Atrios Distracted By A Pantsuit?

Talk about missing the elephant in the room. I'm amazed some conservatives and even notable Liberals like Atrios, see others here, seem to have completely missed the real point of David Broder's hit piece on Hillary. He poisoned her so sweetly, evidently it wasn't picked up on by those allowing themselves to be distracted by the marriage and wardrobe nonsense.

Atrios: ... David Broder isn't interested in taking on government or serious policy issues. Not the Broder, nor the Gang of 500, nor The Note. He's interested in cocktail weanies! He's interested in what people are wearing! He's interested in who is (expletive deleted) who, when, and how often!

Oh, really? Forget that his portrayal of her depicted someone so completely lacking any personal warmth or political charm - all but required to get elected to anything ... forget that the yellow Pantsuit line is right off of Right Wing talk radio ala Hannity, Levin or Limbaugh.

But the buzz in the room was not about her speech -- or her striking appearance in a lemon-yellow pantsuit

But please remember that he drew on the low point of her political career to characterize her approach to problem solving, while making her look like a mix of communist, elitist-wonk and your Mother-in-Law. And he only needed two graphs to do it. The rest was simply fluff.

... For the next 45 minutes, she read a wonkish text that covered every aspect of the energy situation, down to and including a description of the "geologic sequestration" potential for reducing global warming and making better use of coal.

For those who remember the former first lady's effort at comprehensive health-care reform in 1993-94, the scope of her energy initiative is a throwback to those days. She called for the creation of a Strategic Energy Fund, financed in part by taxes on oil company profits, and a National Institute of Energy, with a multibillion-dollar bankroll for financing innovative conservation and efficiency plans.

She offered her proposal with the same self-assurance that she had brought to the health-care debate -- a tone that suggested that "if you just listen carefully to all the things I can tell you on the basis of the study I have given this subject, you will know exactly what to do."

Broder seems to be telling Democrats what not to do with his piece, as in, don't nominate this woman - she's going to lose. Politically, she'd be better suited for Venezuela and the yellow pantsuit would fit right in.

Comments

[sharl]

Every rational right-wing intellectual I know loathes McCain and every rational left-wing intellectual I know loathes Hillary. So why are we going to get either one or the other of these two in '08? Where's the disconnect between what people like you and I know, Dan, and the processes that inform how middle America votes?

[Dan]

Where's the disconnect

Well, I hate to say it, but it's in the fact that most people simply don't care enough about politics to pay close attention. Some argue - what's the difference who we get? They see things by the minute, or day, maybe even the year. But what they don't allow for is long term trends and where the country ends up as a result of a Court appointee. Many underestimate the influence of our political leadership, IMO.

[Phoenix]

How can anyone pay close attention to politics anymore when it's now a case of attention-deficit-disorder writ large? Politics exists in binary bytes and sound bits. It's like being really hungry and staring at a huge banquet table and losing your appetite because your synapses just overloaded and shut down. I half-way feel like making a joke out of it all being a case of intelligence-deficit-disorder on the part of 'we the people', but I think the disconnect is real.

Just spending an hour or two reading various political blogs is enough to create a serious disconnect in even the most seriously interested person. I hope it becomes more defined as election time comes closer.

[Phoenix]

As far as leadership and the ability to look far into the future.... That is a really big deal. I still maintain that Bush has that ability with the help of Rumsfeld, Cheney, and Wolfowitz - all ye olde neo-cons. It's too bad he lacks the charisma to get anything but bad press and foaming Bush-hatred that causes the politicos to lose their minds and the liberals to exist in ephemeral moments of the instant.

ugh... just talking about this depresses me..

[nicky]

Phoenix,

Agreed. About the vision thing. I'd only add Dr. Rice into the mix. As far as the charisma thing goes, I think Bush does have it, and I think at a deep, visceral level the media and the sophisticates agree with me, thus their herculean efforts to make a wall between what Bush does say and how he says it and what the public hears Bush say. Bush scared the hell out of them, immediately after 9/11 with his "charisma," and the battle to save themselves (and not the West, and the East for that matter) was enjoined, slowly at first, but consistently. The chorus grows. I dare say, last night, Bush was more elegant than Blair, not less. Fortunately, a hundred years from now, when history judges, Jon Stewart and Michael Moore and the MSM don't have a seat at the table. Just as all those who were doing the same to Lincoln don't have a seat at the table either. Yes, much work remains to be done and because greater public support is helpful (but not determinative), it is sad the American public is not in the mood to step ahead one hundred years, look back, and decide where it must stand. And prioritize what is really important. The right is becoming even more childlike than the left, lately. Hence I too am depressed. But November will tell us much. And no matter. As Bush pointed out last night, no matter what, he is the Commander in Chief for the next few years. The success in Iraq means Iran has no choice but to take its (last) stand.

[Phoenix]

oh. Thank you, Nicky. Someone with a brain. I am moved by Bush when he speaks, and I am less depressed now to hear your analysis that those who disparage him so much may be motivated by fear because of that 'visceral' reality that the man is right.

I've said before this man will go down in history as one of the greats. But what a price he pays because of those who lack vision. ... Dumb remark.... What a price we all pay.