With Hillary, You Know What You’re Getting

With Hillary, you know what you’ve got, and what she says for the Democrats.

VON HEIKO ROLOFF

Last week I got an e-mail from a friend and colleague in Hamburg. “It’s time you tear Hillary up,” he wrote. Obviously, like many Germans polled, he’s an Obama fan. Here’s my answer back to him:

Dear Hans-Heinrich Reichelt!

I’m not sure I should shoot Hillary down because I don’t know what to make of Obama. Clearly, he’s the candidate of hope. The man best able to break open crusty old Washington and reunite a divided America. Like his fans, I can imagine him building bridges between blacks, whites, and Latinos, as well as between Christians, Muslims, and Jews. I imagine he would make young and old, rich and poor, feel that America needs them all in order to remain a world power.

But Hillary supporters see everything through different lenses. And through them they see an Obama who is as much “establishment” as all the rest. He has long gotten his spending money, just like the others, from wealthy lobbyists who will later expect favors from “their” president. He plants his flag in the breeze of voter opinion as all politicians do. And he’s supported by the powerful in the Democratic Party who can turn him into a puppet just as the Neo-Conservatives (Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld) did to George W. Bush.

Ex-candidate John Kerry, for example, lifted Obama onto the political stage four years ago. If his “step-son” gets into the White House, he would have a great deal of influence. If Hillary wins, there’s only one powerful man behind her: her husband.

Senior Senator Edward Kennedy is, in contrast, boss of the most powerful Democratic family. Should the Clintons regain the White House, his family would be number two. Husband and wife presidents – that’s never happened before. The politically adoptive grandson of JFK in the White House would make the Kennedy clan even more immortal.

One of the most persistent accusations made about Hillary Clinton is that she’s power-hungry. So what motivates Obama? Or John McCain? Hillary is also criticized for being a flip-flopper (example: she voted in favor of the Iraq war and now she’s against it). Obama’s reverses are quickly forgotten, however. Recall that he spoke out against the NAFTA treaty at the same time his advisors were assuring the Canadian government behind closed doors that he didn’t really mean that. He didn’t want to admit that his long-time pastor preached hate-filled sermons (America brought AIDS to the blacks). When the army of church-goers doubted him, he distanced himself from the pastor and gave an explanatory speech about racial conflict. It was a good speech, but it came far too late for many.

Hillary Clinton is accused of being an elitist businesswoman (since leaving the White House, the Clintons have earned nearly 100 million dollars) and that her concern for working people is merely a façade. Now Obama is suspected of being an elitist. Just a week before the important Pennsylvania primary, he flippantly referred to small-town Americans as being embittered and frustrated. There are many small towns in Pennsylvania, and that remark may prove to be decisive in the battle for votes there.

I admit I was among the first in my columns to compare Obama with JFK. And truly, the parallels are amazing: both young, charismatic, handsome, and excellent speakers. But whoever compares them shouldn’t forget that JFK brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. His first international action was to invade Cuba at the Bay of Pigs. That ended in disaster and prompted Kremlin Chief Nikita Khrushchev to send nuclear missiles to Cuba because he took his opponent to be inexperienced. The results were an escalation of the Cold War and the construction of the Berlin Wall. Even today, dictators and terrorists could try to test an inexperienced president.

The biggest reason I hesitate to shoot Hillary down is the fact that public polls show that Obama would lose against McCain while Hillary would win. Why? Because the Americans (Democrats as well as traditional Republicans) deeply distrust Republicans after eight years of George W. Bush. But on the other hand, they see that their country is going through the most difficult times, internationally as well as economically, they have ever faced. Therefore they want a president who will steer a new course, to be sure, but one who is also strong.

With the Clintons, you know what you’re getting. They’re tough, shrewd, comfortable with power, experienced. They’re good for themselves, but they’re also just as good for America.

And anyone who believes Obama will radically change Washington and the world is probably wrong. He will either politely assimilate himself into the system or, like JFK, I suspect he will be assassinated.