The Realist Idealist

PS: It’s official. Hillary Clinton is throwing in the kitchen sink.

Video: Clinton mocking Obama

You know there are big problems for Clinton when  Frank Rich of the NYT is able to make a relatively convincing argument that Clinton’s campaign draws striking similarities to Operation Iraqi Freedom. Both are defined by arrogance, naivety, poor planning, corruption, narrow-mindedness, lack of leadership, lack of transparency, high cost and low returns.

Video: Obama’s response in Austin

You can be the judge on that one.

I think that Senator Clinton is a fine legislator. She is a policy guru and a dedicated person. However, I believe that style of her campaign reflects the disconnect between her and the majority of Americans. And she still refuses to acknowledge Obama’s simple but profound message that has resonated with the American people. Clinton’s denial of Obama’s message is an illustration of the fact that she is out of touch.

We must not be so quick to define Obama’s message of hope without taking a moment to think about why we should have hope in the first place. The uniqueness of Obama’s insight goes beyond “yes we can.” It lies in his belief that there is an overwhelming majority of Americans, in both parties, Democratic and Republican, who seek leadership and policy-making based on common sense that resolves to a common purpose.

I will leave you with a passage from Obama’s latest book, The Audacity of Hope.

“They are out there, I think to myself, those ordinary citizens who have grown up in the midst of all the political and cultural battles, but who have found a way- in their own lives, at least- to make peace with their neighbors, and themselves. I imagine the white Southerner who growing up heard his dad talk about niggers this and niggers that but who has struck up a friendship with the black guys at the office and is trying to teach his own son different, who thinks discrimination is wrong but doesn’t see why the son of a black doctor should get admitted into law school ahead of his own son. Or the former Black Panther who decided to go into real estate, bought a few building in the neighborhood, and is just as tired of the drug dealers in front of those buildings as he is of the bankers who won’t give him a loan to expand his business. There’s the middle-aged feminists who still mourns her abortion, and the Christian woman who paid for her teenager’s abortion, and the millions of waitresses and temp secretaries and nurse’s assistants and Walmart associates who hold their breath every single month in the hope that they’ll have enough to support the children that they did bring into the world.

I imagine they are waiting for a politics with the maturity to balance idealism and realism, to distinguish between what can and cannot be compromised, to admit the possibility that the other side might sometimes have a point. They don’t always understand the arguments between right and left, conservative and liberal, but they recognize the difference between dogma and common sense, responsibility and irresponsibility, between those things that last and those that are fleeting.

They are out there, waiting for Republicans and Democrats to catch up with them.”

Update - Photo: Clinton Campaign’s latest attack.