2016 Postmortem
Showing Original Post only (View all)Yes, Millennials also cost us the election. [View all]
There was no populist "uprising". A Razor thin loss in the Blue Wall doesn't spell rejection, it tells me a couple thousand people were too damn clueless and I include my generation in the clueless category - millennials.
I saw the shit unfold myself, I was neck deep with my friends , my peers, in discussions about Hillary, trying to persuade, trying to get them to contextualise what was at stake. That politics is never "Perfect", that flawed Democrats have accomplished great things - LBJ anyone? JFK..FDR??? I was persuasive sometimes, but not all the time, but hell I tried. Yes a flawed democrat could lead us to the health care we want, could prepare this country for the future, that this year was NOT the year to fuck around with alternatives. Politics is ALWAYS a choice between the greater evil and the CONSIDERABLY LESS evil/partly good. You don't survive in this game without dirt under your fingernails. No fight is completely fair, to get into the arena requires cunning, subterfuge, tools we don't like to talk about but should, strategies to ensure outcomes to benefit those dependent on those outcomes -And Americans are desperate, now more than ever we need our civil rights protected, the health of us all and the planet depends on the choices we make so spare me the whole "I am tired of voting for the lesser evil". The only perfect candidate we ever had was Jimmy Carter, and I'm sure someone somewhere has a story about that one time he got a speeding ticket or some shit.
Part of critiquing Hillary must involve how successful the Republican propaganda machine has been against her and against the Left. And once again,like 2000, the Left cannibalized itself, unleashing potentially 8 years of fuckery, the consequences of which will be felt for far longer.
And how easy it was this time - a barrage of stupid $Hillary memes - Shillary, Killary, hilLIARY, Hellary. The stupid accusations of corruption ( spare me the faux outrage about Wall St speeches and all the other BS), the dumb edited YouTube videos, all successfully worked to drag Hillary - a hard working public servant - to the level of a short fingered, vulgar narcissistic egomaniac - a billionaire who took advantage of the housing crisis, stiffed small businesses, discriminated against black tenants, a shameless groper of P***y , born with a silver spoon in his mouth, bailed out by banks, has a litany of business fails, on top of possessing no convictions other than helping himself - this fucking asshole was "anti-establishment".
And let's examine the "anti-establishment" BS. What was so wrong with the establishment? You feel they wouldn't have heard the message this time around? Hillary's feet would have been held to the fire like NO OTHER PRESIDENT IN THE HISTORY OF THIS COUNTRY. She would have been expected to do things a President cannot even fucking do but now we have a President who is sure to be graded on a curve- how's that for irony?? We had 8 years of Obama where we got Obamacare, which was the beginning of a journey towards healthcare for all. The Economy is now showing some signs of recovery. There was the recognition that Climate Change will bite us in the ass and , under Obama, an understanding that while we can't phase out all fossil fuel extraction RIGHT NOW, we can continue to invest in renewables and start a phase out period. Well we can say fucking goodbye to all of that progress. But it was all worth it right, we sure showed "the establishment" right???
I had to endure the never ending bullshit of Hillary and Donald being the two most dislikes candidates in History and my generation lapped it all up. It's small comfort to know that the majority of them couldn't stomach voting for Donald, but at the end of the day we have to fix the shit he has stained the Oval Office with, and immediately he's let us know just how much he's going to fuck up with an abysmal choice for Health Sec who doesn't respect Science, a Climate Skeptic as head of the EPA, an asshole as AG, a white nationalist as his top advisor, the possible dismantling, instead of fixing, of the VA, a Transport Sec who is the wife of the Senate Majority Leader and our top diplomat will likely be military general.
I don't want to hear any bullshit about "they should have given it to Bernie" Crap. It was obvious the Dems would have chosen a dyed-in-wool Dem compared to a newbie who arrived yesterday. It was obvious Hillary was going to win the Primary, the math was on her side , the votes were on her side. So I don't want to hear that shit.
Yes I am still fucking angry.
I'll paraphrase a Hillary Email where she asked "Why are liberals the world over so clueless?" Well Hillary, if you ever read this, you'll have some idea..
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/12/02/yes-you-can-blame-millennials-for-hillary-clintons-loss/?utm_term=.94440ce93b09