There's Politican Goin On Here

Politics is a bloodsport. It always has been and odds are it always will be. When candidates vie for the right to be their party's standard bearer the claws come out when it's a real contest. When the thing you want most in the world may be snatched from you the bull starts flying.

Hillary Clinton thought she would easily be the Democratic nominee in 2008, everyone did, everyone except Barack Obama. She endured the defeat, made peace with her former adversary and became his Secretary of State for his first term. The Clinton's are multi year planners. By sitting out the second term she could distance herself from the administration while still embracing Barack Obama and his supporters when necessary. She might not even run in 2016 was the oft repeated phrase. That of course was smoke and mirrors. In May of 2015 she made it clear she was all in. Once again the woman who would be President was on the road but this time there would be no impediments, no strong rivals to seriously challenge her. She had been warned before announcing that if Bernie Sanders got in the race he would be a formidable opponent. I'm sure House Clinton dismissed the possibility of this independent from Vermont being able to keep up with her.

Now we all know the challenge was real and Clinton is now worried. This is revealed in her hypocritical rhetoric. Criticizing Sanders position on Universal Healthcare. She has deliberately used scare tactics to try and drive Democratic voters away from his campaign. She says he would take away your healthcare. Medicare and the Affordable Care Act would be tossed aside while Sanders tries to create a new health system. It's not true and she knows it. Sanders has fought his entire political life for healthcare for all citizens. He  believes that healthcare for all should be a right and not a privilege. Clinton says she believes in Universal care but that the only way to approach it is to build on the Affordable Care Act. Not once have you heard her say that healthcare should be a right for all. She forcefully pushed back on Barack Obama's attacks on her healthcare plan in 2008 saying, "since when does one Democrat attack another Democrat for believing in Universal Healthcare", now she is attacking Sanders in the same way. Incidentally, in case you've forgotten, Obama didn't put out a full healthcare plan in 2008. He said no mandates were required because if you make healthcare affordable everyone would happily buy it and of course there would be a public option, so much for his promises and predictions.

Sanders acknowledges that transforming the healthcare system will take hard work and years to implement but the work is worth doing. The same goes for raising the minimum wage to $15.00 an hour, it would occur incrementally over a few years. Sanders call for a peaceful political revolution is about drawing everyone into the system and getting people to realize they must participate to make real changes occur. He is proposing big and bold ideas. When did that become a bad thing, can you say moonshot? Hillary Clinton is saying whoa, slow down there, it's okay to play make believe but then you have to face the reality these big ideas really aren't for us. Small baby steps is best. Her slogan should be, "eat your brussel sprouts, brush you're teeth and go to bed." Who the hell wants that?

Now to be fair, it is true that Bernie Sanders is not a Democrat, he's an independent that believes in democratic socialism. It's fair to say he's not really a Democrat but guess what? Democrats really don't care. That's why the heaviest emphasis coming from Clinton's surrogates is to continually call him a 74 year old socialist so they accomplish two things. The first is a bit of ageism by suggesting he's too old for the job. The second is in the U.S. when you say socialist what people really hear is big red commie. I'm surprised they haven't asked to see if Sanders' supporters have a little red book in their pocket.

Clinton and Sanders both have executive and legislative experience so her assertion of better understanding how to get things done seems hollow.

She's portrayed him as anti Planned Parenthood and NARAL, he is not. She has portrayed him as being soft on gun violence, he is not. In fact his position on gun rights and the second amendment are more reflective of the American people than her's is. Can you say electability?

With New Hampshire a few days away, Clinton is singing the song of the underdog. Sanders is from Vermont and since that's right next door he has the advantage. That's complete nonsense of course. Those two states often don't like each other and there's also the fact that New Hampshire voted for Clinton in 2008 and the Clintons are well loved there.

The Democratic Race will go the distance, at least it looks that way right now. Who would have thought.