Taylor Marsh – TaylorMarsh.com – News, Opinion and Weblog on Progressive Politics

BY TAYLOR MARSH

Over all the many years I’ve been counting women on the Sunday shows I’ve waited
for this one. Yesterday, for the first time in their history, two presidential campaign
surrogates were on “Meet
the Press”, and they were both women. Tom Brokaw began his reluctant
anchor position with flourish having these two females on. It was a huge day for
women in the political arena, though no doubt few will mark the event. But it’s even bigger when both women can’t remember
the president who presided over the… ahem… “boom years,”
at the same time the Republican surrogate gives a nod to Hillary, while the
Democrat surrogate sits mute. This is one for the books.

On the economy:

MS. FIORINA: Actually, I don’t think so. And, as a business person, I do pay attention to the numbers, and there is a plan to balance the budget by 2013. It begins with the most important component, which is that we have to get this economy growing again. Not growing as quickly as it was, for example, during the boom years, although that would be terrific.

Boom years? Really? “Boom years.” Exactly who presided over those
“boom years,” Ms. Fiorina? You expect this from a Republican.

Then came Claire:

…Now, what is (Barack Obama) going to do, he’s going to take the very thinnest sliver at the top, and he’s going to say to that thin sliver at the top, “We’re going to put you back at a tax rate that happened before George Bush. …

Let’s see, who was president before George Bush? Hmmmm…. let me think….
It will come to me… wait for it. No, just can’t remember that guy. You
know, the 20 million jobs, the lifting of all boats, sheesh, it just plain skipped
my mind. Oh, but Barack is, what did Claire say again? Oh, right: We’re
going to put you back at a tax rate that happened before George Bush. Right,
Barack Obama would follow President What’s His Name’s economic plan. If only Claire could remember the guy’s name.

I’ll think of it in a minute.

McCaskill then stumbled miserably over spending cuts to then go on and trip
over “obviously going to have to cut spending when it–in, in some ways,
in, in the defense, in terms of the war in Iraq,” only to have Brokaw remind
her of our military being in disrepair with more funds needed not less, something her own candidate has proposed. But
then she did the boom thing,
too.

SEN. McCASKILL: Some of the war dividend that we will get will go back right into the military, and Barack Obama has proposed that. But he will, in fact–and, and it was interesting that Carly referred to the boom years. That’s when we had a Democratic president and a Democratic Congress. Those were the boom years.

Hello? There’s that reference again. It’s come to me! A Democratic
president and a Democratic Congress. Those were the boom years. Yeah, those
boom years. Let’s see, we had Reagan in the 1980s, not so boomy. George H.W.
Bush, fughettaboutit. Then that guy… President What’s His Name? Come on,
you know… got it!

Excuse me, but when did William Jefferson Clinton, the only elected two-term
Democratic president since F.D.R. become “a Democratic president”
who doesn’t get named, but is replaced by some amorphous “boom years”
rhetoric, while Obama national co-chair says “We’re going to put you
back at a tax rate that happened before George Bush,” without having
the respect, the decency, the political class to actually name William Jefferson
Clinton?

The former President just can’t get any respect, especially from team Obama. He’s been reduced to Mr. “Complication,” when he’s referred to at all.

So, here we go again, it seems. Another Democratic nominee distancing himself from Clinton. How’d that work out last time it was tried?

Hey, but wait, it gets worse:

MR. BROKAW: Ms. Fiorina, you have been openly supportive of Senator Hillary Clinton and the kind of campaign that she ran. You understood, as a woman, the kinds of challenges that you–you said that you admired her, the way that she ran the campaign. MS. FIORINA: I did. MR. BROKAW: If Senator McCain gets elected, will there be a place in his government for Senator Hillary Clinton? MS. FIORINA: I, I certainly don’t know. That’s up to John McCain… MR. BROKAW: Would you recommend it? MS. FIORINA: …I know that he admires and respects her. It’s not my business to recommend people for John McCain’s Cabinet. But let me just say, if I may. I do have admiration and respect for Hillary Clinton. I know that John McCain does as well. I have empathy for what she went through. …

The conversation continues on economic matters after Fiorina’s graceful nod to Hillary, without Claire McCaskill offering one word on Hillary Clinton’s behalf herself. McCaskill jumped in to opine on economics, without taking even a moment to second Fiorina. Not that Ms. McCaskill had to, mind you, but considering Hillary is the most important female in the Democratic Party, who also happened to almost beat the current nominee in the end, it would have been, er… appropriate, especially since Obama not only needs her supporters’ votes, but also her fundraisers’ cash nice.

Two key political women on “Meet the Press,” both of whom are at the center of today’s presidential story. Historic. Minus the fact that Obama’s national co-chair couldn’t
bring herself to second Carly Fiorina’s respect for Hillary
Clinton, while also not being able to utter the name of President William Jefferson
Clinton, who just so happens to be the only elected two-term president since F.D.R. Yep, that’s historic all right.

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