Content by Richard H Collins
Posted at 9:04am on Jun. 20, 2008 The Audacity of Abandonment
Obama moves from denial to obfuscation to capitulation.
By Richard H Collins
If I were a supporter of Barack Obama I would be nervous. Why? Is it his inexperience, his radical connections, or his stale liberal positions? Nope. I would be nervous because he seems fundamentally incapable of sticking with his principles on a host of issues large and small.
I know his supporters are enthralled with Mr. Hope and Change, but shouldn’t it worry them that he is so quick to backtrack and hedge his answers – or even switch positions entirely – during the course of a relatively short campaign? What will happen should he feel the real pressure of actual leadership (something he has yet to do in any real capacity)?
Read on.
Posted in 2008 | 2008 Presidential Campaign | Barack Obama | Obamafiles — Comments (22)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 9:13am on Jun. 13, 2008 Carter's Second Coming?
Voters need to remember their history so they don't repeat it.
By Richard H Collins
Barack Obama may be the political equivalent of a rock star with his huge crowds and his celebrity endorsements, but his economic policies are simply the warmed over liberalism of the sixties and seventies.
Stale liberalism doesn’t have a history of success in America and doesn’t match his image of Hope and Change. This same old big government tax and spend liberalism is a far cry from a “New Politics.” So Obama has been forced into some creative marketing to sell his leftist ideology as post-partisan solutions to the country’s problems.
If you can cut through the hype and the rhetoric, his worldview is clear. Look at the way he talks about money. Tax cuts are “giveaways” and “wasteful spending.” Forget for a moment whether specific tax cuts enhance revenue or stimulate the economy. Instead, remember that tax cuts are fundamentally different from government spending because the money isn’t the governments to begin with.
This captures the liberal view perfectly; the government knows how to spend your money better than you do. Wanting to keep your own money is selfish and wasteful. Obama even made the ludicrous claim that it is only with his nomination that America can began to heal the sick and find jobs for the jobless. It is only increased government spending that can solve problems and only Obama who can lead the way.
Read on . . .
Posted in 2008 | 2008 Presidential Campaign | Barak Obama | Jimmy Carter | Lyndon Johnson — Comments (10)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 3:33pm on Jun. 4, 2008 The Road to Hell is Paved With Democrats
By Richard H Collins
So the general election has begun. Oh sure, Hillary hasn’t formally dropped out yet and neither party has had their convention yet. But last night John McCain and Barack Obama made it clear that they have switched their attention towards each other.
Obama claimed the mantle of the Democratic nomination, which he had secured not by primary votes alone but by the special party elders, known as superdelegates, and took time to accuse McCain of running for the third term of President Bush. McCain, speaking before Obama, pointed out that despite Obama’s constant mantra of change, and obvious rhetorical skills, he mostly offers standard liberal big government solutions not real change.
Posted in 2008 | 2008 Democratic Primary | 2008 Presidential Campaign | Barack Obama | Hillary Clinton | John McCain — Comments (1) / Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 10:44am on Apr. 18, 2008 The Hillary Lie the Media Missed
By Richard H Collins
Wednesday’s Democratic debate forced Hillary Clinton into yet another lie. No, this wasn’t one of her serial exaggerations about her time in the White House. Nor was it a deceptive answer about the scandals that seemed to occupy so much of her time there. In fact, I doubt anyone in the media will challenge the veracity of this particular statement.
When George Stephanopoulos pressed Hillary on whether she thought Barack Obama could win in November she responded “Yes. Yes. Yes.” Now it may be that Hillary felt she had to give that answer or face even more backlash from Democrats who feel her continued attacks on Obama are a huge gift to the presumptive GOP nominee John McCain. It may be that she is being a good partisan by refusing to say that Obama can’t win out loud in such a prominent forum.
But does anyone really think Hillary believes this? Her answer undercut her arguments that night and, in fact, the very rationale for her continuing campaign.
Posted in 2008 | 2008 Democratic Primary | 2008 Presidential Campaign | Barack Obama | Hillary Clinton — Comments (1) / Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 9:59am on Mar. 28, 2008 Hillary's Inconvenient Truth
The problem with Hillary's experience claims
By Richard H Collins
The combination of the release of Hillary Clinton’s White House schedules and the mini-scandal over her Bosnia sniper story has reignited the debate surrounding her presidential experience.
What the media seems to be missing is that the schedules and other historical records do not shed much light on the question.
What many on the right seem to ignore is that Hillary was not your typical First Lady. She did play a unique role in her husband's administration.
But her larger claims of experience are problematic in important ways beyond just exaggeration or lack of clear evidence.
To understand why, read on.
Posted in 2008 | 2008 Democratic Primary | 2008 Presidential Campaign | Barack Obama | Hillary Clinton — Comments (6)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 10:23pm on Mar. 15, 2008 Hillary's Scorched Earth Tactics
Why would she suddenly decide to rise above it all and put her party first?
By Richard H Collins
Democrats have to be asking themselves how they got to this point. Hopes of a quick and definitive primary have disappeared and they find themselves embroiled in a bitter stalemate punctuated with accusations of racism and sexism while the GOP nominee uses the time to raise money and mend fences.
The irony of course is that Hillary Clinton has gone from being the inevitable and early nominee to waging a desperate battle until the convention; from planning an above the fray campaign with feints to the center to throwing everything she can think of at her opponent no matter the ideological coherence or potential damage to the party.
And with the awkward question of what to do with the delegates from Michigan and Florida still left unresolved, Democrats have to be wondering how far and how ugly this can go.
A few things are clear: Hillary won’t give up as long as there is a slim chance for victory and she will use all available weapons. If there is a remotely plausible scenario where she wins, she will hang on. If a tactic has a chance of giving her an advantage, no matter how temporary, she will use it.
What sometimes gets lost in the mythology and nostalgia surrounding the Clintons, particularly among hardcore Democrats, is that their primary mode of politics is to attack in order to survive.
Read on for more on this pattern and its implications.
Posted in 2008 | 2008 Democratic Primary | Barack Obama | Bill Clinton | Hillary Clinton — Comments (18)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 10:15am on Feb. 21, 2008 How Hillary Got Here
Her unique blend of arrogance and stubbornness has been her undoing.
By Richard H Collins
Everyone, with the possible exception of Mark Penn, must realize that Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign is hanging on the precipice. Her opponent Senator Barrack Obama has more money and a better organization; he has won more states and built more momentum – Tuesday's Wisconsin and Haiwii wins were his ninth and tenth in a row. Even her husband has admitted that she needs to win Ohio and Texas if she expects to continue.
Remarkably, however, the candidate herself refuses to admit this obvious fact. In a recent interview with the Columbus Dispatch she denied that Ohio was a must win state. Some might view this as typical political spin, but anyone familiar with Hillary’s history will recognize her unique blend of arrogance and stubbornness.
Hillary has a long history of refusing to acknowledge obvious truths and stubbornly clinging to her own version of events. This pattern can be found in the scandals and failures of her husband’s administration and in her faltering presidential campaign. It is a constant in any even perfunctory review of her public life.
More after the jump.
Posted in 2008 | 2008 Democratic Primary | 2008 Presidential Campaign | Bill Clinton | Hillary Clinton — Comments (1)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 12:20pm on Feb. 7, 2008 Hillary may win her party but lose the country
By Richard H Collins
Instead of an exciting “national primary” that would bring clarity and momentum to a thus far muddy and unpredictable race for the Democratic nomination, Super Tuesday brought a rather anti-climatic draw.
Barack Obama failed to achieve the clear upset but he did fight Hillary Clinton to a draw on the night she had hoped would wrap up the nomination. In the ever-changing expectations game, Obama did very well based on where he was just a few weeks ago, but not as well as he may had hoped based on the over-heated expectations of the days leading up to Super Tuesday. It seems that just when the media decides he may be poised for the historic upset those very same unrealistic expectations doom him to an underwhelming showing.
But a couple of the factors behind Hillary’s success so far have to make Democrats nervous. The very nature of the Democratic Party, for example, prevents Obama from going after Hillary on the unsavory scandals that plagued her husband’s time in the White House or the myriad of conflicts of interest his post-presidency has created. Obviously, Republicans in the general election will have no such problem. Also, it has to be troubling that the Democratic primary contest has basically come down to a battle of identity politics.
Posted in 2008 | 2008 Democratic Primary | Barack Obama | Hillary Clinton — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 11:14am on Feb. 2, 2008 Hillary is “The Decider”
By Richard H Collins
Instead of the heavy-weight fight the media was hoping for, Thursday’s Democratic debate in California turned into a love fest; one with lots of pandering to the liberal Hollywood audience. But beneath the pleasantries it was once again clear that Hillary is seeking to have it both ways on a host of issues. She is the master of the non-answer and relentlessly offers her pat answers. One thing she never does, however, is admit a mistake.
Posted in 2008 | 2008 Democratic Primary | Barack Obama | Bill Clinton | Hillary Clinton | Presidential Debates — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 12:15pm on Jan. 15, 2008 The Clinton Tradition: It's Not My Fault
Hillary and Bill always look for someone else to blame
By Richard H Collins
If history has taught us anything, it is that being a Clinton means it is never your fault. Not surprisingly, Hillary’s presidential campaign continues the Clinton tradition of blaming others for your problems.
Lost in Hillary’s surprise win in New Hampshire was the desperate flailing of Bill and Hillary when they were expecting defeat. They sought to lay the blame for her poor performance on anyone but the candidate herself.
It must infuriate the former first couple to no end that someone like Obama would get in the way of their path to glory. Bill always saw himself as a JFK figure and yet now finds his wife’s opponent taking that mantle. Similarly, Hillary once came to Washington with idealism and big ideas only to have them crushed by her husband’s opponents. Now along comes Obama running on the themes of 1992 while promising to “turn the page.” The disdain her campaign feels toward Obama is palpable.
This emotion came out in the immediate aftermath of her Iowa loss. The first reaction was to belittle Iowa as a small state with no real impact. Sensing this was not a good tactic, Hillary quickly moved on from sour grapes to attempts to contrast her action with her opponents talk. This strategy, however, was often as awkward as her earlier attempts to go negative.
Read On.