Would There Be A Tea Party If Hillary Were President?
It's come to this: The New York Times Magazine is now openly wondering, "What Would Hillary Clinton Have Done?"
Setting aside for the moment the implications of the Democrats' flagship paper essentially announcing (or seeming to announce on the headline level, which, for many readers, probably amounts to the same thing) that it has lost faith in Obama, there was a suggestion buried in the text that leaped out at me:
Yes, [Hillary] might have bitten off the ear of a Tea Partier by now. Then again, there might not have been a Tea Party.
Is that true? Rick Santelli would presumably not have melted down on the floor of the Chicago Merc if Obama had not decided to "subsidize loser mortgages," and Keli Carender would not have conducted the Porkulus Protest in Seattle had Obama not proposed a $750 billion stimulus plan. So is the Magazine onto something? Or are Clinton and Obama similar enough that the Tea Party would have come into existence even if she had been the one to take office?
(The author of the piece, Rebecca Traister, believes their presidencies would indeed have been strikingly similar. Clinton's failures in this alternative universe would not, however, have had anything to do with her policies, just as Obama's failures have nothing to do with his. The fault lies with the Republicans -- otherwise known as "regressive obstructionists" -- whose "stated goal was not to fix things but to keep the president from fixing anything." Just so we're clear.)
- Comment (23)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (0)
- Pages:
- 1
- 2
- Pages:
- 1
- 2
Comments :
Re: Would There Be A Tea Party If Hillary Were President?
The sad truth is that the Democrats believe their own talking points. I suppose that, at this point, they have to. Otherwise, they would have to rethink everything.
Gosh, if only it weren't for bad luck and those pesky Republicans!
Apr '11
Re: Would There Be A Tea Party If Hillary Were President?
Who cares what may have happened. Thank God and your fellow citizens there is a Tea Party.
Oct '10
Re: Would There Be A Tea Party If Hillary Were President?
In 1993 Hillary tried to push her version of a government takeover of healthcare, and (IMHO) was partially responsible for the backlash which helped the Republicans regain control of Congress in 1994.
She was still pushing for such a takeover during her debates with Obama (remember Obama supposedly opposed the individual mandate, while Hillary supported it), so I'd bet she would have made a second try at it if she'd won the Presidency.
And if she had, I think we'd still have seen the rise of the Tea Party (much as Hillarycare dragged novices (like me) into political action in 1993).
Feb '11
Re: Would There Be A Tea Party If Hillary Were President?
The only difference with the Tea Party if Hilary had been elected rather than Obama is that the Tea Party would be accused of sexism rather than racism.
Nov '10
Re: Would There Be A Tea Party If Hillary Were President?
The "what if" world is always perfect.
Hillery Clinton is just as far-left as Obama. If she'd been elected with large majorities in both houses of congress, she would have lurched to the left just like Obama did, and the results would have been the same.
Edited on Aug 21, 2011 at 2:30pmMay '10
Re: Would There Be A Tea Party If Hillary Were President?
We probably would have had less golf and more beach dancing. (WARNING: close call with Ricochet Code of Decency)
Aug '11
Re: Would There Be A Tea Party If Hillary Were President?
I would go so far as to say that we'd still have a Tea Party movement if John McCain had won. While Rick Santelli could be credited with giving it a name, the people were already pretty restless when George Bush and Hank Paulson pushed for a bank bailout. I consider that the first of a series of ever-louder wake-up calls.
Dec '10
Re: Would There Be A Tea Party If Hillary Were President?
Maybe we would have known if Democrats weren't so misogynistic.
Aug '10
Re: Would There Be A Tea Party If Hillary Were President?
I don't think you get to use "regressive obstructionists" unless you are actually wearing a beret and bandoliers at the time.
That's the rule.
Unlike Venezuela, "there simply was never going to be a liberal messiah whose powers could transcend the limits set by a democracy this packed with regressive obstructionists."
OK, fixed that one.
And she actually said "We forget, sometimes, that our government was designed to limit the powers of the president".
No, she really did.
Jun '10
Re: Would There Be A Tea Party If Hillary Were President?
Paul A. Rahe: The sad truth is that the Democrats believe their own talking points. I suppose that, at this point, they have to. Otherwise, they would have to rethink everything.
Gosh, if only it weren't for bad luck and those pesky Republicans! · Aug 21 at 2:07pm
If Obama didn't have bad luck, he'd have no luck at all. A standard blues classic. Seeing as Mr. Obama is from Chicago he's just hummin' along.
Sep '10
Re: Would There Be A Tea Party If Hillary Were President?
I must feel differently from most. I think ObamaCare was the fundamental driver of the Tea Party, the last bitter pill following massive bailouts and other forms of crony capitalism in response to the 2008 financial crisis. It sure was for me—the utter arrogance of it especially. I don't think Hillary would have made the same mistake, mostly because of her own failed attempt during her husband's tenure as president but also because, unlike Obama, she would not have ignored the seriously depressed state of the economy at the time the new entitlement was rammed through. And surely Big Bill would have advised her to compromise some to get some Republican votes—some tort reform, some multi-state commerce in the sale of policies, some long-term phase-in of any mandate. Such compromises might have made the bill much more popular, and if that had happened, I don't think Tea Party activism would have become nearly so interactive. It seems that Obama has actually been a gift to the Tea Party, helping it win big in 2010 and now making inroads into local governments, the only sure way to decrease the scope of government.
Jul '10
Re: Would There Be A Tea Party If Hillary Were President?
I agree, Leslie:
"For men to plunge headlong into an undertaking of vast change, they must be intensely discontented yet not destitute, and they must have the feelings that by the possession of some potent doctrine, infallible leader or some new technique they have access to a source of irresistible power. They must also have an extravagant conception of the prospects and potentialities of the future. Finally, they must be wholly ignorant of the difficulties involved in their vast undertaking. Experience is a handicap."
Eric Hoffer
The True Believer
Dec '10
Re: Would There Be A Tea Party If Hillary Were President?
Huh.
What was given the name Tea Party was already active, and nameless, before TARP, and long before Obama. George Bush was spending us into bankruptcy and Republicans were on board. The Tea party influenced the 2006 elections (poorly), but was already fed up with the spenders.
Hillary would just have been standing there like a possum facing headlights, as she is at least as radical as Obama, if only a bit better liar. Come on, folks, don't you even realize she is just another leftist Chicago punk, from a long line of leftist Chicago punks? That is the brine from which she evolved.
All we have to protect ourselves from deeply radical people like her, is our complete exclusion of the news outlets that mask her.
Please, bring her on.
Sep '10
Re: Would There Be A Tea Party If Hillary Were President?
I think in a way that the Tea Party is bigger and more passionate indirectly because the president is not white. I don't think it would be of the same size or intensity under a HC presidency. I think the overt soft/cloaked Marxism in Rev Wright's black liberation theology rants and core doctrine, as well as Obama's other creepy friend's and associations put many American's on edge to see what was really going on, they were puzzled, and hesitant to rush to opinion. The novelty of the president's race made him a trojan horse of sorts, hence the "fear" of his blackness was not in the classical sense of racism, but rather a rational and reasonable fear about what was being delivered on the cart of such historic novelty and untouchable firstness. I don't think Hillary could have been so flagrant in her associations, appointees and actions. Hopefully historic firsts in the future will not be so destructive to country.
Mar '11
Re: Would There Be A Tea Party If Hillary Were President?
I don't really think so. Knuckleheads, like the poor, will always be with us, of course. But it would be interesting to see exactly how many people have avoided the Tea Party because of just this presumption.
I object to Obamacare. I objected to Hillarycare, I would object to Gorecare, Kerrycare, or any other effort to accomplish the same objective. The messenger is not the message any more than the medium is.
Re: Would There Be A Tea Party If Hillary Were President?
Re: Would There Be A Tea Party If Hillary Were President?
I openly wonder this everyday.
Jul '10
Re: Would There Be A Tea Party If Hillary Were President?
Pffft. It's the socialism, the mindless destructiveness, the federal government descending on the American people like a rain of godzillas, and bailouts instead of bankruptcies. The embrace of failure is comprehensive.
Mar '11
Re: Would There Be A Tea Party If Hillary Were President?
Mr Obama made the classic mistake of dropping the lobster in boiling water, rather than raising the heat slowly, which is what Hillary would have done - they both want to "fundamentally change" the USA into a socialist utopia.
So, in a way, it is better that we had Mr Obama, so that we woke up before it is too late. It may still be too late - we shall see next year.
Re: Would There Be A Tea Party If Hillary Were President?
I don't see Hillary being a true believer in socialism. I just see lefty politics as a path to power for her. It was convenient. It's possible she would have governed identically to McCain.