MARK PENN: HIllary's Karl Rove

[PoliticalAmazon]

The similarities between Hillary Clinton and Bush Jr include they both lie, they both are big on secrecy, they both believe in politicians selling the influence of their elected office to international corporations, they both supported neocon measures in Congress, they are both unethical, and--perhaps the most gut-wrenching for many Democrats--they both use the same political and campaign tactics.

Democratic voters have had to endure 8 years of Bush Jr's destructive forces against America. Much of it has been placed at the feet of Karl Rove, Bush's political strategist, upon whom he depends.

In fact, Bush was so dependent on Rove that even when Rove had to leave the White House because of mounting scandals, Bush kept him nearby in another position.

A more ethical politician would have kicked Rove out of Washington. Bush did not.

Now we turn to Hillary Clinton. She, like Bush Jr, is very dependent on a ruthelessly unethical poltiical adviser: Mark Penn. Mark Penn is at the root of many of Hillary's debacles during this campaign, including selling his services to Colombia leadership that has backed death squads against union organizers at the same time Hillary Clinton was claiming her newly born opposition to NAFTA, and at the same time Bill Clinton was backing the free-trade agreement between the U.S. and Colombia (as was Bush Jr) being presented to Congress.

One would think Hillary would have been outraged if, as she implied, Penn went behind her back to undercut her own newly-stated opposition to NAFTA and free-trade agreements. But it took days before enough political pressure built to force her to do what needed to be done...well, not QUITE what needed to be done.

What needed to be done if she wanted to restore any hope for ethics in her campaign would be to divorce Penn completely from the campaign.

But, like Bush Jr, she has become so dependent on Mark Penn that she can't be without him. So she demoted him to polling expert, but he seems to still play a significant role as her adviser. He did not suffer a pay cut. He did not leave her campaign. Like Karl Rove, he was assigned to another position from which he could continue to advise Hillary.

Mark Penn is Hillary Clinton's Karl Rove, and we can expect the same type of Rove influence and impact on a Clinton White House.