MARCH 4 PRIMARY
Clinton's `Courage Under Fire'
Stalls Bloomberg Option
by Harley Schlanger
As the votes were beginning to be tallied in Ohio and Texas on March 4, Lyndon LaRouche offered his congratulations to Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, pointing out that her "courage under fire" demonstrated the "vital leadership quality" which the next President must possess to deal with the accelerating disintegration of the world financial system.
By the end of the evening, it was evident that a majority of Democrats in Ohio and Rhode Island, as well as a majority of those who cast ballots in the Texas Democratic primary (which included Republicans) responded to that demonstration of leadership, as she won decisive victories in those states. Her victories occurred despite consistently hostile media coverage, with many pundits insisting she should drop out of the race, for the sake of "party unity," as well as pressure from traitorous networks in the Democratic Party, tied to fascist financier Felix Rohatyn, which are attempting to undermine her campaign on behalf of the "Bloomberg option."
Senator Clinton won the primaries in Ohio and Rhode Island by significant margins (including more than 10% in Ohio), and defeated Sen. Barack Obama in Texas by more than 100,000 votes, out of a record of nearly 2.9 million votes cast. Her victories on "Super Tuesday II," as some media dubbed it, represent a significant blow to the efforts to bring in New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg as a new Mussolini, to impose a fascist dictatorship over the United States, though LaRouche warned on March 6 that the Bloomberg option remains a live threat to the survival of the nation.
Reality Strikes Back
These results reflect the effect of what might be called the "reality principle" hitting the campaign, driven by Senator Clinton's insistence that the economy is the leading issue. Following her defeat in the Iowa caucuses, she shifted her approach in New Hampshire, emphasizing that the next President must address the effects of the collapsing economy and financial system, which are hitting the vast majority of Americans with devastating force.
By sharply refocusing on the economic desperation of the unemployed and the declining "middle class" in Ohio and Texas, and the growing fears of millions that they face losing their jobs, their homes, and access to medical care, the Clinton campaign showed that "hope" is not just a word, but depends on a fight against the corporate cartels which have been looting the nation. Evoking the image of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who said he would represent the "forgotten man" in his campaign for President at the peak of the Depression in 1932, Clinton said she would be a voice for the "voiceless," in fighting for their rights.
This point was reiterated forcefully on the eve of the March 4 primaries by senior Clinton campaign advisor Harold Ickes, on PBS's Charlie Rose show. In making the case that Clinton should stay in the race, Ickes pointed out that with eight months to go before the November election, economic problems will, more and more, be in the forefront of the debate. Therefore, nobody should "rush to judgment."
The image of Hillary Clinton as a fighter, who would not back down, or quit in the face of enormous pressure, rallied many voters who were undecided until the last minute, to vote for her. Polls show that she won nearly two-thirds of the votes cast by those who made up their minds in the last four days before March 4.
There were two other factors at play, as part of the reality that shaped the environment leading to March 4. First, there was the weak response of Senator Obama to the pummeling, which has just begun, regarding the case of indicted Chicago businessman Tony Rezko, whose trial on corruption charges opened on March 3. LaRouche had pointed to the Rezko case, which is quickly becoming the "Obama case," as an example of how Bloomberg's London-based backers intend to dispose of Obama, after the Illinois Senator has knocked Clinton out of the race.
Obama, who was used to basking in the adulation of the press, was suddenly placed on the hot seat, and he handled it poorly. He awkwardly fled from reporters during a press conference in San Antonio, when he was confronted with contradictions between leaks about his relations with Rezko, which had appeared in the British press, and his efforts to deny any substantive ties to Rezko.
The other factor is that Bloomberg, despite his prominent denial, in a Feb. 28 op-ed in the New York Times, that he is running for President, is still a candidate—if not for President, then for Vice President. Backers of the would-be Mussolini have inserted his name in lists of potential Vice Presidential candidates for both parties; and the same pundits who are trashing Clinton have been promoting Bloomberg. As LaRouche had forecast last November, the Bloomberg option would be activated after Rudy Giuliani was dumped, which LaRouche accurately predicted; and, then, after Obama had defeated Clinton, he, too, would be cast aside, clearing the way for Bloomberg.
LYM Takes on the Bloomberg Option
That Hillary Clinton has acted defiantly in the face of this scenario, to counter it in a manner which was unexpected by the pundits, is made evident in a column in the March 6 Washington Post by right-wing whiner Robert Novak, with the not-so-ironic title, "Why Clinton Isn't Dead." Novak reports that, prior to the March 4 vote, top Democrats were moving to dump Hillary, that "elaborate preparations ... had been made for her expeditious burial." These prominent Democrats "were organizing a major private intervention. A posse of party leaders would plead with her to end her campaign and recognize Obama as the Democratic standard bearer."
The plan for deployment of this "death squad"—which would likely have included such Rohatyn cronies as Al Gore and Nancy Pelosi—has been put on hold, as voters responded to Senator Clinton's leadership on election day.
A key role in rallying voters to defeat the Bloomberg option has been the effective deployment of the LaRouche Youth Movement (LYM) in Ohio, Texas, and Rhode Island. The LYM mobilized in Texas under banners which read, "Defeat Bloomberg in the Texas Primary," while distributing more than 40,000 copies of two leaflets put out by LaRouche PAC on the Bloomberg option: "Mitt Romney Walks Out," which exposed why London-based financial networks were desperately pushing Bloomberg's candidacy, as a last-ditch effort to destroy the U.S.A., by placing it under a Mussolini-style corporatist regime; and "Bloomberg Lies: 'I Am Not Running,' Only Dripping Copiously," which updates the first leaflet, identifying the next phase of the Bloomberg option, to knock out Obama.
A similar mobilization by the LYM in Ohio had the same effect as in Texas, causing Democrats to stop and think—"I didn't know Bloomberg was running," was a universal response, giving LYM organizers the opportunity to explain to them the Bloomberg option. Both Clinton and Obama supporters responded by saying, "I knew there was something else going on, this election seemed too orchestrated."
That prescience, that there is something wrong, coincided with the widespread unleashing in the press just days before the primary, of the story of the Rezko/Obama case. This confirmed for many that there was, indeed, something bigger going on: The Bloomberg option was now in the public eye.
It was this confluence of events, occuring at the moment when Clinton had, once again, "found her voice," and demonstrated her commitment to fight for the "forgotten men and women" of America, which offers our nation a chance for survival.
Now, it is on to Pennsylvania, the next mega-contest, on April 22, and then, as the Clinton campaign has made clear, the battle will continue to the Democratic convention in Denver at the end of August.
One thing is certain: Neither the would-be Mussolini, Mayor Bloomberg of New York, nor his close collaborators, such as fascists George Shultz and Felix Rohatyn, are pleased by this turn of events.
