The Clinton-Bush Alliance
Jimbo, tired of my slow blogging, sends in these thoughts:
Kinda like the Medicis and the Borgias, I guess. One problem I see is what about Jeb? Could be that Republicans will be too Bushed by '08 to select him, but I would think the Bush clan sees him as a natural to succeed his big bro'.
On the other hand, it could just be that presidents like to rehabilitate past presidents from the opposition party, perhaps to gain an air of statesmanship. Reagan adopted FDR, a tyrant to Republicans, as his idol. Clinton brought Nixon in from the cold, and Bush is putting Bubba on the same stage with his own father. I think even Kennedy made it safe for Democrats to pay tribute to Lincoln. No one, however, seems anxious to embrace Carter.
Something I´ve noticed lately and would like to hear your slant on is this interesting Clinton-Bush alliance. I get the impression that a while back, Bill and George HW had a "sitdown" to map out a global strategy for their families´ respective dynasties, wisely recognizing that neither one could dominate the national political scene all of the time (despite that dick Rove´s call for a permanent majority after the last prez election). With the Clintons at the center-left and the Bushs at the center-right, neither family´s interests would be too severely damaged during the other´s reign.
Tsunami and especially NOLA have exhibited this alliance in action, lately Clinton helping Bush Sr. save what is left of his moron son´s term while at the same time improving drastically Hillary´s chances for 08 which is of course the Clinton´s next big move. Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention the ex-presidential "rising above politics" disaster relief. The Clintons did a good job of gliding through the recent election, as loser Kerry was a Kennedy man, better positioning themselves as the new Democratic dynasty.
Better the devil you know I guess. But, at least it is some kind of democracy at work with the opposition always at the doorstep, however rigged it is.
Kinda like the Medicis and the Borgias, I guess. One problem I see is what about Jeb? Could be that Republicans will be too Bushed by '08 to select him, but I would think the Bush clan sees him as a natural to succeed his big bro'.
On the other hand, it could just be that presidents like to rehabilitate past presidents from the opposition party, perhaps to gain an air of statesmanship. Reagan adopted FDR, a tyrant to Republicans, as his idol. Clinton brought Nixon in from the cold, and Bush is putting Bubba on the same stage with his own father. I think even Kennedy made it safe for Democrats to pay tribute to Lincoln. No one, however, seems anxious to embrace Carter.
posted by ziel | 9/06/2005 10:04:00 PM
6 Comments:
08 is too soon for Jeb. Even without Katrina (but certainly with Iraq) the entire nation will be too Bushed-out. That´s probably why he and his parents are publicly so adamant about him not running. And Carter just refuses to play ball.
I think they're just being presidential. It's not entirely unthinkable either that Clinton and Bush Sr. could just be friends--after all, they do have something in common with each other that they do with relatively few other people. Not that Clinton at least might not be trying to network, though what he's going to do that can top "POTUS" beats me.
I agree with Jimbo (as I seem to do with alarming regularity). No offense to "anonymous" but your view is not realistic. It is instilled in these political families (Bush, Kennedy, Clinton) to work towards the "next" election. That's not to say that their personal motivations and goals don't occasionally intersect with the "public good" but to think that is their primary motivation something beyond enhancing their political legacy is ignoring the realities of American politics.
Harlem
News from the second front (for anyone interested):
We are fine, although our lives have gone through some definite changes.
Home life is changed for who knows how long. The estimate now is that Baton Rouge has grown by between 200-240,000 people. The traffic, never great, is horrendous. Nobody wants to cook but going out to eat takes forever (traffic & crowds) and getting a pizza delivered takes 1 1/2 hours (haven't seen any 20 minute delivery guarantees lately). There is 100% occupancy in all apartments, house prices have skyrocketed and Marriott says there are no rooms available in any of their properties thru December. On the plus side, gas is now readily available (at vabout $2.70 a gallon for unleaded regular, which I know is less than some places), the grocery stores are stocked and I've never been prouder of a community than I am of Baton Rouge. We've accepted these poor, desperate people with open arms and the level of giving, donation, tolerance, patience and overall good will is amazing. Somebody gets on local radio and says they need 10 refrigerators for vaccines for the LSU AG Center that is housing displaced or lost animals (1000s - a whole different tragedy - I'm crying as I type this) and they have them within 2 hours. We've opened our schools, our hospitals and our homes. My Mom & stepdad are fine and I think our yard debris that has sat at our curb since 8/30 is finally being taken away today or tommorow. Some progress.
We are very thankful for what we have when we see so many who now have nothing. We are also incredibly thankful for our great network of friends who inquire regularly about our well being and offer their sympathy & support. It does help keep us going. I've never appreciated or admired Clare more for her hard work, tolerance of my frequent need to "unwind" after a 13 hour day and her love. I am hearing personal stories every day that are simply heartbreaking. If whatever doesn't kill us does, indeed, make us stronger, I'll be very strong by the time this all ends. I'm on the new "Katrina" diet and it is working faster than Atkins, having lost 10 pounds just this week.
I've never been much on asking for anything (other than another beer) but I would encourage anyone who has a few bucks to contribute something towards getting beyond this tragedy. Go to www.wjbo.com or www.wwl.com to find out how to direct contributions to the people who need it most. You'll sleep better at night, I assure you.
Tomorrow is another work day but Sunday, we rest.
Love to all,
Harlem
September 09, 2005 10:16 PM
Off the hurricane issue, if this country elects another Bush, I'd think some intellectuals world wide would label us a "third party country", just voting for the "dynasty". Can anyone look back on this "leadership" into incredible deficit, a meaningless, costly (money & people)war, an awful response to at least one national crisis (Katrina - we can talk about 9/11 in another post), a failure to "sell" the "big plan" of privatived Social Security (which I may have agreed upon but failed to move forward with a Republican legislature)and see it as a success?
Was Daddy a "great" President" who did anything but ride Reagan's coattails and then do a mediocre (being generous)job? He's gotten more publicity as the straight man for Clinton on disaster relief (Tsunami & Katrina) than he ever got as President. The Bush family is done in politics, and "W" killed it.. I'm waiting for the "twins'in Playboy, and I'll buy it!
Harlem
Harlem, I wouldn´t say the Bushes are done by any means, but for the next election, they won´t even bother. Since they really are Connecticut Yankees as opposed to this bs Texas conservative image thing, they won´t even be pushing much of an agenda in the near future besides setting Jeb up for a 12 or 16 run. They also have their half-hispanic son of Jeb to work along.
On the other hand, the Clintons have been given a gift by Katrina as the Bushes were by 911. Say what you may, and I am a lib that doesn´t care much for Hillary, but she is playing these cards right, supporting the war, only criticizing Bush now when there´s a nice safe bandwagon to jump on.
By the way, where is Ziel?
ZIEL!!! ZIEL!!!
"what, what man? Whaddya want?"
"I don´t want Neil, I want ZIEL!"
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