THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume X, Issue # 145, June 11, 2008
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
SUNSET ON THE CLINTON ERA
By Christopher G. Adamo
AMERICAN POLITICS & THE 2008 PRESIDENTIAL CONTEST: HILLARY CLINTON'S "SUSPENSION" OF HER CAMPAIGN
FOR THE U.S. PRESIDENCY -- ACTION SIGNIFYING THAT THE NIGHTMARE OF THE CLINTON EPOCH APPEARS TO BE OVER
FULL STORY:
Momentarily setting aside the tragic impact on America, should Barack Obama
be elected President, it is nonetheless worthwhile to ponder the
significance of Hillary Clinton’s announcement last Saturday that she is
dropping out of the presidential race. To be precise, she is “suspending”
her campaign, wording which, considering the history of the Clinton dynasty, could
indicate that. in her mind, this contest is not yet settled.
Nevertheless, her announcement highlights an awareness on her part that, at
least for the moment, she cannot succeed in a toe-to-toe contest against
Obama. So, despite the many ominous circumstances facing this country,
heartland America can heave a collective sigh of relief. The nightmare of
the Clinton epoch appears to be over. Indeed, Obama’s empty rhetoric about
“change and hope” belies his intellectually vacant political philosophy. But,
in light of past experience with the Clintons and their reputation of
promoting themselves at everyone else’s expense, almost any “change” would
seem to portend an improvement.
From the moment she burst upon the national scene in 1992, Hillary Clinton
displayed an understanding of the qualities necessary for political
dominance in an environment where the law represents a mere obstacle to the
aspirations and methods of the blindly ambitious. On more than one occasion
during her congressional testimonies, she all but challenged her inquisitors
with her audacious “I do not recall” responses, mocking them and essentially
daring them to resort to increase the heat in efforts to make her confess to
wrongdoing.
As this facet of the Clinton scheme played out, the truth became completely
irrelevant. Instead of matters being determined on the basis of facts,
things degenerated into a battle of nerves which she knew she would win.
Clearly, she was the driving force behind the Clintonian strategy of
flouting the law, not only as a means of ensuring a particular end, but as a
challenge to any who might take exception. In essence, her actions announced
“This is my plan. Interfere at your own risk.” Time and again, her method
paid off handsomely. Few on the Republican side of the aisle had the resolve
to stand against her. And, as the impeachment debacle proved, those who
attempted to do so were all too often undermined by fellow “Republicans.”
The most unfortunate aspect of the situation, as it currently stands, is that
it took a Democrat to shatter Hillary’s concocted aura of invincibility.
Midway through Bill Clinton’s second term, it became obvious that Hillary
had her sights on the White House, and would stop at nothing to get there.
Reacting to her telegraphed ambitions, much of the Republican Party has been
running terrified ever since, essentially accepting the notion of her
“invincibility,” and politicking on that basis, often at the expense of its
own governing philosophies.
Throughout the final term of George W. Bush’s Presidency, and particularly
after the dismal 2006 midterm elections, much of the leadership of the GOP
has been fixated only on one thing, how to prevail against the presumably
unstoppable Hillary juggernaut. Had Republicans shown a bit more collective
spine, and not let themselves be so intimidated by her now thoroughly
discredited persona of political prowess, they might well have pursued a
proactive agenda touting traditional Conservative principles to much greater
benefit for the nation as well as to their own political fortunes.
Even the field of Republican presidential candidates who ended up running,
along with some whose names were floated for several years prior to the
race, often reflected a myopic strategy of prevailing over Hillary’s “super
candidate” persona instead of establishing a rallying point for real
Conservatives.
Among others, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was suggested, not for her
leadership qualities or a Conservative political philosophy that could
resonate with the Republican grassroots, but merely on the basis that, being
a woman, she might somehow neutralize Hillary’s strongest (we were told)
suit. In the process, Republicans forgot to formulate campaigns that truly
embodied the winning Republican/Conservative principles of smaller
government, and support for the moral fabric of a healthy society that
enables it to flourish and prosper without the intrusions of the nanny
state.
Ironically, the entire air of Clintonian political radiance was, from the
beginning, merely a media fabrication. Bill won his two presidential
elections with less than half of the smallest voter turnout in nearly a
century. And Hillary vaulted into the United States Senate merely as a
result of Rudy Giuliani’s untimely bout with prostate cancer. Only a
cowardly opposition would grant them political dominance under such
circumstances. But, being the opportunists that they are, the Clintons
recognized that such was precisely the nature of their Republican
adversaries.
Many politicians lie, but the Clintons raised the behavior to an overt level
previously unseen, even in Washington. Many politicians engage in shady
dealings, but the Clintons flagrantly consorted with the Communist Chinese
and their Indonesian surrogates, simply ignoring cries of outrage as literal
bags of dirty money passed into their hands. And many politicians attempt to
intimidate their opposition, but the Clintons did so by brazenly involving
the FBI, IRS, and other federal agencies as they attempted to destroy any
who stood in their way.
Washington, and indeed the nation, have been irreparably changed by the
Clintons. The “hardball” politics of the past has given way to congressional
“debates” in which facts and truth are irrelevant. Conventions that
recognized the need to stand unified against the threats of foreign
adversaries have putrefied and degenerated to a level where, in their quest
for power, the Democrats now voice overt sympathies towards America’s mortal
enemies while castigating the U.S. military on specious and often totally
contrived grounds.
So, despite the myriad of perils that the nation faces, it is nonetheless
fitting that, at this precipitous time, the Clintons are being
unceremoniously expelled by the pitiless political monster they worked so
feverishly to create.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
American Politics & Political Competition:
Elections, PACs, & Political Parties
American Government & the U.S. Presidency:
Presidential Politics & National Leadership
The American Political System:
Politics & Government in the U.S.A.
The American Political & Cultural Left:
Liberals, Statists, Socialists, & Other Leftists
Liberalism Versus Conservatism in American Politics
-------------------------
POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY & POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES:
COMPETING SYSTEMS OF POLITICAL THOUGHT
Conservatism
Traditional Conservatism: Questions & Answers
Conservatism: Attitudes, Types, & Present Status
Constitutional Conservatism: American & British
Liberalism
Classical Liberalism: Intellectual Foundations
Classical Liberalism: Conservative Liberalism
Manchester Liberalism & Social Darwinism
Modern Social "Liberalism": Statist "Liberalism"
Radical & Totalitarian Ideologies
Radicalism, Utopianism, & Totalitarianism
Christopher G. Adamo is a freelance writer who lives in southeastern Wyoming and works in the field of industrial instrumentation.
He is actively involved in Wyoming's political process, serving as a delegate to successive Wyoming State Republican Conventions
and as a member of the Wyoming State Republican Central Committee. He has assisted Republican candidates for local and state
legislatures and for the United States Congress. His articles, which appear regularly in The Progressive Conservative, U.S.A.,
and on a number of other websites, reflect a major concern with the damage being done to Conservatism and Conservative causes by
the Liberal Leftist faction in the Republican Party as well as by the much larger and more powerful Liberal Leftist faction in the
Democratic Party. During the early and middle 1990s, Adamo was Editor of the Wyoming Christian Coalition's official news organ,
The Wyoming Christian.
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity