Progressive talk show host Ed Schultz is highly critical of former President Bill Clinton. In fact, except for the use of a strong word (see headline) that we prefer not to use in posts (it is overused by partisans on both sides and sometimes people in politics are absolutely convinced that what they say is reality) his conclusion echoes the conclusion of yours truly as this political drama unfolds.
In fact, in the new media and old media a new word is being used (and it is an apt one) for the campaign of Senator Hillary Clinton for President: Billary. It’s not flip; it’s accurate. And we haven’t seen anything like it in American history.
If you haven’t heard Schultz’ show tune in. (Go here.) His show is highly professional in its pacing, he has no problem having callers call in who disagree with him and he upsets people on the left (not progressive enough at times) and the right (too far to the left).
What is notable is that he is a Democrat who on his show has generally sided with the Democrats. Throughout the country now, Democrats are being split over the ISSUE of Bill Clinton — who seems to be sucking up the oxygen and seems to have converted what was once the transformative theme of “change” to a new campaign theme not yet spoken but clearly now implied by Billary: “the restoration.”
2000 was the restoration of the Bushes. 2008 (if Billary prevails — and they most likely will in terms of hardball tactics and how such tactics work) is shaping up as “the restoration of the Clintons.”
Which as you can see in the campaign means the continuation of polarizing politics — so polarizing it is now polarizing parts of the Democratic Party.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.