Thursday, January 31, 2008

Clinton and the Bridge to the Past

The Obama campaign is beginning to try and set Bill Clinton off before Super Tuesday. Yesterday, in Denver, Obama mentioned that we had two George Bushed as presidents and would it be wise to "Build A Bridge to the Past." This refers back to the 1996 Presidential Campaign when, at the Republican Convention, Bob Dole argued that we needed to build a bridge to the past to restore America's traditional values. At the Democratic Convention, Clinton pounced on this to argue what we needed was a bridge to the future. It was a very good line for Clinton then and Obama wants to use it against him. Here is the excerpt from the speech, that the media is showing:
"I know it is tempting, after another President named George Bush, this is our second one now, And so I know it is tempting to simply turn back the clock to look backwards and try to build a bridge back to the 20th century."

The speech itself is about how, "The story of America leads west. It is a story of ideals that know no boundaries." Of course, the Hillary loving media just wants to expose the conflict and not message of the entire speech.

The current Clinton campaign stated it was not a very hopeful message.

Coincidently, in today's New York Times, Nicholas Kristof raises the "Dynasty" issue:
We Americans snicker patronizingly as “democratic” Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Singapore, India and Argentina hand over power to a wife or child of a former leader. Yet I can’t find any example of even the most rinky-dink “democracy” confining power continuously for seven terms over 28 years to four people from two families. (And that’s not counting George H.W. Bush’s eight years as vice president.)...

A tongue-in-cheek Web site called Bush-Clinton Forever is already proposing Jeb Bush in 2017, Chelsea Clinton in 2025, Jeb Bush’s son George P. Bush in 2033, Chelsea Clinton’s husband in 2041 and George W. Bush’s daughter Jenna Bush from 2049-2057.

No comments: