Hillary Clinton has moved rapidly in my mind from “You’re kidding, she won’t run for President, she doesn’t have a chance” to “Well, looks like she will run, maybe it won’t be a total fiasco” to “What a disaster — where do I donate money to her opponents?”
Hillary’s latest bit of triangulation is to co-sponsor a bill banning flag burning. It would be hard to come up with a better example of empty pandering. The United States is a rare country, one founded on ideals (liberty, self-government) rather than on an ethnic identity. The flag is a symbol of those national ideals. Laws against burning the flag have it precisely backwards: they protect the symbol by sacrificing the ideals themselves. Perhaps a subtle concept when first presented in tenth-grade social studies, but by the time you’re a United States Senator it should have sunk in.
At Daily Kos, georgia10 astutely quotes Justice William Brennan:
We can imagine no more appropriate response to burning a flag than waving one’s own, no better way to counter a flag burner’s message than by saluting the flag that burns, no surer means of preserving the dignity even of the flag that burned than by — as one witness here did — according its remains a respectful burial. We do not consecrate the flag by punishing its desecration, for in doing so we dilute the freedom that this cherished emblem represents.
Maybe Ezra is right: Obama ’08.
December 7th, 2005 at 1:33 pm
You said, “It would be hard to come up with a better example of empty pandering.” But here’s one from not too long ago: Senator Clinton launched an investigation into all video games, specifically because of an uncovered sex scene in ONE game (http://tinyurl.com/8rd32). It reminds me of a time when all the employees of a company where I worked were banned from wearing shorts because ONE employee’s shorts-related fashion faux pas. (No need to go into that here.)
Looking for votes isn’t bad. But, does she really feel this way? Maybe, I don’t know, but it sure seems like pandering to me.
Others feel similarly on this topic–take Steven Johnson (Author of “Everything Bad is Good For You: How Today’s Popular Culture is Actually Making Us Smarter”). He writes in his open letter:
“Dear Sen. Clinton: I’m writing to commend you for calling for a $90-million study on the effects of video games on children, and in particular the courageous stand you have taken in recent weeks against the notorious “Grand Theft Auto” series. I’d like to draw your attention to another game whose nonstop violence and hostility has captured the attention of millions of kids — a game that instills aggressive thoughts in the minds of its players, some of whom have gone on to commit real world acts of violence and sexual assault after playing.
I’m talking, of course, about high school football.”
She is taking bad advice from someone, probably the DLC.
December 7th, 2005 at 1:41 pm
I remember when Paul Tsongas, running against Hillary’s husband in the 1992 primaries, used to hold up a little stuffed panda, and introduce the audience to his “Pander Bear.” Ah, good times.
December 7th, 2005 at 6:08 pm
Well, it seems (according to your link) thats it’s only for flag burning on federal property, which is not exactly the same. I don’t think you can rip grass from federal property, either.
December 7th, 2005 at 6:17 pm
Sure; but it’s quite disingenuous to pretend that the law is about preventing vandalism. It doesn’t prevent you from burning other things; the French flag, for example, is fair game.
December 7th, 2005 at 6:54 pm
At the risk of being repetitious I will repeat my view of Hillary. She is unelectable because she comes across as cold and intellectual vs. warm and accessible. The dems have just lost two prez elections with candidates that were clearly better qualified but did not connect with people. They can’t be stupid enough to make it 3 in a row.
And I’ll remind everyone of the famous quote “stolen” by Jim Hightower for his book title.
“There ain’t nothing in the middle of the road except a double yellow line and dead armadillos”
Elliot
December 7th, 2005 at 9:11 pm
Am I the only one who thinks it will be just wonderful watching the legal contortions that result if a flag-burning bill is passed.
What if I burn a flag with 51 stars? What if it has 11 stripes? What if the red is pantone 57 red, not pantone 59 red? What if what I am burning is not a flag but a stars and stripes T-shirt? Stars and stripes wrapping paper? The confederate flag? Not the flag but a *picture* of the flag? Not the flag, but an ascii printout of the flag? Not the flag but an ascii printout of postscript instructions to draw the flag?
Oh the fun that will ensue.
December 8th, 2005 at 11:29 pm
Sen. Clinton, according to the Times and elsewhere, is very socially conservative. She really is against gay marriage, and in favor of more religion.
One friend of mine keeps talking about an Edwards/Obama ticket. But my favorite, although unelectable, is Carol Moseley-Braun.
December 11th, 2005 at 12:12 am
Obama will not be on the ticket in 08. He will run in 2012 (if the dems lose in 08 or 16 if they win). He will be the first president that is not a caucasian male in our history.
December 11th, 2005 at 7:00 pm
This reminds me of the controversy over what kind of exhibitions should be allowed at a Freedom Center proposed for the former World Trade Center site. That the Freedom Center shouldn’t be free struck me as funny (sadly funny), and so does the idea that one shouldn’t be free to burn a symbol of freedom. There’s a kind of self-contradiction in both notions, which is exemplified in a line from Dr. Strangelove: “Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here–this is the War Room!’