Salon.com > 2016

The right’s coming breakup with Hillary

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 13:38:00 +0000

Hillary Clinton has been on the national stage for two decades now, and when it comes to her treatment by Republicans, that time can be divided into two distinct periods.

The first ran for 16 years, from early 1992, when her husband survived a wave of scandals and emerged as the Democratic nominee for president, and early 2008, when Hillary fell hopelessly behind Barack Obama in their delegate race. For all of that time, Hillary and Bill were the faces of their party and, consequently, faced a relentless, daily, over-the-top assault from the GOP. The precise nature of the attacks differed, but broadly speaking, the Clintons were treated by the right exactly how Barack Obama has been for the past four years.

Which is no coincidence, because the turning point in the right’s relationship with Bill and Hillary came at the precise moment when it became clear there’d be no Clinton restoration in ’08. Suddenly, there was no day-to-day incentive for conservatives to portray them as The Worst Thing Ever To Happen To American Politics. But there was real incentive for the right to begin giving Obama the Clinton treatment, which it's been doing ever since. In the revised right-wing narrative, Bill and Hillary became symbols of a bygone era of Democratic pragmatism and cooperation – “good” Democrats whose legacy Obama was routinely tarnishing with his radical partisan warfare.

4 reasons “2016″ was “snubbed” an Oscar nod

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 17:09:00 +0000

Gerald Molan, the director of the extremely anti-Obama movie, 2016: Obama’s America , is mad that his and Dinesh D'Souza’s film wasn’t on the shortlist of documentaries nominated for an Academy Award.

"The action confirms my opinion that the bias against anything from a conservative point of view is dead on arrival in Hollywood circles,” he complained to the Hollywood Reporter.

That’s one explanation for its omission--but here are four far more likely reasons that the propaganda film wasn’t nominated.

1. The film is full of lies

Following the film’s profitable release, the White House responded to a number of the film’s inaccuracies, from its false assertions about what Obama believes to historical claims that even a simple Google search prove are false. One of the film’s most obvious lies include that Obama signed the TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) legislation. It was actually former President George W. Bush who signed the program into law in 2008.

Hillary’s long shadow

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 13:32:00 +0000

Presidential election fatigue is probably a common condition these days, but that doesn’t mean the next White House race isn’t already underway.

As Jonathan Bernstein pointed out recently, jockeying by would-be Democratic candidates actually began well before Election Day, and party leaders, activists and interest groups are already seeking to define the terms of the 2016 debate within the party. And now that Mitt Romney has gone down to defeat, thereby assuring that the GOP’s ’16 nomination will be open too, a similar process is playing out on the Republican side. These early days of a presidential election cycle are generally known as the “invisible primary,” although in today’s media landscape, it’s easier than ever to see who’s up to what.

In the modern era of presidential politics – that is, since the power to nominate candidates was taken away from convention power-brokers and given to primary voters – this process has tended to be more predictable on the Republican side, with a “next in line” candidate emerging from one election as the clear favorite for the next nomination and then going on to win it.

Bill Clinton’s long game

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 12:41:00 +0000

About 20 minutes into his speech last night, Bill Clinton invoked Mitch McConnell’s 2010 statement that his party’s top priority was denying Barack Obama a second term.

“Senator,” Clinton said, “I hate to break it to you, but we’re going to keep President Obama on the job!”

And with that the crowd erupted into the first of what turned into a series of “Four more years!” chants. The speech Clinton gave may help them realize that wish. Point by point, the former president rebutted the major lines of attack that Republicans have deployed against Obama. He also provided politically helpful context about the nature of the economic crisis Obama inherited and the Republican obstruction he’s faced that the president himself can’t spell out (for fear of seeming like he’s passing the buck and pointing fingers at his predecessor).

But the way Clinton was received Wednesday night, the “Four more years!” chants could just as easily have been directed at him. Clinton himself will never run for office again, but the possibility of a Clinton restoration is still very much alive. No matter who wins this fall, the Democratic nomination for 2016 will be open, and Clinton’s speech undoubtedly advanced his wife’s prospects for claiming it if she wants it.