Comcast Xfinity has added Hulu as a regular service, so I've been poking around in their offerings. Mrs Noco watched the "Little Fires Everywhere" series with Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington, which won a bunch of stuff at the Oscars I think.
Mostly they're playing the same tired movies as Amazon Prime and Netflix, which is why I never signed up before.
But they do have a 4-part six hour documentary on Hillary Clinton, with a bunch of candid interviews and behind-the-scenes footage I've never seen before. She is described as someone you either hate or love, with no middle ground. A very polarizing figure -- which even she admits.
Granted, almost all of the negative things people believe about her were totally made up by the extremist right, but they've become so ingrained in the public perception of her that it almost doesn't matter anymore if they're true or not. She lost (technically...) in 2016 because so many people just couldn't stand her.
How different the world would be today if the election had come out otherwise.
2016 was about change. People were sick-and-tired of business-as-usual and back room deals and endless negotiating. Obama ran on the "hopey-changey" thing, then went into negotiating mode after getting elected. He didn't close Guantanemo. He didn't pull out of Afghanistan. He didn't sent Cheney to the Hague for war crimes. People were disgusted by his wishy-washiness -- enough so that some of them voted for radical change in '16.
Hillary was not radical change. She is the quintessential insider, a negotiator, the person who knew how to compromise across the aisle to get things done. People didn't -- and don't -- want that anymore.
Jimmy Carter told hard truths to the American people, and stood up to dictators and oil oligarchs.
Reagan killed him in the polls by telling pretty lies voters wanted to hear, and then cozied up to brutal dictators.
Bill Clinton promised to "make America great again" after the Iran-Contra scandal and the savings-and-loan debacle. He then went into compromise mode, disappointing most of his supporters. He ended up doing good things for the economy, but he totally botched the "don't ask don't tell" gays-in-the-military movement, and his peccadilloes didn't help. Hillary's standing-by-her-man probably hurt her, as instead of being seen as a strong independent woman she was seen as an enabler.
Bush Jr came in on a platform of change again, but quickly revealed his true colors.
Politics has changed in the last 40 years. Negotiators, statesmen who work with opponents to get things done are passé. People want firebrands, with no previous experience, who will tear things up and blow up obstacles.
Incidentally, at one point in the documentary Bill's just been elected governor of Arkansas and appoints Hillary to a task force to pull the Arkansas schools out of 2nd-to-last place nationally. "Thank God for Mississippi," she said. "They can always be counted on to be last."
Jenni, you must be so proud.
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