Hillary Clinton--The Legacy That Could Have Been

Hillary Clinton at a 2008 campaign rally, Hammond Civic Center (photo copyright 2008 Gordon Stamper, Jr.).

As Hillary Clinton testified before House and Senate committees about the attack on the U.S. Embassy at Bengazi, I was reminded of Hillary Clinton the Presidential candidate in 2008.

On Wednesday, Secretary of State Clinton showed flashes of the energetic campaigner of nearly five years ago.  Her political experience helped prepare her for the barrage of questions and the usual political grandstanding that poses as meaningful questions.  Clinton's fiery responses often diffused the accusatory rhetoric she was facing from the esteemed senators and congressmen.

She faced similar challenges in 2008 when many questioned why should she continue a "doomed campaign," and I think history has vindicated her staying the course.  In recent years, when was the electorate so electrified about a political primary, especially in Indiana so late in the Presidential season?  And remember, Clinton won the Indiana Democratic Primary by a slim margin.  Challenging the glass ceiling so strongly was worth it.

But one rumor was made preposterous by Clinton's testimony appearances.  Days before the hearings, some unnamed politicos started floating rumors that Clinton faked that flu and blood clot back in December to avoid testifying before the committees, that it was all an arranged ruse.  However, as a person who saw the tired but spirited 2008 version of Clinton in her Hammond, Indiana, rally appearance, this was a physical shell of that person.  Mentally Clinton was sharp as ever.  Yet before us, we saw a harried, tired, and aged person who looked like she has literally been through a ringer.

Unfortunately, in the case of Libya, critics of Clinton's committee appearance are right.  She had valid responses to the rhetorical venom spewed her way, but to specific questions about what went wrong, Clinton provided insufficient answers.  There were fascinating insights into the staggering responsibilities of a U.S. Secretary of State and the "art form" of budgeting and predicting security needs in unstable government environments--all the while trying to get the sufficient funds for security from the legislators.  But beyond the "buck stops with me" rhetoric, the specifics of how that pertained to her responsibility were not answered.

Hillary Clinton still has a significant legacy as First Lady, U.S. Senator, Presidential nominee, and Secretary of State.  Yet oh what might have been.  If she became President and kept her basic campaign promises, she may have only served one term due to her aggressively progressive politics, but necessarily radical things may have been done while she had a Democratic Congress to work with.  Infrastructure renewal jobs would have invigorated the economy.  Having the same health care coverage and plans as federal government employees available to all would have negated the need for Obama Care, and its added layers of bureaucracy and halting implementation. 

Instead, we have the Administration of Barack Obama, generally a good man and so far a mediocre President.  He is a remarkable individual and what he has achieved for African Americans is historic, but we have lived through his first term and the missed opportunities of his first two years in office, when he had a Democratic majority on Capitol Hill.  Only with his latest inaugural address do we have a glimpse into the progressive liberal efforts that should have been pushed during his first for true permanent job creation--clean energy manufacturing and renewed environmentalist vigor, and rebuilding an aging infrastructure of bridges, roads, and sewers.  This should not have taken so long, and the reality is that with the gridlock currently in Washington, much of these propositions will not be implemented anytime soon.

And we have the outgoing Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.  Harried, tired, aged, and in the case of Bengazi, playing the role of the government bureaucrat.  I hope her recent health issues temper her future political decisions.  I hope she enjoys a well-deserved rest and retirement from the wilting spotlight of decades of public service.  I want to remember the groundbreaking, pre-Libya Clinton.

DJANGO UNCHAINED--a movie review

 

Django Unchained

Written and directed by Quentin Tarantino

Starring Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Samuel L. Jackson, Kerry Washington, Don Johnson

A Columbia Pictures/Weinstein Company Release

165 minutes

Rated 'R' for graphic violence, profanity, and nudity

The latest work by Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained, is loosely an homage to perhaps his greatest film making influence, Sam Peckinpah, but it also owes much to 60s spaghetti westerns and 70s blaxploitation flicks.  As with Inglorious Basterds, it is Tarantino's cultural reference blender running this film's world, not historical accuracy.  And as usual, in other people's hands, the subject matter could have made for a glorified snuff film and a genuinely offensive film for African Americans.  However, the dark humor, artistry involved, and humane character development provide rewards for moviegoers with less delicate dispositions.

Surprisingly, the narrative is the most straightforward to date for a Tarantino film, with only a few traditional flashbacks along the way.  Django (Jamie Foxx) is rescued from the life of a pre-Civil War slave chain gang by dentist aka bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz).  In return for his freedom and a share of the bounty cut, Django assists Schultz in killing outlaws and bringing back their corpses.  Along the way, Schultz learns of Django's savage separation from his wife Broomhilda (Kerry Washington), and agrees to help Django find her and buy her freedom from the infamous plantation known as Candyland, run by the sadistic and sneering Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio).  As well as Django and Schultz's ruse as buyers for gladiator-like slaves or "mandigo" fighters seems to be going, Candie's personal slave Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson) watches freeman Django with angry and wary eyes.

Most adult movie audiences are familiar with the basic Tarantino formula at this point--flashes of humor and wit alternating with flourishes of brutal violence.  The more sensitive viewer should steer clear of this production as well, with blood-and-guts splattering gun play, dog attacks, flogging, and "mandingo fighting" among the palette of gore.  Yet much of the mayhem usefully moves the plot along to its bloody conclusion, and as with many road-type stories, the journey and its storytelling style is as important, if not more so, than the destination.  The dark comedy flows from scenarios such as Schultz eloquently explaining his government-sanctioned profession to often hostile audiences, plantation owner Big Daddy (Don Johnson) trying to wrap his head around the concept of a black free man, and a man on a raid complaining of the inconveniences of his proto-Klan garb (Jonah Hill).  Empathy is given to the plight of slaves, and the "jokes" are generally on the white slave-owning perpetrators, similar to what is done with the Nazis of Tarantino's previous film.

Tarantino is abetted by many valuable contributors.  Though he seems to wrangle some of the oddest of acting ensembles, the approach works here again for the material.  In minor roles, an assortment of familiar television faces such as Johnson, Justified's Walton Goggins, Dexter's dad James Remar, and Dukes of Hazzard star Tom Wopat acquit themselves well.  Foxx and Waltz have excellent acting chemistry and provide a sympathetic pair of unlikely heroes, and DiCaprio and Jackson give Academy Award-nomination worthy performances as two detestable but extremely watchable villain counterparts.  In particular, DiCaprio almost has too much fun playing such a vile character.  One acting quibble--please stick to cameos, Mr. Tarantino.  His work with an Australian accent is awful.  

Other frequent collaborators shine as well.  Frequent Scorcese and Tarantino cinematographer Robert Richardson beautifully frames the western mountain and southern bayou location backdrops, and provides a memorable panning shot of Django and Schultz arriving at Candyland with their host Monsieur Candie, cutting back and forth to the angry glare of the awaiting Stephen.  Music soundtrack partner Mary Ramos continues her wildly inappropriate yet effective song choices for a historical period, including perhaps the best use of a Jim Croce song ever on film.

Ironically, what may be one of Django Unchained's strengths is also its principal weakness, and a spoiler alert for the remainder of this review.  The filmmaker's high wire act to make a controversial yet entertaining experience works, but it also spares his title character what dramatically should have been Django's ultimate fate.  In Peckinpah films, no one is safe, and even if the "moral imperative" or goal of the quest was met, it didn't mean the protagonists lived to see it.  Though Tarantino has given us another celebration of nerdy references and what film can do, and electrifying scenes that will remain in viewers' heads whether they want them there or not, dramatically he misses a chance at tragic gravitas with the main character Django.  By giving what most audience members want, a generally happy ending, the writer/director misses a chance at movie greatness.

My rating:  ***1/2 out of ****