alternative hippopotamus

progressive cyberdadaism from our nation’s capital

May 24, 2008

There’s An Old Joke…

by AltHippo @ 2:19 pm. Filed under 2008 Elections

There’s a comedic bit that I’ve seen a few variations on that I believe relates directly to an incident that happened yesterday. Basically the bit goes like this, the comic starts the bit by asking: “What’s up with that Julius Caesar dude?” The comic then proceeds to tell a bad joke about Caesar’s assassination. The comic pauses to get the audience reaction, which is predictably: no laughs. Then, the comic follows it up with: “Oh. Too soon?”

The reason that this is a good bit, IMO has nothing to do with the historical reference to Caesar. Though, that’s a plus. The reason it’s a good bit is that the assassinations of JFK, RFK, and MLK left such a huge scar on a generation that we’ve never been able to process it. Any reference to any of these assassinations is too soon. It probably will remain so in my lifetime. The bit, because of its reference to a political assassination over 2000 years ago is close enough to give us a moment of release while being distant enough so that we’re not reminded directly of that triple tragedy.

Yesterday, Hillary Clinton referenced the RFK assassination to justify why she was staying in the Democratic primary. I believe she may have strained the reference a bit. In the future, I would like to suggest she avoid using political martyrs altogether in discussing her campaign. Yes, there’s a way of using such figures, but to do so requires dropping the use of allegory and metaphor and sitting in the purest and simplest use of the example. To wit: It would be justifiable to say that Benazir Bhutto died so that Hillary Clinton could be president of the US. Surely, if Bhutto can face the prospect of death, which she did uncompromisingly, then Clinton can face the prejudices of the American voting public. If a relatively paternalistic state such as Pakistan is ready for a woman prime minister, then surely the US is ready for a woman to be president.

I actually thought Joe Klein’s statement was reasonably fair. ( Swampland:)

And I’d also argue this: Hillary Clinton seems calculating because she isn’t very good at it. Her husband is. In my experience, she’s more a policy wonk than a calculating pol…but having watched Bill do this–and quite brilliantly, thank you–she has learned the wrong lesson: that fudging and calculation are the only way to win. And so she over-calculates–her famous drivers licenses for immigrants answer(s)–or she constructs false analogies (These things aren’t over until June)–and then she screws up trying to sell them.

As a quick proof that for Joe Klein this is fairly reasonable statement, I notice only about half of the commenters are calling him an idiot hack/liberal traitor. That’s pretty good for Joe.

My impression is that HRC is really a policy wonk before anything else, which is one of the things Joe Klein is saying. Quite frankly, so am I. The wonkier the details the better. Why not let her be a really good policy wonk? Why not just let Hillary be good at what she’s really good at? Not to mention being a NY Senator. Is that such a bad gig?

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hip·po·pot·a·mus n. A notion, perhaps distinct from conventional wisdom, that needs to be verified by reality-based scrutiny.

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