The Truth is Out There
I don’t believe in conspiracy theories. To suggest that Kennedy was killed by a vast international conspiracy or that the 2000 Presidential election was rigged or even that the US government allowed either AIDS or 9/11 to happen is to suggest that someone somewhere — a dark cabal of industrialists and clandestine political powerbrokers maybe — are in control of the world’s fortunes.
And the truth is that no one is in control. The natural state of humanity is brutal chaos and if anybody were in control, I would find that comforting. But anarchy is the default setting, and only law can dull its edge, muzzle its rampages, and briefly extinguish its fires.
This brings me to a conspiracy theory that is currently trolling the Internet, espoused by fringe bloggers and pundits alike: that Senator Hillary Clinton, aware that winning the Democratic nomination for President is numerically impossible, is willing to slyly sabotage Senator Barack Obama in the hopes that he will lose to Senator John McCain in November, thus opening the door for her to run again in 2012.
It is plausible, considering the fact that her political generation owes more to Richard Nixon than they will ever admit. After all, it’s the Baby Boomers who flock to the Clintons, and it’s those same Baby Boomers who have tried to make this nomination campaign about race and gender, rather than what it’s actually about — namely, generation.
I refuse to believe this conspiracy theory. As I said, it is plausible. But so is time travel. Senator Clinton has savagely attacked Senator Obama over every wedge issue she could possibly employ: he’s an elitist, he’s too young, he’s allied with religious fruitcakes and militant blacks, to name but a few.Whether these wounds inflicted within the party will fester and infect once he’s out on the national stage remains to be seen. But I definitely see how these tactics could benefit the opposition, and the opposition will surely exploit the precedent.
I can also imagine a national campaign where Senator Clinton disappears into the ether — she, her husband and their post-yuppie, retirement-happy Me generation political machine barely lifting their manicured paws to help the Democratic nominee. After all, some proponents of this conspiracy would point out that Senator Clinton and McCain share a fondness for macho, military posturing and pandering tax holiday snake oil. Perhaps she’d prefer to wait four years through an administration that doesn’t offend her various corporate contributors.
Yes, it’s all plausible. And to return to ol’ Tricky Dick, calculating patience is an advantageous weapon to the skilled politician with long-term vision.
Conspiracy theories are security blankets for the paranoid, and that is their enduring allure. Hillary and Bill Clinton haven’t conceived some villainous master plan. She’s overreacting and overcompensating, lurching for the brass ring with all the subtlety of a prince trying to extinguish birthday candles with a fire hose.
In her naked and desperate frenzy to assume the nomination she feels she’s entitled to, Clinton is poisoning the well she drinks from. Like a child smashing toys she doesn’t want to share with anyone else, her tantrums aren’t choreographed ballet but chaotic seizures.
Only in retrospect does it seem like some nefarious plot that was hatched. If Senator Obama loses to Senator John McCain, and, for the sake of argument, Senator Clinton were to rise, phoenix-like (or Nixon-like, pick your own metaphor), she will preside over a party as ideologically bankrupt as the GOP.
No one is in control, except when it comes to the individual controlling his or her actions. So here’s hoping that Senator Clinton comes to her senses and controls hers. For far too long, her generation has put party before country. She’s a disciplined political veteran wholly capable of conspiring to help wrest the White House from the Republicans.
very insightful.
Facts are not determined by what u believe, as sticking your head in the sand does not make them go away. Review the material form the JFK Catastrophie, the facts speak for themselves!