jill Stein in ’12 and it was the most satisfying vote I’ve cast yet!
Well aside from my vote in the ’08 primaries, of course. 🙂
Yep.
Solving the mystery of PRISM
Marc Ambinder on PRISM and the NSA. Very informative.
He wrote a book about secret spying. I haven’t read it.
Looks like it may have been some kind of ratfk operation. Maybe all these leaks are planned to damage the administration for advocating ending the war on terror?
Thanks for the shout-out, Mona! I’m nobody, too!
Aww yay S4H! I’m so grateful for you–and so thrilled for you and the cloud nine you deserve to be on 😉
CNET: Doubts cast on US govt Prism snooping program
Did the Post and Glenn Greenwald get played?
Business Insider: Finally, We Get Some Answers About How The Government Gets Data From Facebook, Google, Etc.
It’s sure no Bond film. The WaPo and Greenwald were played. Post has changed it’s original story. Greenwald will probably never correct.
Not sure about “played”, entirely. There is a history of this kind of data snooping, which for some reason has never been jumped upon as enthusiastically in the MSM as it has in the last couple days.
Google WIlliam Binney, Room 641A, Mark Klein just for starters.
I’m aware of that and was wondering if everyone had developed amnesia. I still think they got played in this particular case though.
I’m starting to get your point. (And “amnesia”! Hilarious!)
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/001040.html
“In other words, what we’re likely talking about with PRISM isn’t a “back door” for rummaging around through data in an uncontrolled manner, but rather a technical and legal protocol for the government to quickly gain access to specific data under order when the firm involved agrees that the order is valid and chooses not to challenge it […..]
We can, however, predict with considerable assurance that any government and any officials — regardless of political parties — who insist on treating the American people as suspects, as ignorant children whose personal data should be available to government prying merely at its beck and call, are ultimately helping to destroy critical underpinnings of what has made this country great.”
We are in agreement. 🙂
Well NSA sure as hell has a big honkin’ data center they’re doing something with:
http://www.businessinsider.com/pictures-of-the-nsas-utah-data-center-2013-6
and from the businessinsider link check the link to the Titan supercomputer at Oak Ridge.
easiest way to do this:
http://www.ornl.gov/info/press_releases/get_press_release.cfm?ReleaseNumber=mr20121029-00
Raw Story: Maher: Reagan was ‘the original teabagger’
Bill Maher eviscerates St Raygun 🙂
Mona…Kick ass!
Most definitely worth a standing ovation
Thanks you two, and everyone!
I’m glad to have written it, and to be honest, it was probably one of the easiest posts I have ever written, because it hardly took any work to synthesize and find the right links and so forth. It came instantly. It’s all right here in me, where my mind and heart meet. Perhaps it’s a good time to also revisit these three pieces documenting the evolution of Hillary and her 2008 coalition (well my thoughts on it anyway), just in case anyone has some free time and is craving more of a Hillary fix:
http://letthemlisten.wordpress.com/2011/03/06/hillary-warmonger/
http://letthemlisten.wordpress.com/2010/10/26/october-26-2010-happy-birthday-hillary/
http://letthemlisten.wordpress.com/2009/11/12/belated-october-26-2009/
Something interesting here:
I forget how to make the smiley with the bulging eyes, but THAT. That’s my reaction.
He has pictures too.
Good. it would be nice to ID them.
Oh, I don’t know…I think Beata might be onto something with her youtube below… 😉
Pictures… Just wow, BB…
😯
😯
By any chance was this one of the intel officials?
Bwahahaha…sob
lol
Details of secret Internet data collection program declassified
That’s one way to stop leaks I guess.
Here’s what PRISM is…
http://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence-chief-heres-what-prism-is-2013-6?op=1
Richard Ramirez AKA “The Night Stalker” dies of liver failure at 53.
Victim: “I’m thrilled he’s dead.”
That’s great. My first thought was good riddance.
Great to hear Carn’s meal rather than the last dinner before execution we usually hear.
same here.
BB, did you see this… Ramirez reportedly turned green (like a green highlighter, presumably from the liver failure) before he died….
http://thestir.cafemom.com/in_the_news/156665/Notorious_Serial
Ya think? Better than never though:
http://thinkprogress.org/security/2013/06/07/2123961/air-force-names-woman-to-head-sexual-assault-prevention/
It’s too close to never as it is.
Very true.
She is higher ranking than the previous idiot and transfered from safety responsibilities, so I hope her career is not stymied because of this assignment. This is what I worried about. It too easy to turn an assignment like this into a dead end for women. There aren’t enough women in the military as it is and if sexual assault prevention becomes women’s work alone it won’t be good.
We are shocked, shocked…
David Simon (The Wire) on privacy issues and practicality.
Catching up reading … what a great post! Yeah, who couldathunkit? lolsob