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February 10, 2012
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Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
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Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
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Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
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January 27, 2012
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Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
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Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
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Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
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Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
January 19, 2012
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Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
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January 13, 2012
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Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz: Thriving through touch: Gentle massage helps older people with low mobility improve in mind and body
January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
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Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
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January 11, 2012
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Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
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Jewish World Review
Feb. 18, 2008
12 Adar I 5768
Perils of identity politics: Hillary's learning something about loyalty
By
Suzanne Fields
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
A friend dropped by for a cup of coffee the other day after a visit to her mother at Leisure World of Maryland, where the wealthy live in leisurely retirement. "Hillary has the Bubbie Brigade behind her," she said, shaking her head in wonder. Nobody knows this better than Bill Clinton, who went to tea with the Leisure World ladies a day or two before the Potomac primaries. Older women are not necessarily Bill's cup of tea, but the ladies many of them "senior feminists" were thrilled. They want to see a woman in the White House before they die.
Nice thoughts, but identity politics are rarely so benign as these ladies suggest. This election campaign is largely driven by personality, and identity politics cover a multitude of sinners tempted to indulge groupthink at the expense of independent thinking. Enhancing individual rights collectively can backfire, leading to a descent into prejudice. That's the price of multipurpose, multicultural plotting.
Hillary, for a good example, has been counting on the loyalty of Hispanic voters. But when she replaced Patti Solis Doyle, her national campaign manager and the most prominent Latina in her campaign, with Maggie Williams, a loyalist without Latina credentials, many Hispanics perceived it as disloyalty to them. Ms. Solis Doyle, the sixth child of Mexican immigrants, had been with Hillary since 1991. The disappointment was especially bitter after Hillary won California with a late Hispanic surge.
Steven Ybarra, a California superdelegate who heads the voting rights committee of the Hispanic caucus of the Democratic National Committee, sent a fiery e-mail to Latino voters, demonstrating that like Latin lovers, Latino voters do not cotton to being jilted. "Apparently, loyalty is not a two-way street," he wrote. "Latino superdelegates like myself ... will have cause to pause."
Patti Solis Doyle will remain as an "adviser," but she obviously does not expect to do much advising. She says she looks forward to spending more time with her kids. Only a year ago, she was described as Hillary's "single most important political adviser." Dumping Ms. Solis Doyle comes just as the campaign moves to Texas, where Hispanics make up a third of the Democratic constituency. The fall-out could be lethal. Identity politics have played to the Clintons' advantage for years, but now the worm is turning. Identity politics hurt Hillary badly in South Carolina after Bill offended many black voters with his comparison of Barack Obama to Jesse Jackson. (Jesse, relegated to the sidelines, seemed happy enough to see his name in the papers again.)
Gov. Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania, a Clinton loyalist, had earlier learned the new rules at some pain when he mentioned race in the debate with a commonplace observation that certain whites in his state would not vote for a black man. This was taken as a suggestion that Hillary would benefit from a "racist vote," though as an observation the governor was only saying what a lot of Democratic professionals, black and white, say privately.
Identity politics have always been a razor with two edges, quick to draw blood if not skillfully handled. Voters have heretofore had short memories of the unsavory ways that Bill Clinton played identity politics on behalf of his wife's successful campaign for the U.S. Senate. Now, a lot of Democrats are calling up those buried memories.
Debra Burlingame, director of the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation and the sister of the pilot of the plane that was crashed into the Pentagon on September 11, recalls in the Wall Street Journal how President Clinton bestowed clemency on convicted Puerto Rican terrorists in a shameless pander to New York Hispanics in 1999. The terrorists were members of the Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN), convicted of conspiracy, sedition, extortion and possession of illegal weapons and explosives.
"Hillary … was in the midst of her state-wide 'listening tour' in anticipation of her run for the U.S. Senate in New York, a state which included 1.3 million Hispanics," Ms. Burlingame writes. Puerto Rican politicians in New York were thrilled; the FBI and the Justice Department were horrified. President Clinton said the thugs were being punished for "guilt by association," but it was actually a case of "guilt by participation."
Bill was more than just a husband supporting his wife in her race for the Senate; he was abusing the perks of his office to pander on Hillary's behalf. He's more than just a husband now in her race for the White House, by playing identity politics with abandon. Speaking of abandon, that's what we're seeing again, only this time it's Bill and Hillary suffering the pains of abandonment.
Bubbies of the world and the rest of us beware.
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Suzanne Fields Archives
© 2006, Creators Syndicate, Suzanne Fields
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