Tea Party, Occupy Wall Street, Arab Spring, Brazil unrest and Hillary Clinton's big choice

from thehill.com

By Brent Budowsky - 06/21/13 12:53 PM ET

In my last column I suggested that Hillary Clinton's big decision is not whether she runs for president, but what kind of president she would be if she does run and win.

Now a new poll shows Clinton would still clobber Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) in a Florida match-up. So much for the collapsed and discredited campaign of Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) to smear Clinton.

If this were the NBA finals, the score would be Clinton 120, Issa 40. Republican commentators are reduced to (falsely) suggesting Democrats are in trouble if Clinton does not run. Republican commentary careens from fantasy-like discussion of Sarah Palin — the part-term former governor of Alaska, which reads like 14 year old boys trying to date the prom queen — to equally fantasy-like discussion of Rubio that describes him as the GOP "savior."

Rubio is a serious man, which is why he is under attack from the are right, and he deserves better than comparison with any savior. 

Meanwhile, the show of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) in the midst is halfway through its 15 minutes of fame, while House Republicans, not satisfied with trying to alienate Hispanics for a generation, now insult America's farmers with their latest comic opera failure on the floor of the House.

Democrats should not rejoice. President Obama appears adrift, a president without a purpose or a passion, who gave a speech in Berlin that was attended by virtually nobody except invited guests and included nothing worthy of the occasion.

There is something powerful and profound happening in America and around the world. There are commonalities between the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street movements, and between those demonstrating in Brazil and those still pursuing the Arab Spring. They are the commonalities of opposition to insider elites and insider establishments of all kinds, in all places. 

As I noted in my column, the 10 percent favorable ratings for Congress should be humiliating to all who serve in Congress, but the poll showed almost equally humiliating public disapproval for big banks, big labor, newspapers and television news, among others.

There is a giant populist wave that continues to gather, and a battle of ideas between those who take the Tea Party line and those who take the Occupy Wall Street line. And between those who embody principled conservatism and those who embody principled progressivism. Neither kamikaze fantasy players on the retrograde right or robotic defenders of all things Obama are answering the call of the people. 

If Hillary Clinton steps into this breach, the great political realignment will arrive in 2016. 

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/campaign/307057-tea-party-occupy-wall-street-arab-spring-brazil-unrest-and-hillary-clintons-big-choice#ixzz2XAjBGRYA 
Follow us: @thehill on Twitter | TheHill on Facebook