The Politics Of Biological Markers
Charles Krauthammer takes a look at the utter mess of the Democratic primary season and pronounces judgment on identity politics. It ain't pretty, folks, but he's spot on.
With no substantive policy differences left, the Obama-Clinton campaign was reduced to personality and identity. Not advantageous ground for Hillary. In a personality contest with the charismatic young phenom, she loses in a landslide.
What to do? First, adjust your own persona. Hence that New Hampshire tear and an occasional strategic show of vulnerability to soften her image. It worked for a while, but personality remakes are simply too difficult to pull off for someone as ingrained in the national consciousness as Clinton.
If you cannot successfully pretty yourself, dirty the other guy. Hence the relentless attacks designed to redefine Obama and take him down to the level of ordinary mortals, i.e., Hillary's. Thus the contrived shock on the part of the Clinton campaign that an Obama economic adviser would tell the Canadians not to pay too much attention to Obama's anti-NAFTA populism or that Samantha Power would tell the BBC not to pay too much attention to Obama's current withdrawal plans for Iraq.
The attack line writes itself: Says one thing and means another. So much for the man of new politics. Just an ordinary politician — like Hillary.
Power, the maladroit Obama foreign policy adviser, is caught calling Hillary a "monster." A resignation demand nicely calls attention to the fact that the Obama campaign — surprise! — hurls invective. And a strategic mention of Tony Rezko, the Chicago fixer who was once Obama's patron, nicely attaches to Obama a whiff of corruption by association.
These attacks have a cumulative effect. Obama mania is beginning to wear off. Charisma is intrinsically transient. But Hillary's attacks have succeeded in hastening its dissipation.
So if there are no policy issues between them and the personality differences have been whittled down, what's left? Identity. Race, age and gender. Is this campaign about anything else?
I, frankly, could not care less about a person's biological markers. I vote for a candidate based on whether I am comfortable with a majority of their positions - or at least more than those of their opponent. But the Democrats are thoroughly painted into a corner of their own making this year. They have competing "identity" candidates, both of whom are running pretty well.
And so they are staging a full scale production of Riverdance in a minefield.
By FedUp, Saturday, 15 March , 2008 @ 9:29 am
As always, charles gives a thoughtful and insightful commentary on the subject! I’m glad we have people like him to sift through all the other chaff of talking heads who base their argument on passion and preference rather than facts.