Novak Swings at Hillary and Misses
12 March 2007 2:35 pm by Taylor Marsh
Fire, aim, er…
This is just ridiculous. Novak has finally jumped the senility barrier.
Of course, no political candidate should have to explain inconsistencies
from her high school days. What Clinton said at Selma is significant because
it betrays her campaign\’s panicky reaction to the unexpected rise of Obama
as a serious competitor for the Democratic nomination.(snip)
Speaking at Selma\’s First Baptist Church on the 42nd anniversary of the \”Bloody
Sunday\” freedom march, Clinton declared: \”As a young girl, I had
the great privilege of hearing Dr. King speak in Chicago. The year was 1963.
My youth minister from our church took a few of us down on a cold January
night to hear [King]. . . . And he called on us, he challenged us that evening
to stay awake during the great revolution that the civil rights pioneers were
waging on behalf of a more perfect union.\”(snip)
While Clinton was reinventing her past, her campaign was shaken by the first
serious public, internal Democratic criticism of the Clintons in years. …
Inconsistensies? Reinventing her past?
If Mr. Novak had read Hillary\’s book, published in \’03, he\’d have been clued in before he made
a jackass of himself today in the Post.
… .. Rev. Jones stressed that a Christian life was \”faith in action.\”
I had never met anyone like him. Don called his Sunday and Thursday night
Methodist Youth Fellowship sessions \”the University of Life.\” He
was eager to work with us because he hoped we would become more aware of life
outside Park Ridge [IL]. He sure met his goals with me. … We visited black
and Hispanic churches in Chicago\’s inner city for exchanges with their youth
groups.In the discussions we had sitting around church basements, I learned that,
despite the obvious differences in our environments, these kids were more
like me than I ever could have imagined. They also knew more about what was
happening in the civil rights movement in the South. I had only vaguely heard
of Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King, but these discussions sparked my
interest.So, when Don announced one week that he would take us to hear Dr. King speak
at Orchestra Hall, I was excited. My parents gave me permission, but some
of my friends\’ parents refused to let them go hear such a \”rabble-rouser.\”Dr. King\’s speech was entitled, \”Remaining Awake Through a Revolution.\”
Until then, I had been dimly aware of the social revolution occurring in our
country, but Dr. King\’s words illuminated the struggle taking place and challenged
our indifference: \”We now stand on the border of the Promised Land of
integration. The old order is passing away and a new one is coming in. We
should all accept this order and learn to live together as brothers in a world
society, or we shall perish together.\”Though my eyes were opening, I still mostly parroted the conventional
wisdom of Park Ridge\’s and my father\’s politics. … ..Living History, by Hillary Clinton (pgs. 22-23)
(TM review of Hillary\’s book)
Media Matters covered
this when the New York Times\’s Patrick Healy tried it after the Selma
speech. The truth is in print for anyone to see.
You can argue all day about Senator Clinton and Iraq, which I\’ve done.
It\’s also plain political
reality that Barack Obama\’s strengths have made Camp Hillary adjust their game
plan. That\’s good and shows her acceptance of a dynamic challenger. It will
also make Hillary stronger in the general election. Let\’s also understand that the criticism coming at her
is all part of the \’08 vetting process, which you can bet she expected. If Hillary can withstand the heat she\’s
taking today she\’ll be more prepared for the onslaught the Republicans will sling at her. But Novak taking on
her past by critiquing her Selma speech, especially on Dr. King, while throwing Barack
Obama in for emphasis, is conjuring up an issue out of whole cloth. Hillary
has written about Dr. King before. If Novak knew more about Hillary than what he reads or hears on the Fox \”News\” grapevine, he\’d have known this. He hasn\’t bothered so he doesn\’t.
Any young person, especially a young woman, myself included, who became interested
in politics in college (or before), most likely parroted or was influenced by
her father or older male sibling, in my case. It\’s absurd to think otherwise. Some women were influenced by activist mothers, no doubt, but not in my midwestern house. Hillary coming
from a Goldwater Republican household, so it only follows she would take up
part of that charge as a young woman. No big political crime to make your family\’s
political tradition the starting point of your education. Many of us have done
it, myself included. However, my education didn\’t stop at that point and neither did Hillary\’s.
Who wouldn\’t have been \”illuminated\” by hearing Dr. King in those
days? Only Mr. Novak, I imagine.
Novak took a cheap shot at candidate Clinton. It\’s embarrassing how widely
he missed his mark.
