Krugman, "Clinton rules," and the reason why Wright matters

Many became infuriated with me when I turned against the Savior From Illinois. I have become disaffected with the entire left -- not so much over issues of ideology or policy, but because I will never tolerate the left's embrace of Limbaugh-ism -- i.e., the politics of smear and vitriol.

In this country, anti-Clintonism is -- like anti-Catholicism -- a socially acceptable form of hate. That's why Kos echoes Fox News talking points. You'll read David Brock's Blinded By the Right with new eyes, now that far worse pseudo-journalistic atrocities occur every day in progressive blogs.

Paul Krugman thinks much as I do, although he has not given public voice to so deep a disaffection.

Why, then, is there so much venom out there?

I won’t try for fake evenhandedness here: most of the venom I see is coming from supporters of Mr. Obama, who want their hero or nobody. I’m not the first to point out that the Obama campaign seems dangerously close to becoming a cult of personality. We’ve already had that from the Bush administration — remember Operation Flight Suit? We really don’t want to go there again.

What’s particularly saddening is the way many Obama supporters seem happy with the application of “Clinton rules” — the term a number of observers use for the way pundits and some news organizations treat any action or statement by the Clintons, no matter how innocuous, as proof of evil intent.

The prime example of Clinton rules in the 1990s was the way the press covered Whitewater. A small, failed land deal became the basis of a multiyear, multimillion-dollar investigation, which never found any evidence of wrongdoing on the Clintons’ part, yet the “scandal” became a symbol of the Clinton administration’s alleged corruption.

During the current campaign, Mrs. Clinton’s entirely reasonable remark that it took L.B.J.’s political courage and skills to bring Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream to fruition was cast as some kind of outrageous denigration of Dr. King.

I call it Clinton rules, but it’s a pattern that goes well beyond the Clintons. For example, Al Gore was subjected to Clinton rules during the 2000 campaign: anything he said, and some things he didn’t say (no, he never claimed to have invented the Internet), was held up as proof of his alleged character flaws.

For now, Clinton rules are working in Mr. Obama’s favor. But his supporters should not take comfort in that fact.

For one thing, Mrs. Clinton may yet be the nominee — and if Obama supporters care about anything beyond hero worship, they should want to see her win in November.

For another, if history is any guide, if Mr. Obama wins the nomination, he will quickly find himself being subjected to Clinton rules. Democrats always do.

I agree: Clinton Rules will become Obama Rules after the convention, should he prevail. The Obama-as-Muslim fib gives us a presage of what is to come. I will have zero sympathy for Obama, no matter how ludicrous or unfair the charge against him. He who lives by the smear...

Those who think the Wright controversy is over are fooling themselves. They've been so thoroughly brainwashed by ludicrous progblog lies -- "The DLC is an all-powerful monster, and Clinton is its creature!" "The Clintons are racists!" "The Clintons run Fox News!" "Vince Foster! Vince Foster! Vince Foster!" -- that they've come to inhabit a reality that has few points of contact with the actual world.

The left refuses to understand that the media is, at present, playing according to Clinton Rules. That is why the Bosnia flap was immediately puffed up to seem far more important than Wright.

In the general (should Obama win), Clinton will no longer be a factor. Everyone will sense the atmospheric shift as Obama Rules kick in.

That is when we will see the real Wright firestorm.

McCain probably won't touch the issue -- not personally. But the swiftboaters will feast. More than that. Rezko will become a name known to everyone, not just to political junkies. And we will encounter a whole host of other scandals -- real, hyperbolized and imaginary.

Those who think that Obama's over-rated Great Speech has put the Wright issue behind us simply do not recognize reality. That speech was delivered under Clinton Rules. The pundits consider Hillary Enemy No. 1 -- and the enemy of one's enemy is, at least temporarily, one's friend.

If he secures the nomination, Obama won't be able to play the game he's playing now -- pretending to be the candidate of unity while heading up a vicious campaign of hate and smear. He can play that game as long as his foe is Hillary, a socially-sanctioned smear target.

If he tries that same shit against McCain, the public will see him as a slick manipulator besmirching Everybody's Grandfather.