Late Night Thoughts on the Argus Leader Endorsement
By Truthteller on May 31, 2008 at 12:10 AM in Bamboozling, Barack Obama, Cult, Democrats, Hillary Clinton, Hoodwinking, Obamedia
How odd it is that we would have to wait until the end of the primary cycle in order to read a substantive endorsement. I guess there is a glimmer of hope in what has become an increasingly bleak empyrean for those of us who are true Democrats, not the recent arrivals who have jumped on our bandwagon for purposes I can only describe as selfish and apolitical. For when all is said and done, everyone will understand that what defines our Party is not a marketing strategy orchestrated to dupe the masses but policies and convictions aimed to ameliorate the plight of an economically beleaguered citizenry.
Remarkable about the Argus Leader‘s 30 MAY 2008 editorial on Hillary Clinton is the Editorial Board’s refusal to acquiesce to all the blackmail distributed by the media and the Obama campaign. Or perhaps it was penned with all that blackmail in mind. For one does not encounter manufactured controversies, character assessments or platitudes of “hope” or “change” in the South Dakota newspaper’s endorsement of Hillary Clinton. Instead, one find a rigorous discussion of policies and solutions. I quote:
Her truly universal health care plan would be welcomed by thousands of South Dakotans. Even on reservations, where health care is nominally universal already, such a plan would be welcome. The federal government would never be allowed to subject everyday Americans to the kind of care Native Americans living on reservations routinely receive.
The endorsement covers more than just Hillary’s truly universal health care, however; the Editorial Board also discusses her solutions to our energy crisis and to our country’s regrettable treatment of Native Americans. I quote again:
Clinton’s energy policy is forward thinking and wise. She advocates a broad federal research initiative to help solve our looming oil crisis. It’s a plan that would join university researchers, private industry and individual inventors behind a common goal.
Is ethanol part of the answer? Clinton believes it is but not necessarily corn ethanol.
That is not precisely the answer South Dakota wants to hear. Corn-based ethanol has been a boon for farmers here. But the simple fact is that she probably is correct. Advances in cellulosic ethanol technologies could render corn ethanol obsolete and wasteful. Happily, South Dakota is poised to be a major player in the push to experiment with other kinds of ethanol.
Clinton has demonstrated a real commitment to Native American issues and will have visited several South Dakota reservations before the race is over. Clinton is precisely correct when she says that people outside the region have a poor understanding of the troubling trends on our reservations. Federal attention could help. That includes but is not limited to higher-ranking posts in the federal bureaucracy.
Imagine how different this primary would be if other newspapers asked readers to assess candidates not by their personalities and retroactively formulated autobiographies but by their policies. Imagine how informed the electorate would have been if all the following palaver found its rightful place in the trash receptacle and not in the Opinions Section:
“Similarly, his exposure to foreign lands as a child and his own complex racial identity have made him at ease with diversity – of point of view as well as race or religion. ‘I’ve had to negotiate through different cultures my whole life,’ he says. He speaks with clarity and directness, and he is also a listener, a lost art in our politics.”
- The Boston Globe, “For Democrats: Barack Obama,” 16 DEC 2007
“He has made missteps in his first national campaign, such as failing to quickly and firmly reject radical statements by his former pastor. But in the campaign, as in the Senate, he has shown the ability to learn.
“Nominating Sen. Obama would send a powerful message to the world. He’s the son of a white mother from Kansas and an absent father from Kenya. His personal story would make it plain that America is changing for the better….
“Early in the campaign, Sen. Obama said, ‘We want a politics that reflects our best values. We want a politics that reflects our core decency, a politics that is based on a simple premise that we stand and fall together.’
“Yes, we do.”
- Charlotte Observer, “Time for a Change in the Democratic Primary, [sic] We Recommend Obama,” 4 MAY 2008
“In Clinton, we see the past; in Obama, we see a fresh start. Clinton is a divisive political figure; Obama’s appeal transcends racial and party lines. She exudes competence; he radiates optimism. She came to the campaign with a sense of entitlement; he came to it with a sense of possibilities. She can be evasive, even misleading; he can be refreshingly candid about his own shortcomings and his political mistakes. She represents business as usual in politics; he at least offers the hope of something better.”
- St. Petersburg Times, “Obama for Democrats,” 20 JAN 2008
“At the same time, he has leadership qualities beyond his years. He is a brilliant and persuasive speaker. He is a unifier who honestly hopes to break the capital’s partisan gridlock. And while some of his rivals for the nomination have more years of experience, Obama has quickly learned the territory in his relatively short time in Washington.”
- Tuscaloosa News, “We Endorse McCain, Obama as Party Nominees,” 20 JAN 2008
“Although Obama stands on the precipice of a historic breakthrough, his personal story is a classic only-in-America saga: A white mother from Kansas. A black father from Kenya. A childhood in multi-ethnic Hawaii. Scholarships to Ivy League schools. Work as a community organizer and later a law professor in Chicago. Two terms in the Illinois Senate, then a landslide election to the U.S. Senate. An electrifying keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.
“That speech laid out the template for this campaign. He has challenged America to move beyond rigid racial, religious or partisan divides to focus instead on shared, national goals. It’s a message that appeals to young voters and independents, to disillusioned Democrats eager to regain a sense of possibility and, yes, hope.”
-The Cleveland Plain Dealer, “For the Democrats: Obama,” 10 FEB 2008
“The U.S. senator from Illinois distinguishes himself as an inspiring leader who cuts through typical internecine campaign bickering and appeals to Americans long weary of divisive and destructive politics. He electrifies young voters, not because he is young but because he embodies the desire to move to the next chapter of the American story.”
- The Los Angeles Times, “Barack Obama for Democratic Nominee,” 3 FEB 2008
“Obama is right on the issues, right in daring us to believe in a goodness greater than ourselves, and right in having the confidence to appeal to all of us as one America.
“Obama has the power of a celebrity’s charisma and the grounding of a common man’s birth.
“There’s been talk of Camelot in the last few days. Back then, that young president said to us:
“‘Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.’
“And once, we had another great leader, who said, ‘I have a dream.’
“Americans took them at their word. They joined the Peace Corps. They marched on Selma. They protested a pointless war.
“We need a president and a leader like that again.
- The Chicago Sun-Times, “Why Obama Gets Our Vote,” 1 FEB 2008
Bilge may sell newspapers, but it sinks ships. It can also sink a political Party.
At l(e)ast the Argus Leader understands what is truly important: not the ego of a political candidate but the citizens of South Dakota. I quote again:
Win or lose, she’s also the best Democratic candidate for South Dakota.
Although refreshing to those of us who have cast or plan to cast informed votes in the Democratic Primary, the peroration of the Argus Leader‘s endorsement of Hillary Clinton has exasperated all those venal politicians and news anchors who have foisted and continue to foist the empty vessel that is Barack Obama upon the American public. And yes, the frown that surely chiseled itself on the wizened face of Former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota amuses us.
Let the Obamabots declare the race finished. Try they will to shroud us with their darkness, but genuine hope, not spurious hope, will always shimmer on the horizon. This is why we fight and wait.
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