In trying to understand the political vitriol..., page 1

One has to look at the people involved and their past histories:

Hilary Rodham Clinton was a young woman on the legal team that was bringing the charges against President Nixon for impeachment. She composed a legal brief that attempted to deny Nixon any legal counsel during the proceedings. Her brief was so contrived and closing of all loopholes, that if used the Senate would have been unable to bring forth charges for impeachment. She was removed from the legal team.

George HW Bush was head of the RNC at the time of the Nixon Impeachment, in a letter to Nixon he urged him to resign for both the good of the nation and of the party. The result was Nixon did resign and many political movers and shakers were denied their pound of flesh. When Ford became president, Bush was awarded with appointment as the Director of the CIA.

Gerald Ford became the first appointed president of the US when he succeeded Nixon. Ford had never been voted on by the people. He was appointed Vice President by Nixon when Agnew resigned, because Nixon needed a “boy scout” to clean up his image. It just so happened that Ford, liked and respected on a personal level by many on Capital Hill was an Eagle Scout recipient.

Jimmy Carter readily defeated Ford in 1976 partly because the nation was tired of the Nixon affair, but there was also a popular TV program on late Saturday nights that utilized the slapstick pratfalls of a young Chevy Chase to satirize Ford's slip on the icy steps of Air Force One. It is interesting to note the Ronald Reagan ran against Ford early in the 76 primaries and did not fair well at all. With the signing over of the Panama Canal and the Hostage Situation (which Carter took very personally), Carter was doomed to a single term presidency.

Ronald Reagan, the Teflon President, despite sweeping changes to presidential power (especially union busting), Reagan always appeared as a grandfatherly figure that the people loved as a whole. The eight years of Reagan was a reminder to the golden age of America for Americans. Naturally, this extended to his VP since the term limits to the presidency could not be removed. So the people elected GHW Bush to serve as Reagan's third term.

George HW Bush had some work to do. He had to clean up some things from his past (Iran-Contra Scandal, Saddam Hussein) But most important of all, here was the man that denied the political elite their pound of flesh oh so few years ago. “No new taxes.” Congress had the ways and means to take this guy out and keep their hands clean at the same time.

William Jefferson Clinton, the husband of the woman we started with, anyone seeing the ironic pattern yet? For the entire eight years, there were those that worked hard to find something to impeach this guy just for the fun of it and to send a message to Hilary. Clinton and his nature helped tremendously, but not completely...was there a backroom deal? The powers of the presidency were further expanded under Clinton. Ruby Ridge, Waco, Elian Gonzalez are good examples of the gov't can and will do and get away with it. Bill Clinton even said at one point that people should not criticize the actions of law enforcement. That statement told me that he either never read the Constitution, understood it or just flat out did not care. It was that statement that soured me on Clinton, lying was just icing on the cake. But the presidential censorship of freedom of speech and petition of grievances shouldn't really have surprised me. He did select Al Gore as his VP, Tipper Gore founded the PMRC after hearing one of their daughters singing Prince's “Darling Nikki”. Censorship is censorship no matter how you slice it. But I found it ironic that Prince, who despised Reagan and has alluded to being a Democrat in his music, was the cause for the Explicit Lyrics label.

Which brings us to Al Gore and George W Bush...Gore did not win out in the closest presidential election since, oh Nixon and JFK. (more irony?). Since Gore did not win, it made Clinton look not as golden as Reagan and with the now Senator Hilary Clinton in Congress could there be a more advantageous place and time to lash back at the son of the man that denied that pound of flesh oh so long ago? Yep, enter 9/11 and the War on Terror. Not to say that W did not have his faults (I opposed many things the man did), but how much of the vitriol comes from how people really feel versus how they have been told to feel? The hate of W began right out of the box, and eight years of hate does powerful and demented things to people both in the giving and receiving ends of the spectrum. Let us not forget that W expanded the presidential powers considerably farther.

Enter Obama, vanquisher of Hilary in the primaries and giver of Secretary of State. My how she has spent considerable time out of the country doing legwork. Far be it from me to say that Obama is not intelligent for keeping her away, but I would suggest that perhaps he might want to keep a closer eye on whatever it is that she is doing. The powers of the presidency seem to have no limit now. From firing of CEO's of private corporations to appointing positions of power with no Congressional checks or other forms of public scrutiny. Obama, with the help of a Democrat controlled Congress has spent more money than every administration preceding him in the previous 40-some years combined. An impressive feat in of itself. As for expansion of power, wow look at all the bills floating around. There is a bill to allow for one or both houses to pull up stakes and leave DC (and public view and scrutiny) should the “need” arise. There is a bill that allows complete control of the internet (the last bastion of free speech and first source for factual, unfiltered news of events around the world—let us not forget an instant form of communication to separated parties coordinating whatever they may be attempting).and of course the 800 lbs. Gorilla of personal intervention (CONTROL) in individual's lives,..Healthcare.

Disclaimer: This is just my personal observations. I have met and spoke with GHW Bush during the 1988 campaign and have spoke at length with a cousin of Carter that I had met once. I do have further opinions on different topics and people involved but tried to limit bias to a degree. Yes, I do place much emphasis on Hilary Clinton, but recognize the animosities that exist with the Bush family as well. It should be pointed out that W was not the favorite son of GHW Bush, Jeb Bush is actually. And I understand that this slice of a history lesson is old hat for some, and completely unknown to others.