Good Grief

Another day, another iteration of the ZOMBIE FRAME that will not die about Hillary Clinton supporters' supposed lack of enthusiasm, this time couched in treating one of Clinton's greatest strengths as though it's somehow a weakness: "Clinton Offers Predictability in an Erratic Political Year."

During 1960 presidential campaign, swooning teenagers who ran after John Kennedy's convertible were called "jumpers." For Hillary, the predominant mood during her lunchtime kick-off rally for the April 19 New York primary was affection rather than raucous enthusiasm.

..."I don't have to tell you -- this is a wild election year," Clinton said in a tone that acknowledged that "wild" was an understatement. "I'm not taking anything or anyone for granted. We're going to work for every vote in every part of the state just like I did when I ran for the Senate."

It is difficult to imagine a presidential candidate more out of step than Hillary with the incoherent emotionalism running through the primaries in both parties.

...Listening to Hillary's half-hour speech (and, yes, the mind can drift while she's speaking), I realized that we probably have a better advance sense of her presidency than that offered by any other candidate in the past half century. There are no major mysteries about a second Clinton White House other than the role that would be played by Bill.

...Little about this White House agenda would prompt repeated standing ovations from partisan Democrats. They probably would nod approvingly -- and admire the new president's pluck in searching for compromise with seemingly intransigent Republicans. And Americans as a whole might even feel confident about President Hillary Clinton answering a 3:00 a.m. crisis phone call.

So, in these tumultuous times, the underlying message of the Clinton campaign is: "Please be seated. Everything will be okay."

"This election is filled with reactionary buffoons! But why does Hillary gotta be so boring, tho?" *pout*

One of the primary reasons for my enthusiasm about President Obama's presidency, as I've said previously, "is how competent it has been. I implicitly trust President Obama to know what he's doing and to not be a fucking embarrassment. And even when I have disagreed with the President's agenda, sometimes vehemently, I don't think he's come to his decisions down a path of unpreparedness or incompetence or untrustworthiness."

I don't take that for granted. Not after being born during the Nixon administration, spending my childhood during the Reagan administration, and spending a significant part of my adulthood during the George W. Bush administration. I appreciate it, and I am enthusiastic about it.

I'm pretty damn enthusiastic that Clinton would be similarly dependable and steadfast. I don't want my president to entertain me. I want my president to represent me in a way that doesn't constantly make me feel anxious.

Not valuing most highly the qualities of seriousness, competency, and predictability is why our presidential elections have become circuses. If Clinton is "boring," we could use a lot more "boring" in our politics.