January 20, 2003
Interrupted Agenda
A new answer to the puzzle of "why did they hate Clinton so bizarrely?" is becoming apparent.We were all surprised at the speed and efficiency with which the Bush faction has come to power. We now see that a whole coalition was waiting in the wings, with ready-to-go plans and laws, just waiting for Republican control to be implemented. This has resulted in what looks like a rapid power grab, but is probably just the culmination of a power grab long in the works.
If we posit that the Republican/CIA/defense industry/corporate government machine has been a controlling influence since the 1980s -- or possibly going back to Nixon -- then we can see that they might have been caught by surprise at Clinton's election. What if these plans really were all in place by the late 80s and would have been closer to being realized, until suddenly some egghead populist manages to grab the popular vote in the 1992 election, largely thanks to the unexpected success of Perot?
That would neatly, and fully, explain the bewilderingly fierce and dedicated attacks on Clinton. We've been reading various psychoanalytical theories for years now about why the right was so illogically vituperative toward Clinton, and none of them were really convincing. But the idea of an interrupted regime explains a lot. If nothing else, it explains the sheer determination the Right showed in attacking Clinton; mere psychological explanations couldn't account for such ferocity, funding, and near-success!
-Jonah