Who's Zoomin' Whom?

(with apologies to Aretha Franklin)

My disappointment in and dissatisfaction with Hillary Rodham Clinton increases daily of late. Not only does she misinterpret what Barack Obama said about small-town, blue-collar Americans, by doing so she is demonstrating the very contempt for people's intelligence of which she accuses him.

He was not putting down small-town, blue-collar Americans by saying many were bitter and were holding on to their religion or their guns because they feel powerless and like no one is listening to them or their concerns. He was identifying their concerns and exhibiting a fine understanding of the distressed state of much of America today. If you doubt me, please read What's The Matter With Kansas?. It's an excellent exploration and explanation of why people persist in voting against their own economic best interests and how resentful they feel that no one in power is paying any attention to them or their concerns. It's also a clear indictment of how and why the GOP has twisted "family values" voting to its own advantage while at the same time screwing over the blue-collar base of its support on economic issues.

Anyway, by saying Obama was putting down small-town, blue-collar Americans, Sen. Clinton is (1) giving the GOP's dirty work for it, which serves neither the Democratic Party nor the country well; (2) showing contempt for the basic intelligence of the American people by presuming that they cannot detect her playing fast and loose with the facts. [Not that that's a unique position for her, given what she said about her experiences in Bosnia in the 1990s.--Ed.] What's worse, if she believes what she's spewing about Obama's being out of touch and lacking respect for blue collar Americans, she's not as smart as she thinks she is.

The only way she can win the Democratic Party nomination is to convince enough of the so-called super delegates to vote for her . . . which, if she does so, will smack of party bosses overriding the will of the people. Furthermore, she's wrong when she says only she can beat McCain in November. Just because she beat Obama in several big state primaries doesn't mean Obama, too, couldn't beat McCain in those states in the fall election. Besides, ask any rabid GOP supporters around here [and let's face it--Nebraska is just about the reddest of the red states.--Ed.]. They'd love for Hillary to be the Democratic Party nominee. The support for John McCain amongst the GOP out here is shaky at best--but with Hillary at the head of the Democratic ticket, the Republicans here will vote in record numbers just to vote AGAINST her.

Lest you think this is merely the whining of an aggrieved Obama supporter, let me disabuse you of that notion. I was all for John Edwards and am still in a funk about his run for the candidacy having ended.

Hillary Rodham Clinton's smarmy tactics and outright lies have caused me to consider not voting in November. It would be the first election (primary, special, or general) that I'll have missed. That breaks my heart. Voting is our fundamental civic duty--if for no other reason that that participating is the thing that gives us the right to complain. But I cannot in good conscience vote for her on the Democratic ticket, and I will not vote for McCain. His policy positions are not nearly as centrist as he wants people to think. Among other things, he's perfectly content to spend us into oblivion to keep us in Iraq forever, "if that's what it takes." He also thinks we should bail out the mortgage companies which got themselves into deep doo-doo by lending too much to sub-prime borrowers. But the borrowers have no one to blame but themselves, in his estimation, so they can just suffer foreclosure and the other consequences of their actions. In other words, he'll always vote with monied interests over the interests of individuals.

Also, lest anybody think McCain's military service career gives him insight into the plight of "the common people," think again! He is the son and grandson of Navy Admirals--just about the crustiest of the upper crust in our entire military system. He has no clue about the needs or concerns of the average service grunt. This is not to disparage his service--nor his status as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam. It's just to remind everyone that there's more in the picture than one period of time in the late 1960s.

We may not have to worry about November yet, but it's getting late. As a far greater talent than me once noticed, "Fasten your seat belts. It's going to be a bumpy flight."