Don't let overheated rhetoric divide: What superlative is left for BUSH? Step back and focus!

[DeepModem Mom]

San Francisco Chronicle: Don't let overheated rhetoric divide
Steve Kettmann
Monday, March 17, 2008

For a man whose dubious handling of the economy and the environment, on top of everything else, could drive his approval ratings even lower, President Bush is having a pretty good month. With so much over-the-top rhetoric flying back and forth on the Democratic side as the triple-overtime Obama-Clinton competition frays everyone's nerves, the practical effect has been to take the heat off Bush. If Hillary Rodham Clinton is a "monster," as ousted Obama aide Samantha Power claimed in a newspaper interview, what superlative does that leave for Bush? A president who condones torture, and gives the world the spectacle of Abu Ghraib, all without any accountability for the chain of command - that is a monster. A president whose reckless and incompetent war in Iraq has left hundreds of thousands of Iraqis dead, and just short of 4,000 U.S. soldiers, all without moving us a millimeter closer to success, as measured in any meaningful political progress - that is a monster.

Former "Sports Center" anchor Keith Olbermann was a hero to many for turning his nightly MSNBC show into a fiery rebuttal of the truth-stretching and Constitution-flouting of the Bush administration. Olbermann's Murrow-esque "Special Comment" segments were blistering and fiercely intelligent. Now Olbermann is directing his outrage at Hillary Clinton for not distancing herself more rapidly from Geraldine Ferraro, an understandable enough criticism - but loading up the charge with insane rhetoric, evoking "the vocabulary of David Duke." And we thought Olbermann's scalding-hot outrage was reserved for Bush because of his unique position as worst U.S. president ever. Actually not, but it sure is good for ratings....

The campaign has clearly reached a point where otherwise lucid, reflective people feel jerked toward extreme emotions. I happen to know Samantha Power, the Harvard professor who had to quit her unpaid post as one of Obama's top foreign-policy advisers....Power is without question one of the brightest, most imaginative thinkers we have on foreign policy, and yet it's now highly unlikely that she would be able to take a top job in any Obama administration - and that is a huge potential loss. Here's hoping that the forced departure of Power from Obama's inner circle will help encourage not tit-for-tat controversy-fanning, but a step back to focus on the bigger picture.

Exit polls show that many Democratic voters would be quite happy with either Obama or Clinton as the Democratic nominee. Either one would be an historic first, and a strong candidate to try to take back the White House from the Republicans and show the world that we, as a country, are determined to move forward beyond the disastrous Bush years. A tough campaign does not have to mean lasting divisions. It can start with you at home: If you are an Obama supporter, call a Clinton supporter you know and look for common ground. If you are a Clinton supporter, reach out to Obama supporters you know. It's probably too much to hope for a dream ticket, Obama-Clinton or Clinton-Obama, but we can at least keep in mind that we are fighting for the same thing - or ought to be - and that is getting to work to begin repairing the damage the Bush years have done at home and abroad. That job may take decades, not mere months or years.

(Steve Kettmann is the co-author of "Letter to a New President," with Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia, which will be published in June.)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/16/EDDCVK5TT.DTL

[Warpy]

1. What superlative remains for Stupid?

Worst.

That one says it all.