Thanks to Bill Clinton for going there

Given what a sellout Barack Obama has shown himself to be, I'm ready to believe that if Republicans gave him a bill that made it illegal for anyone black or poor or elderly to vote, he'd sign it just to try to get Rand Paul to like him.

So good for Bill Clinton, who grew up in the Jim Crow south, to call the rash of "voter ID" laws being passed in swing states across the country what they are:

"There has never been in my lifetime, since we got rid of the poll tax and all the Jim Crow burdens on voting, the determined effort to limit the franchise that we see today," Clinton said in a speech at a Campus Progress conference in Washington.

He specifically called out Florida Governor Rick Scott (R) for trying to reverse past precedent and prevent convicted felons from voting even after they've completed their sentence.

"Why should we disenfranchise people forever once they've paid their price?" Clinton said. "Because most of them in Florida were African Americans and Hispanics who tended to vote for Democrats. That's why."

And in thirteen y ears, the last birther lawsuit will be thrown out too. So what?

It doesn't matter what the ultimate outcome is...as long as you can damage the incumbent Democratic president at the time, it doesn't matter if the whole thing is horsepuckey:

"Filegate" is a term that always deserved scare quotes, because the putative scandal concerning the misuse of FBI files in the Clinton White House was so clearly, from its very beginning in 1996, no scandal at all. But the obvious absence of any credible evidence that Bill or Hillary Clinton or any of their employees or associates had ordered up such files, or committed any abuse of them, did nothing to dissuade mainstream media, right-wing outlets, or Republican politicians from hysterically promoting the pseudo-scandal.

Today it is amazing to recall how significant this nothingness was once deemed to be, with nightly coverage on network newscasts. On Capitol Hill, Sen. Orrin Hatch demanded a fingerprint analysis to determine whether Hillary Clinton had touched the files (she hadn't) while lengthy investigations got under way in the Senate, the House and the Office of the Independent Counsel led by Kenneth Starr. Bob Dole, the Republican presidential candidate in 1996, compared "Filegate" with Nixon's Watergate scandal and asked: "Where's the outrage?"

Yesterday the last wheeze of hype was squeezed from that old controversy, when U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth dismissed the remaining civil lawsuit against former Clinton administration officials in the FBI files affair. Brought by eccentric attorney Larry Klayman, who became a favorite of cable television and conservative funders during the Clinton era, those costly lawsuits were described in the judge's decision as essentially baseless.

Summing up his findings, Lamberth wrote: "After years of litigation, endless depositions, the fictionalized portrayal of this lawsuit and its litigants on television, this court is left to conclude that with the lawsuit, to quote Gertrude Stein, 'there's no there there.'" A Reagan appointee once lauded by Klayman himself as "this great jurist," he showed a talent for understatement when he noted that "after ample opportunity," the plaintiffs "have not produced any evidence of the far-reaching conspiracy that sought to use intimate details from FBI files for political assassinations that they alleged. The only thing that they have demonstrated is that this unfortunate episode -- about which they do have cause to complain -- was exactly what the defendants claimed: a bureaucratic snafu."

And before you ask, Royce C. Lamberth was named to the bench in 1987 by Saint Ronnie himself.

Three presidents and their emotional baggage

Watching the incredible footage of Laura Ling and Euna Lee arriving home today after Bill Clinton's more successful than any of us could have imagined mission, I realized that while this must be the kind of heady moment for Clinton that has no doubt been in short supply lately, it was an example of how someone's unresolved emotional baggage from childhood can be somehow channelled into good works.

It's no secret to anyone anymore that Bill Clinton is a need machine who seems to only thrive when he's the center of attention. That his neediness is combined with a nearly unmatched personal charisma is what enabled him to become President of the United States instead of some kind of pathetic stalker. But it's that very neediness of attention that led him to nearly squander his entire presidency on a rather tawdry extramarital dalliance.

Predictably, Rush Limbaugh and the comedians of late-night TV have been making the obvious young women-in-prison jokes and speculation about Clinton's motives, but it's hard to watch Clinton's man-hug of Al Gore and not see that in the North Korea mission there was far more mea culpa than hubba hubba.

The disaster that is the presidency of George W. Bush is forever scarred by Bush the Younger's issues with his own father. From well before he was even elected, George W. Bush had planned to find some excuse to go into Iraq and succeed where his father had failed. It was never quite clear whether what Bush wanted was his father's approval, or if his rage at the man after whom he was named was so great that he wanted to outdo his father in every way. What is indisputable, however, is that George W. Bush's father issues, from his Iraq policy to his choice of Vice President, may very well have ruined this country beyond repair.

And now we get to Barack Obama, the current president for whom many voted with a high degree of hope that he was going to be our Great Progressive Messiah, when HIS reality behind the mask was of a man who had spent his life navigating en pointe between the world of his white mother and grandparents, and the world in which his skin color and hair texture and facial features made him unmistakably black.

During the campaign, this was said about him in an AP article:

But it is here in Chicago that Obama learned to put together coalitions, understand the value of compromise and the need to bridge gaps — all things he says will work in the White House.

It was here that Barack Obama, activist, became Barack Obama, politician.

He did it by relying on his experience as an outsider, always finding ways to meld with worlds that were not his own.

"He was a stranger but he made his way," says Mike Kruglik, who worked with Obama as an organizer. "He could see himself in other people."

[snip]

Though he had a diverse group of friends, he and two others among Punahou's few black students met weekly for what became known as "ethnic corner."

"It was more about learning from one another, other than it's the only place we feel safe," says Tony Peterson, one of the three. They discussed interracial dating, education — and, he says, probably "whether we would see a black president in our lifetime."

Peterson and other buddies say Obama never spoke of the turmoil he revealed in his memoir, "Dreams from My Father," in which he wrote about wrestling with his racial identity and using drugs — including marijuana and cocaine — to "push questions of who I was out of my mind."

This is not a man who ever wanted to have to choose between those with whom he clearly identified and those who had raised him and loved him. As another man with innate leadership skills and nearly unsurpassed personal charisma, he has made his career using that to help him more successfully navigate what seem to be vastly divergent worlds.

And then he encountered Washington Republicans.

It is so beyond Barack Obama's nature, like it is beyond Bill Clinton's calculus, to conceive of a world in which his skills can't bring Mike Enzi and Olympia Snowe and Mike Ross to the table to hammer out a health care reform package that really is about reform. He has been so successful at navigating two very different worlds that he simply cannot fathom being unable to navigate Washington Democrats and the Washington Blue Dog/Republican axis. But because the navigation has become as important to him as the goal, he seems alarmingly willing to not just compromise with, but capitulate to, a bunch of people who would happily see him assassinated or disgraced -- anything but see him actually succeed.

Keith Olbermann discussed Obama's continued insistance on "bipartisanship" on health care reform when the Republicans clearly aren't interested with Chris Hayes this evening:

Three presidents, prisoners of their childhood traumas. Why can't they just get some good behavioral/cognitive therapy like the rest of us?

The Big Dawg has still got it

I'm no great fan of Bill Clinton. He's the one who started out this business of capitulation to Republicans (and look where that got him), he squandered a fair chunk of his presidency because he never really dealt with his childhood baggage, he's needy, he's a pain in the ass, and he was horrible to Barack Obama in the primaries.

That said, no one does overseas negotiation better (even if the unheralded involvement of the Secretary of State is going to give the Freepers fits about Klinton Konspiracies (and about Bill Clinton on a plane with two young women):

Former President Bill Clinton left North Korea on Wednesday morning after a dramatic 20-hour visit, in which he won the freedom of two American journalists, opened a diplomatic channel to North Korea’s reclusive government and dined with the North’s ailing leader, Kim Jong-il.

Mr. Clinton departed from Pyongyang, the capital, around 8:30 a.m. local time, along with the journalists, Laura Ling, 32, and Euna Lee, 36, on a private jet bound for Los Angeles, according to a statement from the former president’s office.

You too, Bill.

Thank you, Bill:

Full text:

Wednesday Remarks at the Democratic Convention by President Clinton

I am honored to be here tonight to support Barack Obama. And to warm up the crowd for Joe Biden, though as you'll soon see, he doesn't need any help from me. I love Joe Biden, and America will too.

What a year we Democrats have had. The primary began with an all-star line up and came down to two remarkable Americans locked in a hard fought contest to the very end. The campaign generated so much heat it increased global warming.

In the end, my candidate didn't win. But I'm very proud of the campaign she ran: she never quit on the people she stood up for, on the changes she pushed for, on the future she wants for all our children. And I'm grateful for the chance Chelsea and I had to tell Americans about the person we know and love.

I'm not so grateful for the chance to speak in the wake of her magnificent address last night. But I'll do my best.

Hillary told us in no uncertain terms that she'll do everything she can to elect Barack Obama.

That makes two of us.

Actually that makes 18 million of us - because, like Hillary, I want all of you who supported her to vote for Barack Obama in November.

Here's why.

Our nation is in trouble on two fronts: The American Dream is under siege at home, and America's leadership in the world has been weakened.

Middle class and low-income Americans are hurting, with incomes declining; job losses, poverty and inequality rising; mortgage foreclosures and credit card debt increasing; health care coverage disappearing; and a big spike in the cost of food, utilities, and gasoline.

Our position in the world has been weakened by too much unilateralism and too little cooperation; a perilous dependence on imported oil; a refusal to lead on global warming; a growing indebtedness and a dependence on foreign lenders; a severely burdened military; a backsliding on global non- proliferation and arms control agreements; and a failure to consistently use the power of diplomacy, from the Middle East to Africa to Latin America to Central and Eastern Europe.

Clearly, the job of the next President is to rebuild the American Dream and restore America's standing in the world.

Everything I learned in my eight years as President and in the work I've done since, in America and across the globe, has convinced me that Barack Obama is the man for this job.

He has a remarkable ability to inspire people, to raise our hopes and rally us to high purpose. He has the intelligence and curiosity every successful President needs. His policies on the economy, taxes, health care and energy are far superior to the Republican alternatives. He has shown a clear grasp of our foreign policy and national security challenges, and a firm commitment to repair our badly strained military. His family heritage and life experiences have given him a unique capacity to lead our increasingly diverse nation and to restore our leadership in an ever more interdependent world. The long, hard primary tested and strengthened him. And in his first presidential decision, the selection of a running mate, he hit it out of the park.

With Joe Biden's experience and wisdom, supporting Barack Obama's proven understanding, insight, and good instincts, America will have the national security leadership we need.

Barack Obama is ready to lead America and restore American leadership in the world. Ready to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. Barack Obama is ready to be President of the United States.

He will work for an America with more partners and fewer adversaries. He will rebuild our frayed alliances and revitalize the international institutions which help to share the costs of the world's problems and to leverage our power and influence. He will put us back in the forefront of the world's fight to reduce nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and to stop global warming. He will continue and enhance our nation's global leadership in an area in which I am deeply involved, the fight against AIDS, TB and malaria, including a renewal of the battle against HIV/AIDS here at home. He will choose diplomacy first and military force as a last resort. But in a world troubled by terror; by trafficking in weapons, drugs and people; by human rights abuses; by other threats to our security, our interests, and our values, when he cannot convert adversaries into partners, he will stand up to them.

Barack Obama also will not allow the world's problems to obscure its opportunities. Everywhere, in rich and poor countries alike, hardworking people need good jobs; secure, affordable healthcare, food, and energy; quality education for their children; and economically beneficial ways to fight global warming. These challenges cry out for American ideas and American innovation. When Barack Obama unleashes them, America will save lives, win new allies, open new markets, and create new jobs for our people.

Most important, Barack Obama knows that America cannot be strong abroad unless we are strong at home. People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power.

Look at the example the Republicans have set: American workers have given us consistently rising productivity. They've worked harder and produced more. What did they get in return? Declining wages, less than 1/4 as many new jobs as in the previous eight years, smaller health care and pension benefits, rising poverty and the biggest increase in income inequality since the 1920s. American families by the millions are struggling with soaring health care costs and declining coverage. I will never forget the parents of children with autism and other severe conditions who told me on the campaign trail that they couldn't afford health care and couldn't qualify their kids for Medicaid unless they quit work or got a divorce. Are these the family values the Republicans are so proud of? What about the military families pushed to the breaking point by unprecedented multiple deployments? What about the assault on science and the defense of torture? What about the war on unions and the unlimited favors for the well connected? What about Katrina and cronyism?

America can do better than that. And Barack Obama will. But first we have to elect him. The choice is clear. The Republicans will nominate a good man who served our country heroically and suffered terribly in Vietnam. He loves our country every bit as much as we all do. As a Senator, he has shown his independence on several issues. But on the two great questions of this election, how to rebuild the American Dream and how to restore America's leadership in the world, he still embraces the extreme philosophy which has defined his party for more than 25 years, a philosophy we never had a real chance to see in action until 2001, when the Republicans finally gained control of both the White House and Congress. Then we saw what would happen to America if the policies they had talked about for decades were implemented.

They took us from record surpluses to an exploding national debt; from over 22 million new jobs down to 5 million; from an increase in working family incomes of $7,500 to a decline of more than $2,000; from almost 8 million Americans moving out of poverty to more than 5 and a half million falling into poverty - and millions more losing their health insurance.

Now, in spite of all the evidence, their candidate is promising more of the same: More tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans that will swell the deficit, increase inequality, and weaken the economy. More band-aids for health care that will enrich insurance companies, impoverish families and increase the number of uninsured. More going it alone in the world, instead of building the shared responsibilities and shared opportunities necessary to advance our security and restore our influence.

They actually want us to reward them for the last eight years by giving them four more. Let's send them a message that will echo from the Rockies all across America: Thanks, but no thanks. In this case, the third time is not the charm.

My fellow Democrats, sixteen years ago, you gave me the profound honor to lead our party to victory and to lead our nation to a new era of peace and broadly shared prosperity.

Together, we prevailed in a campaign in which the Republicans said I was too young and too inexperienced to be Commander-in-Chief. Sound familiar? It didn't work in 1992, because we were on the right side of history. And it won't work in 2008, because Barack Obama is on the right side of history.

His life is a 21st Century incarnation of the American Dream. His achievements are proof of our continuing progress toward the "more perfect union" of our founders' dreams. The values of freedom and equal opportunity which have given him his historic chance will drive him as president to give all Americans, regardless of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation or disability, their chance to build a decent life, and to show our humanity, as well as our strength, to the world.

We see that humanity, that strength, and our future in Barack and Michelle Obama and their beautiful children. We see them reinforced by the partnership with Joe Biden, his wife Jill, a dedicated teacher, and their family.

Barack Obama will lead us away from division and fear of the last eight years back to unity and hope. If, like me, you still believe America must always be a place called Hope, then join Hillary, Chelsea and me in making Senator Barack Obama the next President of the United States.

THIS is the Bill Clinton we've been wanting to see. THIS is the gifted Bill Clinton, the charismatic Bill Clinton, the one who is occasionally able to step outside his own need and his own narcissism to recognize that this process is bigger than himself and his own ego and his own bottomless pit of need for adulation and attention.

This has been a very classy night for Bill 'n' Hill. Now let's go out there and send these greedy, soulless wingnut bastards back to the Dark Ages in which they want ALL of us to live.

Next up: Blarney Joe Biden, whom I expect to tear the roof off the Pepsi Center.