“My Turn?” Not so Fast, Hillary- an Interview with Doug Henwood

“People have these illusions about Hillary Clinton,” said Doug Henwood, “I wanted to get to the bottom of it.”

I spoke with Henwood over the phone in January. We talked about his book, My Turn: Hillary Clinton Sets Her Sight on the Presidency, the 2016 primaries, and electoral politics in general.

Henwood is the founder of the online magazine Left Business Observer. It began in 1986 as a print newsletter. Henwood also hosted the nationally syndicated radio show “Behind the News” from KPFA in Berkely.

Henwood has written three other books: The State of the USA Atlas, Wall Street and After the New Economy. He has written for magazines including Harper’s Magazine, The Los Angeles Times, and The Guardian.

My Turn covers Clinton’s life from Goldwater girl to senior college thesis on Saul Alinsky, and up until the early days of the 2016 primary. The book has generated a lot of controversy and antagonism, Henwood said.

“I want to make it clear,” he said with a chuckle, “I’m not obsessed with Hillary Clinton! [OR Books] asked me to write [My Turn] after reading an article I wrote for Harper’s Magazine.”

That article, a cover feature, was named “Stop Hillary! Vote No to a Clinton Dynasty.” In the article, Henwood argued that Clinton is a political animal, not a principled politician.

“As a political figure, [Clinton’s] a part of the political machine,” Henwood said.

Henwood believes that the relationship many progressives have with Clinton is a fantasy. He said that many liberals envision Clinton as “a progressive icon; as Eleanor Roosevelt.”

“She excites passion.” he explained, “The illusion is that some day, down the road, after she gets elected, she’ll take off the moderate mask and show her true colors as a leftist.”

This fantasy, argued Henwood, is detrimental to the left.

Henwood said that while on the one hand Clinton triggers the misplaced enthusiasm of her liberal followers, she also triggers the rage and passions of her detractors.

“There’s horrible, misogynistic stuff being sent at her,” he said, “These angry sexualized fantasies of rage. And that sexualization also can come through on the other side, from those who adore her.”

When I asked Henwood what he thought of the Republican field for 2016, whose final candidate will benefit from and encourage such attacks, he expressed his disgust.

“They’re horrifying people. I couldn’t watch the whole debate last time… They’re revolting people, representing revolting interests,” Henwood said.

It’s disappointing to Henwood that up to a quarter of the electorate support the Republican field in some way or another. He described the GOP as “bigoted, ignorant, and anti-scientific.”

The Republican frontrunner, Donald Trump, has been using barely veiled racial appeals to garner a substantial lead in the Republican primary. Henwood said that Trump’s support is based on “discontent in the white working class,” where disenfranchised, poor whites lash out at easy targets instead of the institutions that are to blame.

“Trump is a huckster, and the rest are nothing but awful,” Henwood explained as he rattled off some names from the GOP field. “Marco Rubio is an opportunist. Ted Cruz and Ben Carson are true believers, I think. The rest are fakes and con artists.”

I asked what he thought of Bernie Sanders, the Independent Senator from Vermont who has challenged Clinton for the Democratic nomination this cycle and whose surprising success has set her back on her heels.

“Well,” Henwood sighed, “I have a lot of problems with him. His mild form of social democracy is fairly moderate, but better than nothing. His foreign policy is awful. But it’s great that he’s upending the Hillary coronation.”

The Sanders campaign has certainly made Clinton’s walk to the nomination difficult. The nominal socialist, whose popularity came seemingly out of nowhere, has changed the trajectory of the Democratic primary.

“Sanders has injected his policy ideas into the discourse,” Henwood explained, “It’s remarkable. He has had more of an effect than I thought he would.”

Sanders’ bluntness, Henwood thinks, is key to his appeal. “He’s not a bullshit artist. He fits the current anti-establishment mood.”

When I asked Henwood if he thought Sanders could win the Democratic nomination, he was cautious. “A month ago, I would have said no,” he said, “But now I think he has at least some chance.”

Clinton’s camp has gone on the attack recently, after ignoring the Sanders campaign challenge for the first few months of the primary season. This was a mistake, given that Sanders has been consistently drawing capacity crowd at arenas and generating a lot of money in campaign donations.

“It’s funny to watch Hillary red bait him after tacking left before to coopt his base. She’s having her surrogates launch these personal attacks… A lot can happen though.”

Clinton and her people, Henwood says, are “vicious and unprincipled.” He believes that she and her team will “do whatever they can to tear [Sanders] down,” and that the Sanders team would do well to remember that.

No matter what happens, though, Henwood finds a bittersweet poetry to the newly competitive primary race.

“They didn’t expect this, a primary fight. They had no field operations beyond Iowa. Now they have to scramble,” said Henwood. “It would be beautiful from the literary sense for her to be undone by her own arrogance. It would be better if it were because of her politics, though.”

“Why not both?” I asked.

“That would be perfect,” replied Henwood.

My Turn is available for purchase online and at bookstores around the country.