The boys at the table shifted in their seats nervous in their anticipation. They imagined a variety of scenarios. Will she? Would she? It was all so exciting. Yes, porn again. Political pornography. My right-wing Republican friends were dreaming again of Hillary.
Yes, that Hillary. These guys hated her in the nineties. They mocked her Senate campaign. And now? They now have a grudging respect for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. They will tell you that they prefer her to the current occupant of the White House. Don’t take the bait. Their fantasies don’t include a Madam President Clinton. These daydreams are about havoc. Floor fights! Divided loyalties! Maybe an invigorated Bill caught with a campaign aide or three!
If the Democrats self-destruct, maybe, just maybe, the Republican nominee can win. True, they also debated $5 a gallon gasoline and 9% unemployment, but the Hillary scenario allows them to win without sacrificing the country.
The table, my collection of some of my most conservative friends, was initially thrilled with last week’s Supreme Court hearings. They have already waved good-bye to the individual mandate. The vote? Perhaps 9 – 0! The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act? That is probably gone, too.
My friends mocked the Solicitor General, Donald B. Verrilli, Jr. They asked me why the President couldn’t come up with a better advocate for “Obamacare”. They were sure that they could count the still secret votes of the nine justices. They were celebrating until a shadow covered them.
What if Obama had thrown the fight? What happens if the Supreme Court eliminates the individual mandate and then kills “Obamacare”? He could run against both Congress and the Supreme Court. That is the Republican’s territory. He’ll win. He’ll install single-payer. We’re doomed to four years of Socialist rule. We will lose capitalism and the United States we know and love.
The President Obama who is naïve and ill-prepared looks just like the President Obama who is a political mastermind.
Since I don’t pretend to know what the Supreme Court will decide, I just sat back and fed their paranoia. Of course, several of my Conservative friends who are so adamantly opposed to federal spending and big government are financially dependent upon Washington. Irony, however, is lost on ideologues.
The table shifted to Rush and his take on the shooting in Florida. There is nothing like a good liberal conspiracy to lighten their moods. They were feeling better about themselves and their world until I mentioned Santorum’s latest gaffe.
That is when they returned to fantasizing about Hillary.