The mythology around Clinton's "Sister Souljah moment" is BS, top to bottom. The people who seized on that episode, made a big deal out of it, framed it as pivotal, talked about it for decades afterward ... did so because they want Dems to be culturally conservative. It's just reactionary centrism.
It was just a classic example of journos & pundits seizing on something that they *want to believe* and repeating it until it becomes conventional wisdom and eventually "history." But really it's just the fossil of a bad argument.
The reason the reactionary centrists celebrated the Sister Souljah moment was not that it was demonstrating Clinton's fealty to voters, but that it was demonstrating his fealty to *them*. It was evidence that they could bring him to heel.
Which, of course, happened. After Reagan/Bush, everyone was like thank dog a breath of fresh air. And then he proceeded to completely sell out or screw up any policy that didn't reduce the deficit or that would help working people, except maybe midnight bball. Then he's like I'm also a predator.
They also like racism. Get a big kick out of it,
Just like the ‘Dean Scream’. Complete manufactured horseshit no actual voter cared about.
Yes! Many such cases.
I think this is also the big problem with "popularism." Popular positions can be great, but you have to watch popularists close to see what they're doing to make their favorite policies look like they're the most popular.
The same goes for technocrats — their favorite policies are always the most efficient, but is that because they love efficient policies, or is it because they're defining "efficient" to favor the policies they like?
The idea that a cheap shot on an almost wholly unknown rapper could somehow change the dynamics of the election was always racist BS.
GOP is never called upon to denounce its psycho base
It was a signal of him being an asshole for the people who wanted him to be an asshole in that way, and those people who celebrated it were celebrating both him doing so and their own power in getting him to do so.
They see what happens with UK “Blue Labour” and say “I want that too” despite its utter unpopularity
But it propelled Bill Clinton to a whopping 43% of the vote! /s