Democrats

This focus group from last night's New Hampshire debate is very telling. I recognize, of course, that it is a Fox focus group, so only God knows if it is actually composed of real people, but some of the comments about Hillary are really great encapsulations of the horribleness of her performance and of her campaign for presidency. There are some great quotes, but the last line, "I want to hear what she has to say, but she deafens my own ears," hits my feelings exactly. When she started yelling at John, I felt my viscera boil. I couldn't even listen to her. I was made so uncomfortable by her defensive tantrum--it was as if she was saying, "how dare you motherfuckers get in my way. I am entitled to this and I have 35 years of change backing me up. You peons don't even deserve to be on the same stage as me." It was utterly disgusting.



So I think the whole change debate was very interesting, and I think Barack and John really missed some opportunities to put the finals nails in Hillary's coffin. She doesn't get what change really means. Change means moving beyond 51 percent majorities or 45 percent pluralities. Change means fighting for all Americans, not just for Americans in your party. Change means neutering right wing talk radio. Change means changing the nature of the debate.

John and Barack both appeal to people outside of the party label. Barack is talking to everyone. He is courting independents and republicans. He is bringing new people into this. He is respectful of different opinions. He understands the conservative temperament. John is fighting for the middle class. He doesn't care if you are a deocrat, a republican, or someone who really doesn't care about politics at all. He cares about people's abilities to work, to be healthy, to have job security, to get what you deserve, and to not have your interests crippled by the interests of large corporate monsters. He changes the debate totally.

Hillary may talk about change, but her idea of change does not change the nature of the debate at all. She galvanizes talk radio. She galvanizes the opposition. She would receive no more than 49% of the vote. John and Barack could both get 60 or more percent. Hillary's Iowa concession speech exemplified exactly what her problem is. First, standing behind her were Bill, Madeleine Albright, Vilsack, Wes Clark, and others***. These are great people! But, they are all veterans of the same old debate, the same old arguments, the same old temperament. In the content of her speech, Hillary said that she wanted to appeal to Democrats, Independents, and "even some Republicans who have seen the light."

Why does she see it necessary to insult an entire class of people? Why can't she try, instead, to appeal to all Republicans by highlighting the common HUMAN concerns that we all face? Republicans are not different from Democrats at their core--they are humans with the same basic needs. Their philosophies may be different, but a true CHANGE AGENT would try to unify the country, and change the nature of the divisiveness of the our politics. John and Barack both do this. Barack explicitly appeals to Republicans, and he does not feel the need to call insult them by saying they've "seen the light."

I loved the way John and Barack teamed up on Hillary, and John was incredibly effective when he pointed out Hillary's being part of the status quo that tries to stop true agents of change. He could have gone further by pointing out these things: talk radio, vast right wing conspiracy, "seen the light" republicans, corporate donors, scandals, fox news, and so on.

We all know who the true agents of change are, and at times I felt like they were engaged in a love fest last night. I guarantee that Obama wins New Hampshire. I hope John finishes second. If they can topple Hillary and get her out of this thing, then we can see a real debate between the two true change agents, and I look forward to seeing John and Barack battle each other.

Watch the love fest and John's brilliance here:



*** In contrast, behind John you saw carpenters, union workers, his father who worked in the mill, and a bunch of regular people. Behind Barack, you saw a massive crowd of young people, of idealists, and of diversity. The differences between the three crowds and the nature of the people the candidates chose to highlight really highlighted the differences between the candidates.