Hillary Shows Desperation In Michigan by Tim Siggia

Hillary Shows Desperation In Michigan

By Tim Siggia

January 19, 2008

In case nobody picked up on this, there is an element on the Democratic side of the Michigan primaries that has gotten no play whatsoever -- understandably so, since our "mainstream" media is actively campaigning for Hillary Clinton, as predicted. As reported, the Democratic Party stripped Michigan of its delegates for having moved up its primary date to January 15, and both Barack Obama and John Edwards, in a show of solidarity with their party, asked to have their names removed from the slate of candidates. The only Democratic front-runner not to have her name removed was, of course, Hillary Clinton -- which should have come as no surprise to those already familiar with Her Royal Most Imperial Majesty. (And by now, who isn't?)

We have to hand it to Obama and Edwards: We may not agree with their politics, but what they did in this regard showed real class. Hillary, on the other hand, showed none at all, which should again come as no surprise. After all, how can anyone expect class from a woman who, away from the cameras and microphones, talks more like a truck driver than most truck drivers? (Just ask her former Secret Service agents about that!) And that "guacamole" remark of hers was really classy, wasn't it? No matter. Hillary Clinton couldn't care less about class. All she cares about is winning, and getting into that White House any way she can. So naturally, she wasn't about to forfeit a win in Michigan, even if that win got her no delegates and amounted to nothing more than a glorified straw vote.

Make no mistake: Hillary knows what she wants, and is out to win by any means possible. Ever since she was old enough to say the word "president" and know what it means, every aspect of her life, every thought, word and deed, even her very marriage, was calculated and focused on this very moment in history, and her determination to fulfill what she long has seen as her destiny now has reached the point of desperation. So desperate to win is she that she trots out her husband, her daughter, her mother, and anyone else who'll plead her case on the campaign trail. So desperate is she to win that she cries crocodile tears on the eve of a primary in an effort to evoke sympathy from the voters. So desperate is she to win that she has children's books written about herself placed prominently in the children's sections of booksellers like Borders and Barnes & Noble, knowing full well that while kids can't vote, their parents can. So desperate is she to win that she shows up on television tabloids like Entertainment Tonight to field scripted, softball questions from sympathetic interviewers (the only kind allowed to interview Hillary). So desperate is she to win that she instructs her own daughter to give no interviews to "the media" -- even a high school newspaper. These are but a random selection of examples of Hillary's desperation to win an election no matter what the cost in money, principles, or even pride.

And now this: She couldn't even join her fellow front-runners to support her own political party -- the party upon whose support she will heavily depend if she in fact does become the candidate -- because she just couldn't risk losing any chance of losing an election for the sake of any cause higher than herself. This is the point the "mainstream" media has purposely missed: that when Hillary Clinton had a real choice to make, what she said, in effect, was, "(Expletive) my party, I'm looking out for ME!!!" In this one unguarded moment, Hillary Clinton has once again shown the American people who she really is, in contrast to the desired image so painstakingly cultivated by all the re-inventions, re-packagings, and makeovers. Just as she did back in 1993 when, as First Lady, she elbowed her way into the West Wing of the White House, where she had no legitimate business, and began meddling into affairs of no legitimate concern to her. (That, by the way, is her "experience".) Just as she did when she appointed herself "co-president", a position to which she was never elected, carries neither official nor unofficial recognition, and for which there is no provision in the U. S. Constitution, and began bossing people over whom she had no real authority. Just as she did when she developed selective amnesia during her grand jury testimonies. And just as she did when she reacted to hard, obviously unexpected questions from interviewers with a cold, dagger-like glare, as if to say, "How dare you ask me that question!"

None of this is, of course, of any real concern to Republicans and other conservatives who since early on have been onto Hillary. It is Democrats and independents who might be considering voting for her who should sit up and take notice of this moment. If this is what Hillary Clinton says to her own party when forced to choose between its interests and her own, will she then, as President of the United States, say the same thing to the American people in a similar situation?

It's something to seriously think about.