One of my favorite political blogs is Digby‘s. She pays attention to what’s going on and always write with clarity, depth, and compassion from pretty much the same spot on the political spectrum where I stand.
Here’s an excerpt from a post she made this evening, which amplifies something I said extemporaneously on the air tonight and adds much useful perspective:
First of all, congratulations to Senator Obama. This is a truly historic moment for the Democratic party and for America. When I was a kid (yes, back in the stone age)and when he was born, Barack Obama wouldn’t have been allowed to stay in the same hotels or get a drink in a bar or buy a house next to a large number of white Americans. Last night, America took another huge and necessary step in putting that awful history behind us. It was long overdue, and was made possible through the tremendous sacrifices and courage of many people who didn’t live to see the day. I am grateful that I did live to see it. I will do everything in my meager power to help him Obama win this campaign. The election of the first African American president signals the end of the era of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. Nothing could be more fitting.
Also, congratulations to Senator Clinton, who in my view showed Democrats what a fighter looks like. This is the closest primary in history and despite what the bloviators and the gasbags have been saying for months, she had not only a right, but a duty, to fight on until the end for the half of the Democratic party that supported her. Clinton too was an historic candidate who inspired millions of people and she has my admiration.
If I might digress a bit and say one word about the Clintons, who to many are personas non grata in the Democratic Party now. Whatever happens, Bill Clinton will still be the 42nd president of the United States and the first two term Democrat since Roosevelt. That’s never going to change. Democrats should ask themselves, once the smoke has cleared, if it’s really a good idea to discredit his accomplishments. However you personally may feel about him, there is value in a popular ex-president remaining popular. Political value. (See: Reagan legacy project.) The question is what they are valued for.
I see them as warrior chiefs against the hardcore conservative movement machine that nearly crippled this country (but which may have just run its course after drifting into decadence and hubris.) But, at the time of the movement’s greatest power and influence, no one took more crap or was more deft at beating them back. I, for one, am grateful to both Clintons for taking a nearly unbelievable amount of heat from both the media and the Republicans during that era — and surviving.
Bill Clinton is in the pantheon of popular ex-presidents who continues to do important work on global initiatives. Hillary Clinton is a Senator and historic breakthrough presidential candidate who won more primary votes than any candidate in history aside from Barack Obama. Al Gore is a global leader and Nobel prize winner. On the other side of that epic battle, Newt Gingrich is a Fox News commentator, writing reviews of mystery thrillers on Amazon. Tom Delay is a private citizen facing indictment. Half of the social conservatives who unctuously criticized Clinton’s behavior have been run out of town on morals charges. Fox News is sinking in the ratings faster than George W. Bush.
The Clinton’s didn’t single handedly defeat the conservatives, but they fought them off valiantly when the movement was at its pinnacle and they deserve some credit for that. It’s hard to believe that we could have been worse off if they hadn’t, but believe me, we would have.
Please read the whole post. There’s a lot of great information and analysis from Digby and others on that blog; I read it every day.
I admire Digby quite a bit, and think she’s an exceptionally astute political observer and commentor. But I’ve become ever more disillusioned with Bill Clinton as time drags on, and his behavior in this primary has almost exhausted whatever admiration I had left for him.
Certainly he has been in a unique position, the former President now the spouse of a candidate, but he has erred on the side of the latter. He is not just Hillary’s husband/booster– he is our party’s elder statesman (pace Carter) and as such he had a responsibility to that party which he sloughed off immediately.
Ezra Klein has an very good piece touching on this in the current Prospect:
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=bill_clintons_party_of_one
and IMO it’s better than Digby’s take.
Thanks for that link, Fritz. I agree with you about Bill: he, and his spouse, really went to far on many occasions during this campaign.
Digby is one of the sharpest minds and best writers out there today. I would put her up against anyone on the New York Times editorial page. She is not only a daily must read, but one of the reasons the blogosphere should exist. Amidst the millions of voices, all of which should have their say, there will be a few who are truly exceptional and whom the gatekeepers of the mainstream press will not give to us.
In total agreement about Digby’s perspicacity. Just think she gives a little too much benefit of the doubt to W. Clinton in that piece.
That Ezra’s a smart kid though! Makes me feel old. 😉