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September 1, 2008
Exclusive: Unconventional Attitudes
There was barely enough time to watch a rerun of Law and Order or read People magazine to which I am addicted. The political carnival known as the convention - replete with political speeches and the insipid commentaries of David Gergen and company took up the week. At least James Carville is amusing.
The first night really started when a soignée Caroline Kennedy introduced her uncle with a hagiographic video….water, yacht, wind sails and all. Then, Ted Kennedy made a surprise appearance with a rousing endorsement of Obama. He got a hero’s ovation. Don’t get me wrong. Ted Kennedy is being stalwart and heroic in facing a disease he cannot pay anyone to take for him the way he once paid a friend to take a Spanish exam for him at Harvard. He was properly expelled for that.
In the immediate aftermath of Chappaquiddick it is rumored that he tried to get a cousin to take the rap for his appalling and cowardly behavior leaving a young woman to drown while he swam to safety. We’ll never know the full truth. The records are sealed. His wife Joan was then pregnant and suffered a miscarriage. She apparently forgave him because during his pathetic “run” for the presidency in 1980 he trotted her out in a few campaign stops.
Then, in 1985, in a documented incident, he and presidential contender Christopher Dodd “sandwiched” a waitress between them in a Capitol Hill eatery and fondled and harassed her until another waitress forced them to stop.
He is really a scoundrel and a hypocrite whose outrageous filibusters and rants against judicial appointments on behalf of women are laughable. He’s ill now, so I’ll stop. But just imagine what the media would say if Sen. Larry Craig were to speak at the Republican convention.
Caroline Kennedy did have a delicious moment after her uncle’s speech. Wolf Blitzer asked her to “walk us through” the process which led to the nomination of Biden. She interrupted him to tell him she would do no such thing because it was confidential, leaving Blitzer deservedly stumped. It was a pleasure to watch and it was followed by the dumb question: “Can you tell us how he feels?” Caroline Kennedy’s disdain was obvious.
Then we heard Michelle Obama. Every cliché was included in a warm and personal delivery. It was hardly memorable but it was a stark reminder to the Black community in America that a nuclear family with values of hard work and determination are far more essential to success and participation than government interference or generations of single parents on the dole. She described a family that “pulled itself up by the bootstraps” a concept her husband derided in his own overblown speech.
On the second night we got Hillary Clinton’s first campaign speech for 2012. It was a calculated and well scripted and hollow endorsement of Obama from a woman who wants those people (Bush/Cheney) out and her people in, but she has to wait and she considers a McCain presidency an intermission. Her lothario husband kept mouthing the words “I love you” to her as she reminded voters of all her accomplishments and aspirations and qualifications in her psychedelic orange pantsuit. Well she could not really wear a little blue dress, could she?
Her primary insults of Obama are fodder for McCain’s campaign and so are Biden’s sarcastic put- downs. Remember how Jimmy Carter’s campaign against Ronald Reagan kept repeating the First George Bush’s allegation that Ronald Reagan’s economic plans were based on “voodoo economics?” He was chosen for the Vice Presidency in spite of that insult as Biden has been chosen in spite of worse criticism of Obama. And this time the Republicans should be free to make hay with all those comments in spite of Gergen’s gurgling that it is unseemly.
Finally, we heard from Bill Clinton - who is far more charismatic and a more skilled thespian than his wife. Trust me. That was Hillary’s second campaign speech for 2012.
Did you notice the slip where Bill alluded to Biden’s superior experience? We were told that his speech would be about security, but instead he touted his own “sterling” record on the economy and a laundry list of Bush failures. There was not anything on energy or domestic oil. Why would he enrage the Saudi/Gulf States that give him hefty speaking fees and contribute generously to his Presidential Library? One can also understand that he would not like to revisit his foreign policy and security failures so he conveniently omitted his “cut and run” from Somalia, his bombing of Serbia, his utter disregard for genocide in Rwanda, his China policy perverted by illegal contributions from Chinese nationals, his failure to see warnings of al Qaeda in the first World Trade Center bombing and the attack on the USS Cole. Watching the audience swoon and hoot at every tidy twist of words reminded me of a revivalist meeting headed by a faith healer. Clinton, an immoral and narcissistic man, is indeed capable of inspiring people’s generosity and decency.
We had to endure soporific interludes of speeches by John Kerry and Birch Bayh and finally, Biden accepted his nomination. His speech this time was definitely not plagiarized as far as we know, but then, why would anyone claim credit for his decidedly sophomoric speech and strained delivery.
And then, the anointed Obama spoke. By that time it was no longer important what he said. It reminded me of a polyglot who was described as speaking nonsense fluently in ten languages. The man is cool and he’s got the whole Democrat Party in his hands.
Only a hardened cynic would not be impressed by his trajectory in a less than a decade. And, only a hardened cynic would not be impressed by an America where a Black man is nominated for the highest office in the land. But a hardened realist can see through all the palaver that the Dems are totally bankrupt in ideas, in change, in policy, in strategy, and in security.
I couldn't wait until it was all over so I could watch Law and Order. They are now free to run episodes with Fred Thompson, an also-ran who is a very credible actor. I also heard that Jennifer Aniston is getting counseling from Brad Pitt, and I want to read all about it.
Politics were getting really boring - but suddenly I watched and heard Sarah Palin and now I can't wait for the second episode of Election 2008.
FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor Ruth S. King is a freelance writer who writes a monthly column in OUTPOST, the publication of Americans for a Safe Israel. Feedback: editorialdirector@familysecuritymatters.org.
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