Et Tu, Brute?

Here is an interesting clip out of a conversation between Robert Reich, former Bill Clinton Secretary of Labor, and Glenn Loury, an economist. Reich explains why he was "driven" to come out publicly and support Barack Obama by his disgust at the smear campaign the Hillary Clinton was using.



What amazes me is how the American public doesn't see how the back room "handlers" turn the election into a circus with all the razzle dazzle over "he can't be patriotic because he won't wear a flag pin" and not over "just how does his health care plan differ from the other candidates", or the infamous "swiftboating" of John Kerry that turned an authentic wartime soldier into a patsy boy while the "true grit" macho image was highlighted for men like Bush and Cheney (who couldn't be bothered with actually getting near a war).

Even worse was the way these spinmeisters destroyed Max Cleland, the triple amputee war vet who magically became unpatriotic and unwilling to "defend" America. Funny how a the guy who won used these spin techniques to win the election on "patriotism", Saxby Chambliss, never found the time or the will to go to Vietnam like Max Cleland. Instead he defended America from Law School: Chambliss was given a student deferment so he could attend law school. After that, he received a medical deferment (4-F) because of a bad knee.

So... this long tradition of patriotic chest-beating Republican "warriors" (who are eager to lead a nation to war but not actually do any frontline fighting) are busy destroying Barack Obama. And a guy like Robert Reich has had enough of these dirty tactics. He is aghast that Hillary Clinton, a victim of the Republican slime machine, has decided to use these same tactics against Obama. So he has stepped forward -- been forced to step forward -- and line up with Obama.