Stories 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 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 12:15pm 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.
Posted in 2008 | Bill Clinton | Democratic Primary | Hillary Clinton | The Media — Comments (2)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 5:47pm on Jan. 4, 2008 The Tailspin Begins?
Hillary was "in it to win" and promptly lost.
By Richard H Collins
Nearly a year ago Hillary Clinton kicked off her presidential campaign stating that she was “in it to win.” Despite being anointed the national frontrunner and prohibitive favorite to win both the Democratic nomination and even the general election, however, when the first opportunity came to count votes in the Iowa caucuses last night she promptly lost to Barack Obama.
The Hillary campaign will try to spin this result as a good showing in a state where she faced an uphill battle. But given her fundraising, her name recognition, her husband’s popularity and campaigning, along with her early and large leads in the polls it can’t be denied that this is a damaging loss.
Read on.
Posted in 2008 | 2008 Democratic Primary | Hillary Clinton | Iowa Caucuses — Comments (9)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 10:21am on Dec. 18, 2007 The Winds of Change
By Richard H Collins
The great irony of the Democratic primary is that Hillary seems to have won the battle but lost the war. Voters believe she has the best experience to become president but she still can’t get a majority to vote for her. People may respect her accomplishments, or have fond memories of her husband, but that doesn’t mean they like her. Lacking a clear message or rationale for her campaign, and the charm and personality to connect with voters, Hillary now seems intent on winning by going ugly.
Thanks largely to the inexperience of her chief rivals, Hillary has amazingly sold voters on the idea that eight ineffective and scandal plagued years in the White House and seven bland pork barrel years in the Senate make her the most qualified candidate.
Her veteran and dedicated campaign staff, and her ability to raise outrageous amounts of money, led most in the media to anoint her the frontrunner. And she rode her husband’s popularity and her celebrity status to large national leads.
The media, however, failed to consider a few crucial issues: voter’s dissatisfaction with the status quo and Hillary’s utter lack of a compelling message or winning personality.
Read On.
Posted in 2008 | Barack Obama | Bill Clinton | Democratic Primary | Hillary Clinton — Comments (14)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 1:57pm on Dec. 8, 2007 Hillary's Not So Charming Side
Are Iowa voters seeing and rejecting the real Hillary?
By Richard H Collins
Seeing her standing in the polls dropping and a steady stream of criticism from her rivals, this week Hillary Clinton decided it was time to go on the attack. And it wasn’t subtle. The headlines read like a Fox special: When Hillary Attacks! But these attacks could easily spark a backlash that solidifies negative perceptions about her rather than weaken her rivals. It seems increasingly clear that Hillary’s angry and combative personality could present a real problem for her campaign.
Read On.