The promise to continue (or bring back) President Clinton’s Golden Age, which finished with George Bush moving to the White House, has become the lead line of Hillary Clinton’s nomination, says Sergey Strokan.
Photo: Alexander Miridonov
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Better Keep Him in the Closet
The Price of the Question
The Saturday vote in South Carolina has left the question of the Democratic nomination in the U.S. presidential race open. But after Barack Obama’s second win the last thing I want to do is to repeat something that has been said a lot of time – American elections are as unpredictable as ever and it is essentially real politics. It would be more interesting to take the Clintons as an example and look at the issue of succession and successors which keeps intrigued the United States and Russia alike. The epoch of Clinton the husband and the would-be epoch of Clinton the wife may be separated by eight “dark years” of George Bush, but Hillary Clinton clearly positions herself as a political successor to her husband. This succession is split in time but Mrs. Clinton will have to deal with problems that any politician in the world faces if they move to power on the shoulder of their predecessors.
The promise to continue (or bring back) President Clinton’s Golden Age, which finished with George Bush moving to the White House, has become the lead line of Hillary Clinton’s nomination and transformation of a wife into a U.S. presidential candidate. But this is America. And even if the much-loved ex-president Clinton says on TV he thinks Hillary is the country’s best choice, it does not mean she will win. So, with no chances to solve the problem with a single television address, the couple has to travel from state to state, bear hardships of the campaign, choking the dust and dirt of this trail, walk hand in hand and perform in duo. The message to voters is the following: “Look at Bill and think back to how great it was to have him. Now look at Hillary and think how great it will be to have her. Bill guarantees that – he is there, standing next to her and shining on you with his irresistible smile.” If someone looks at the couple and starts saying that this is some sort of political Siamese twins, and it is not clear where Bill ends and Hillary beings, this will be branded as malicious talk which has nothing to set against succession, which is actually the greatest invention of modern politics.
The misfortune that befell the Clintons in South Carolina has reminded everyone that even hi-tech inventions sometimes have faults in the most unexpected moments. Sooner or later successors find themselves in a situation when the predecessor’s gun fires in them, not in the opponents. And then they have to answer the question that would better be buried deep. The question is whether they are clones or second editions of the predecessors and cannot exist as independent politicians or are they the creatures that can leave the creator or even rebel against him? After South Carolina Hillary Clinton may have to choose the latter and ditch the idea of succession in order to survive.
Sergey Strokan
All the Article in Russian as of Jan. 28, 2008
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