Clinton’s Message for Left and Right Extremists

Guess who said this? "I think people want a respectful debate and a respectful discussion. And if they don't, then obviously, I'm not the person to be their candidate…"


A few political issues have distracted me lately from Thanksgiving Day preparations:

John McCain, shoulders shaking with laughter, saying “Excellent question,” to a supporter who has referred to Hillary Clinton as a bitch. (Watch the incident on YouTube.)

Almost the next day, John McCain announcing his pledge to run a campaign that is respectful of his opponents: "I think people want a respectful debate and a respectful discussion. And if they don't, then obviously, I'm not the person to be their candidate…"

Newsweek’s hiring Karl Rove as a columnist, giving him a platform and a voice to interject his poison into the 2008 presidential campaign.

Spinning the latest polling results from Iowa. Clinton has led in Iowa by several points for weeks, and the Huffington Post and other major media outlets have almost unanimously ignored that reality or referred to the Iowa race as a three-way tie among Edwards, Obama, and Clinton. The latest poll showed Obama with a 4-point lead (acknowledged by pollsters as a statistical tie) and the Huffington Post’s headline screamed that Obama is pulling ahead, etc. Back to reality: the Washington Post reports the three top contenders remain in a close battle.

At an appearance in Iowa recently, Clinton had this to say to both left and right extremists: “I consider myself a servant-leader,” she said. “I’m not running to be president of the Democrats. I’m not running to be president of states that vote for Democrats. I’m running to be president of the United States. And I think I understand very well what it would take to do that.”

In his eight years in office, George W. Bush, guided by Cheney and Rove, never grasped the reality that he was Constitutionally obligated to serve as president of all the people, not just his base on the evangelical right. Clinton aims a little higher.

But I’ve got work to do here at home: the turkey is thawing and the stuffing is almost ready; I’ll chop the rutabaga and bake the pumpkin pie tomorrow. Although its mention in the Washington Post this morning gave me a chuckle, I won’t be making a green bean casserole: “They must taste like they have since 1955, when Campbell's invented the homey two-can side dish, your beans and your cream of mushroom soup, a soft, soothing mush of a thing given a kick and a crunch with your can of {French's French Fried Onions} FFOs.”