How Things Change in 12 Years...

[msallied]

It was 1996. I was a 16-year-old Senior in high school. Bill Clinton was running for re-election against Bob Dole, and my American Government teacher had gotten us tickets to Clinton's campaign rally in Dayton, OH. We were bused into the city to the heart of crazy town. Security was tight (of course, it was incredibly lax by today's standards, but still...). Plenty of anti-Clinton protesters were lining the streets, but once Clinton took that stage, it was magical. He was magical. I was a kid, but I couldn't help but be swept up in the awe that I was standing a mere 30 feet from the most powerful man in the world. He was charming. He was charismatic. He was enthusiastic, intelligent, and engaging. And he had the crowd going wild as we waved our signs and truly felt a part of something big.

Twelve years later, I see that same man, and I feel disgusted and I feel sad. I'm 28 years old and I'm no longer impressed. I've grown cynical and jaded. In fact, I'm just tired. The name "Clinton" has joined the name "Bush" to become a symbol of the scourge that has festered in Washington, corrupting it, crippling it, and sucking the hope from the American people. In 12 years, I went from a wide-eyed, enchanted girl who thought Clinton was the beacon for hope in this tired country to seeing him (and now his wife) as part of the problem.

I can only hope that in another dozen years, I don't lump the name "Obama" in with that same sentiment of disgust and exhaustion. I want a brighter day. This country has been through enough and it's put the world through enough.

[Samantha]

1. He was magical then

But politics DOES corrupt, and he has been to hell and back many times over. You say you are cynical and jaded. I believe he is too.

Isn't Obama now about the same age Bill Clinton was when you saw him in person?

Obama appears to have the type of demeanor to absorb a lot without letting it get to him, so perhaps he will not become as diminished by the process as has Bill Clinton.

Just some random thoughts....

[msallied]

3. I think you're right...

Politics does corrupt and Bill Clinton had been in the game a long time in 1996 and had already been corrupted by it. We were just enjoying too much peace and prosperity to notice or care at the time, and he got a pass on a lot of things. I think I like Obama so much because generally speaking, he hasn't been playing the game quite as long,. Sure he's had some experience as elected official, but in a different arena. He brings a sort of zest and optimism that I've never seen in national politics, at least in my lifetime. I imagine that is how people felt back in 1960 when John F. Kennedy looked directly into the eyes of Americans in that first televised debate and made them believe again. I genuinely feel moved by a politician for the first time in my adult life. I don't want to lose that.

[anonymous171]

2. I was like that too.

Now I see corporatism when I look at Bill and Hillary. I see the DLC and noeconservative values.

[msallied]

4. Same here. Sigh...

And someone asked the question earlier, but did I change or did they? I like to think I did. They've been playing dirty for about as long as I've been breathing.

[saracat]

9. You had better look at Obama again if corporatism worries you. He is

even more of a corporatist than Hillary or Bill.

On February 10, 2005, Obama voted in favor of the passage of the misnamed Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 which seriously hampers the rights of ordinary citizens to challenge corporations. Senators Biden, Boxer, Byrd, Clinton, Corzine, Durbin, Feingold, Kerry Leah, Reid and 16 other democrats voted against it.

So did 14 state attorneys general, including Lisa Madigan of Obama’s home state of Illinois. She called it a “corporate giveaway.” The Senate also received a desperate plea from more than 40 civil rights and labor organizations, including the NAACP, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Human Rights Campaign, American Civil Liberties Union, Center for Justice and Democracy, Legal Momentum (formerly NOW Legal Defense Fund) and Alliance for Justice. SOURCE

They wrote:

“Under the Act citizens are denied the right to use their own state courts to bring class actions against corporations that violate state wage and hour and state civil rights laws, even where that corporation has hundreds of employees in that state. Moving these state law cases into federal court will delay and likely deny justice for working men and women and victims of discrimination. The federal courts are already overburdened. Additionally, federal courts are less likely to certify classes or provide relief for violations of state law”

The bill which will seriously impair labor, consumer and civil rights involved five years of pressure from 100 corporations, 475 lobbyists, and tens of millions of corporate dollars to buy influence. It also involved the active participation of the Wall Street firms now funding the Obama campaign. The Civil Justice Reform Group, a business alliance comprising general counsels from Fortune 100 firms, was instrumental in drafting the class action bill, according to Public Citizen which also said in a 2003 report that Mayer-Brown partners and employees gave close to $100,000 <$92,817> to the Obama campaign by December 31, 2007. Mayer-Brown, hired by the US Chamber of Commerce, spent $16 million in 2003 lobbying the government on class action reform.”

[mrcheerful]

5. Try growing up remembering JFK being murdered and think of greatness that might

have been. Or how about when his brother was murdered leaving everyone else looking weak and unable to be president. Then seeing everyone thinking Nixon was going to be the "law and order" president, only to realize that when Nixon was speaking law and order, he was playing on the fears of white america because women and blacks were asking for everything that the white christian male had. Then Watergate and finding out Nixon was a crook who was no better then the ones that his law enforcement went after. How does Carter, Reagan the, *'s, Clinton or any of those other candidates look to us? We seen what could have been and we seen greed take over as a reality. Anymore to me voting has been choosing between a douche bag and a turd sandwich, I know that the america of my youth is long gone and theres no going back to the greatness of the country of my youth. I feel sorry for those born in the 70's and who grew up in the 80's, they never saw my america, they saw the greed feast years where it didn't matter how one got the money, just so long as they got money, Reagans pride and joy moment.

[msallied]

6. I wish I could have seen it...

I truly do. It's my hope that we can turn this damn thing around at least a little, to give the rest of us a taste. I think that's what Barack brings to a lot of us.

[mrcheerful]

7. My SO was born in 1974 the year I turned 18 my first vote was for Carter.

Its been down hill since then, I voted Carter because I wanted Nixon and the pukes out. The next thing I knew it was 1979 and Reagan with the god freaks. I couldn't believe people actually thought this 2 bit 3rd rate actor was better then Carter, but was I wrong. Reagan showed me just how stupid americans were becoming, for crying out loud they couldn't remember that the oil embargo was in 1974 and Carter was elected in 1976, so how did Carter get that laid at his feet? Americans gift of short term memory. Hell in 4 years they forgot Nixon, Ford, the Repuke page girl scandal and horrors of horrors they actually believed they needed a leader? WTF, A Leader? What the hell was that? Presidents were elected to protect the will of WE THE PEOPLE, not lead us. I don't want or need a leader, I want someone that will do the will of the people, not the few or the elite or special interest groups. JFK and to some extent Johnson ( I will never forgive him for the Nam lie )were that type of presidents, whats best for america as a whole. Were they perfect? Not by a long shot, but then americans didn't hold presidents to be saints or anything special, the way they do today. Look at how Democrats are acting in here, wtf does it matter who gets top position? All that matters is to drive pukes out and keep them out. Maybe then we will get people to put some pressure on them to do the right thing instead of pandering to their base, the highest bidders.

[fadedrose]

8. Sounds like you were idealistic, now you're wise...

The more elections you go through, the more cynical you become.

My only consolation is that no matter how bad the Dem presidents were, they were ALWAYS better, a lot better, than the repub ones.

Don't lose hope. Somebody good is bound to show up in your lifetime, maybe it's Obama.