Things I just don’t get

Parts of the past year remain a total mystery to me.  For instance, what made Barack Obama more of a Change!™ agent than Hillary Clinton?  Did everyone REALLY think that she was going to escort Bush to the door and then just slide behind the desk in the Oval Office, picking up business like nothing had transpired?  Which one of you stupid Obots thought that was going to happen?  Speak up so we know who to taunt in the future.

Ruffles, good. Stick to ruffles.

Of course Hillary would have brought Change.  From what I gather, it would have been more dramatic than Obama’s version.  She was ready with some pretty radical policy changes on the Paulsen Bailout Bill last September.  They were so out there that the only person who seemed to have paid any attention to them was John McCain.

That’s another thing I don’t get.  According to the CNN article, it was John McCain who seems to have taken a real shine for Hillary since the primaries.  The two of them worked together on the Armed Services Committee and they’re good friends now.  Maybe it’s because she can drink him under the table, I dunno.  It was John McCain who pointed to the urgency of confirming Clinton as the Secretary of State yesterday.  The country is in a vulnerable period of transition with a green president and the GOP was going to hold things up to get one last shot in?  How stupid is that?  When all was said and done, only 2 Republicans voted nay on her confirmation, making themselves stand out like crybabies for insisting on an unnecessary spectacle to parade her clean laundry in front of the world-again.

I will never understand the vitriolic viciousness of the Villagers or the Republicans for the Clintons.  I will never understand how one skipped cocktail party at Sally Quinn’s house escalated to such a mindless, frenzied 16 year onslaught on two dedicated public servants.  They aren’t perfect.  Not by a long shot.  But they fall so short of being the vile human beings as they are portrayed that the conventional wisdom about them is a joke now.  Perhaps Vince Foster had it right.  In Washington, ruining people “is considered sport”.  It was nothing more than cliquey viciousness that spread and was fueled by a right wing cabal of spiteful elves.  Maybe it was because they arrived in Washington based on their merits, not some aristocratic machine that greased the skids for them.  Maybe without the protection of their “clan”, they were open to the volleys from the courtiers who made their living from the continuity of the political class.

Whatever the initial reason behind the offensive, it eventually spread to Hillary’s own party and infected its hierarchy with the delight of all things petty and mean.  The pervasive nature of the game worried the leaders who were simultaneously reveling in  it while becoming fearful that the media and Villagers would never let up.  The sport fed upon itself.  The original reason for the game was lost long ago.  It was just the thing they did.  Beat up on the Clintons because they are there.  They will not go away so we will continue this silly game until they do.

No amount of so-called “arrogance” on Hillary’s part justified this ridiculous behavior from the Washington establishment.  Without self-confidence and a healthy ego, she couldn’t have come this far.  But it didn’t stop the clique from finding fault in everything she did.  Still, it should be time to put it aside now.  She has triumphed over them.  They’ve been beaten.  Oh, she’ll never be president.  They’ve seen to that, to our detriment.  But she will be one of the most powerful Secretaries of State we’ve ever had.  As the Boston Globe pointed out, Barack Obama needs someone with the experience and stature of Hillary Clinton to take his place on the foreign stage while he deals with domestic issues.  She will be as close to a foreign president as we have ever had.  And anyone who doesn’t think this is exactly what she asked for is dreaming.

Still, I just don’t get why the pettiness and snobbery continues.  Like, what’s up between the Carters and the Clintons that resulted in the incident below?  Is this the way we treat successful former presidents and their honorable wives these days?

There’s a history there, no question.  But what it’s all about is a mystery to me.  It’s a bit of Pride and Prejudice that I don’t understand, where the people you once admire turn out to be meanspirited meddlers with their own agendas.  It’s hard to know what to believe except that integrity can be found in how closely a person’s actions match their words.  And so far, my inclination is to trust Hillary.  She is as good as her word and Obama, who could stand to learn a thing or two about integrity, is very lucky to have her.

One more thing: Consider this your Morning Funnies.