From the Mailbag

     As some of you know, I directly correspond with several of my readers from all over the world and one of my most faithful, and perspicacious, correspondents happens to be an ex pat living and working in Hong Kong. Some of my fiercest jeremiads about the things that piss me off, including the occasional observation that can't possibly be made in public, are to this person who wishes to remain anonymous. Frankly, I don't understand why CC doesn't blog about politics and I say that not because our views eerily jibe time and again but because this person has a fine, discriminating mind that can cut right through the bullshit infesting politics today.
     So this morning I found this in my inbox and I thought it was so good that I decided to post this email with the author's permission. It came with a link to the Huffington Post but I won't reproduce it because I hate and despise the Puff Ho plantation with every fiber of my being (although you can find the post in its entirety at Common Dreams). But if you don't have such reservations, go look up "Open Letter to Dolores Huerta" by Rosario Dawson that went live on the 'net yesterday. Huerta, you may remember, helped perpetuate this disgusting and dishonest meme on behalf of the Clinton campaign claiming Bernie Sanders supporters were shouting down a Latina in the audience by chanting, "English only!" It was a palpably disingenuous Howard Dean scream moment and Dawson called bullshit on it. What follows are my friend's comments on the Clinton legacy in general, perfectly encapsulated in 227 words:

Many Americans still look back to Bill's presidency as the good old days.
         Compared to what followed, they were, but the Clintons mortgaged the future for the then and there.
        They made Bush the Lesser and Obama possible.
         Had they really enacted change that achieved social justice, Trump would still merely be known as a developer, casino magnate and womanizer.
         Instead, they sold the country snake oil, the residue of which remains on many who voted for them.
         Looking back, I'm happy to say that I never voted for them.
         I remember in my last job in the U.S., I heard a co-worker, a Latina, say that she was voting for Gore because she wanted to see Clinton's policies continued.
         She believed that Clinton had been good for the country.
         I kept quiet, but thought to myself, What did Clinton do for Latinos except put more of them in prison, enact NAFTA, and end welfare as we knew it, on which many Latinos depended?
         All of those policies hurt Latinos not just in the U.S., but throughout Latin America.
         My now former co-worker didn't see her preferred candidate in the White House, so I wonder how she is doing.
         Is she like the woman whom the article... addresses - still enamored with the Clintons?
         Stockholm Syndrome is the most powerful form of snake oil there is.