Hillary, Hillary, Hillary: An Open Letter to the Former Future President
Dear Hillary:
What happened? No really, what the fuck just happened to you? I can't for the life of me figure out how a once-promising presidential campaign -- a sure thing for Pete's sake -- turned into a pathetic embarrassment? You've had such a head start in this quest to occupy the Oval Office. I mean, literally, you and Bill have been planning it since at least January 1993 when he became president. Was there a more plausible, natural, inevitable scenario than you following in his larger-than-life footsteps? And Chelsea after you? The Clinton Dynasty. Has such a regal ring to it, doesn't it?
But then 2008 rolled around and something terrible happened. Both you and Bill lost that famous mojo. It started in Iowa, where you were all but certain to win. Everyone, including yourself, anointed you the Queen of the Ball before the dance even began. And then you lost. Some inexperienced kid named Barack Obama came out of nowhere and stole your thunder. And then you sat down and cried. In front of the cameras, and the good folks of New Hampshire felt sorry and gave you their state. And just like that The Comeback Twins came back yet again. Never count out a Clinton, huh?. Ahh, but then came February. Damn February. The junior Senator from Illinois, that pesky Kid, won big on Super Tuesday -- despite your pickups in NY, NJ, CA and a few others -- and later in the month racked up an impressive string of eleven consecutive wins. Ouch. That's when the chorus of "Hillary Should Quit" calls officially began. But you'd have nothing of the sort. This was a battle, and you were in it till then end. And we admired you for it.
March was much kinder to you, as was April and May. You won big key swing states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, and trounced The Kid in Appalachia. You even managed to obtain more delegates and popular votes in these three months than The Kid. But the "Hillary Should Quit" calls kept coming, weighing you down and casting an ominous cloud over your campaign. The endorsements kept going to Obama too (Richardson, Edwards, etc) and the superdelegates began to flow to your opponent in anything but a trickle, until he had more of them than you. Many even started to desert you, switching their allegiance. But you pressed on. Even with Bill out there accused of playing the race card and pissing off as many people as he once impressed, especially in the black community. To many, perhaps the "first black president" wasn't so black after all.
Then there were the many boneheaded comments you made. You remember, like the time you basically said that while you and the GOP's presumptive nominee, Sen. John McCain, were tough enough and experienced enough to be commander-in-chief, Obama merely had "a speech." Didn't you realize how that irresponsible blunder would come back to haunt the party in November? Or how about the one where you told everyone that the "hard-working whites" won't vote for Obama. Honestly, Hill, with all those fancy degrees and years of elite lawyering, didn't you realize that some things were meant to be privately thought but not publicly voiced? And so the "Hillary Should Quit" calls continued unabated. Yet we were still in your corner.
You vowed to stay in the race and fight until the very last American exercised his or her inalienable right to vote. You vowed to fight for women everywhere. To be a role model for young girls. To show them that women can be just as tough, just as resilient, just as determined, just as ambitious and just as successful as a man. Your campaign was no longer merely about becoming president. It became a lesson for the history books. A paradigm-changing feminist movement. And we applauded your determination and stuck by you.
You parsed and nuanced and molded the process to fit your end-goal of ultimately snagging the nomination from the grip of The Kid by convincing the superdelegates that you had the better narrative. That you were the more electable candidate. Since neither you or The Kid would end the campaign with enough pledged delegates to win, in an effort to make your case even more compelling, you threw as much shit up on the wall as you possibly could in the desperate hope that something would stick, ie that you had more popular votes; that we should re-seat Michigan and Florida's delegates; that only you could win back the Reagan Democrats. At this point, while we continued to support you, we grew a little leery of your motives and a tad weary of your disingenuousness.
No matter how many "Hillary Should Quit" cries we heard, we still believed in you and went along for the ride, no matter how bumpy. We defended you wherever and whenever we could. Like Bill, we made excuses for you, and chalked up your blind ambition and your regrettable gaffes to long days, late nights and the general stress of the campaign trail. We vowed to support your valiant fight till the end, right along with you, no matter how taxing it became.
And then the unthinkable occurred. When asked last week by South Dakota's Sioux Falls Argus Leader newspaper about all this "Hillary Should Quit" nonsense, you said: "My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. You know I just, I don't understand it." Jeez, Hillary, are you out of your fucking mind? Even if you didn't mean it, to suggest that as a justification to stay in the race, Obama could be assassinated before the primary season is over, is perhaps the most shocking, shameful, morally reprehensible thing you could have possibly ever said. How could you? Do you realize that with that one comment you threw away whatever shot you may have had to fulfill your dream of convincing, brainwashing and/or bullying the super D's into handing you the nomination? How could you implode like that? It was a despicable act of desperation and, quite frankly, it was pathetic. With that one reckless opportunistic blunder you not only threw away the campaign, but your legacy as well. A once valiant warrior, you are now just a sad footnote in history. An embarrassment. I suspect you will never recover politically from your monumentally insensitive RFK comment, made in the very same week that Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy was diagnosed with a deadly brain tumor.
And so I can no longer support this destructive campaign of yours. It's time for me to say "Hillary Should Quit." You have taken your insatiable hunger for the presidency too far. You've let so many of us down. You will not be president. You will not be vice president. It's time to step aside and let the Democratic Party and the nation heal, ultimately with Obama as our nominee and hopefully our president as well. It's time for something different. You just convinced me that America needs more than politics as usual, especially your kind. I am so disappointed, Hillary.
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Hillary's supporters keep insisting that Hillary will be the nominee, no matter what the figures and the facts tell them. They insist in the same way that 2Nurselady does, but I am having trouble seeing any logic in it. If, for example, Obama decided to quit the race - he just decided it wasn't worth it or just didn't want to anymore (no, Hillary doesn't get to have her dream scenario in this hypothetical situation) What do the Clinton supporters see happening next? Do they really see people flocking to Hillary's side? Or if Obama stayed in and they just handed the nomination to her, where are they going to get the people that will vote for her in the general election? How on earth do you see her winning the Presidency? Or is that the whole point of this, to get McCain elected? I don't see any other conclusions that can be drawn here. Hillary has so little financial support that she has had to loan herself money just to continue..
Books will be written on how the Clintons botched it.
But for me, early on, I realized Senator Hillary has done nothing but side with Bush. I just couldn't understand why she didn't see what was coming down the pike. She talks a good talk but there has been nothing of substance that she has done to stop the Republicans. She is going to have trouble keeping her own Senate seat in NY, she has made alot of enemies.
The big deal here is not Mr. Ostroy's individual journey from backing Hillary to withdrawing his support, but the fact that he has enough company to make it statistically significant.
Neither Clinton nor Obama were my initial picks; when the race narrowed to the two of them, I would have supported either just as happily in November. I viewed the Clinton campaign's antics as they unfolded first with discomfort, then with consternation, then anger. I suspect most people with a shred of objectivity left did the same. Even so, if it came to that I would hold my nose and vote for her and not that lobbyist-kissing misogynist warmonger.
I wish it had not played out this way, for Bill, Chelsea and Hillary's sakes as much as for ours. The point is it didn't have to.
"I am so disappointed, Hillary."
As are most of us. Okay, I take it back Andy. In my estimation, so many of those who support the Clinton Party, do so by taking such a hardened stance, that I found myself concluding there would be *no* reconciliation with reality.
This last desperate Clinton attempt to subliminally plant a large slice of fear into the American psyche, proved me wrong. It is now clearly evident that many of her supporters know when enough if enough... even if she, herself, still fails to recognize delusion for what it is.
Although I am still miffed at censorship (that will pass), I would like to congratulate you for making the leap. Time to take on some wholly undeserving Republicans.
The assassination comment should secure her loss of the veep spot as well.
If I was Obama the last person in the world I would want in the position of taking my place should something unfortunate happen to me is someone who said anything about my assassination.
Anybody remember Vince Foster?
Clinton, McCain and Bush - - - ALL DINOSAURS, the ending of a species! -- And Thank God for it!
The sad thing is that we all get to watch, and it is not a pretty sight. Clinton morphed from a "seemingly" normal person, to a fool (Bosnia shots fired), and now on into - a lunatic in total denial.
If Hillary were just an oridinary citizen it would be different. But she's an educated person running for president. If she couldn't think of Senator Obama and his life, why would she bring up the Kennedy assassination at such a difficult time for the Kennedy family. No tact. Now do we want more of this kind of leadership in Washington? I don't. I'm sick of it.
Andy ... will you now support Obama?
For me the scariest prospect is that if Hillary were to actually pull off the nomination, and become President, it would be at least four more years of hatred and inaction between the parties. She is not a healer. She is not a uniter. I am not a head-in-the clouds guy that thinks Obama will fix everything. I actually don't think most of his supporters are. I think that we just want to see an end to this kind of politics. Obama handled this graciously, he seems to do that naturally. Let's get on with the hard work of making some progress in solving the huge problems that are facing us. Let's get off the Bush Clinton merry-go-round.
Skeptiqone,
I concur with your post.
I didn't support Hillary Clinton because I felt she was a polarizing and divisive figure, like George W. As a woman, I wanted to vote for Hillary. It's time for a woman to be president and Hillary is MORE than capable!
But if Hillary were president, the Republicans wouldn't give her room to govern effectively. Vicious Republicans will do EVERYTHING in their power to stop Hillary, or any CLINTON, from accomplishing anything, thus the American people suffer.
The reasons listed above initially drew me to Sen. Obama. I now support Obama whole heartedly. The way this junior senator handled himself and his campaign through the primaries and caucuses is amazing. This politician, yes I DO know Obama is a politician, has inspired me, someone who'd normally just send money, to travel to different states, knock on hundreds of doors, make thousands of phone calls to voters across the country. For the first time in my life, I'm inspired to TRY to change Washington! I want the America we use to have, where people felt HOPEFUL! I'm so excited about the possibly of something getting done, I could shout.
Andy, thank you for your article. I know it must've been a difficult one to write, but it's time to unify this party and kick some McSame booty!
DEMOCRATS 08
Nice post. Thanks. But I think you're a slow learner. She was lost to me after her cynical vote for the war on Iraq and her further vote to prepare for war in Iran. Therefore I never got on the Clinton ride. I never bought the entitlement, I never admired her and felt no need to stick by her in this ugly campaign. The persona she has revealed lo these many months is confirmation that my instincts about her were correct. Which in the end is of no consequence because after those votes I wasn't supporting her under any circumstances in the primary.
Hillary has given little evidence that she intends to drop out gracefully. I've heard statements to the effect that she'll stay until there's a nominee, but nothing about suspending her campaign. Most of us were OK with this while she simply pushed her message and stayed positive. Then came the RFK comments. Even if you give her a pass (and I'm inclined to do so) the non-apology, and attempts to blame the Obama camp don't indicate a willingness to start unifying. She has no intention of stopping before she is made to do so. Brace yourselves for a convention battle royal. The party will suffer if this is allowed to occur. God help us all.....
Thanks for this.
Me, too----if Hillary had shown honesty and integrity through this thing, she'd have kept my vote.
Well, I guess the author of this article must be feeling pretty embarrassed right now, having mentioned Hillary Clinton's inclusion of Bobby Kennedy in presenting a point of reference when being interviewed about the wrongful call for her to drop out of the race by those who apparently do not believe in Democracy -- because POLITICO which has admitted starting the misinterpretation of what Senator Clinton said BEFORE they actually heard her statement has now come out with an apology for having taken her words out of context. Then, other news agencies like CNN and MSNBC perpetuated the story. How irresponsible. I agree with President Bill Clinton who reportedly said that he has never seen a candidate treated so disrespectfully just for running. There is no excuse for it and it has been completely undeserved.
I think this author should issue an apology to Hillary Clinton who did not deserve the attack that is this blog.
This race is far from over. Florida and Michigan will seated. Hillary Clinton will have the popular vote. And, it will go to the superdelegates whose primary responsibility it is to ensure that the candidate they choose will be able to win the White House back for the Democrats and which candidate will be best able to run this country. THAT candidate is Hillary Clinton!
In all honesty, you don't have any problem with a candidate repeatedly referencing political assassinations when asked why she is continuing her campaign? She made the same statement about RFK in March in an interview with Time magazine.
Hillary is savvy, politician, Yale law school graduate and has been in the political arena for decades. If her point was that primaries sometimes last until June, why did she keep mentioning assassinations? Why couldn't she just say "Primaries sometimes last until June, like Bill's in 1992 and RFK's in 1968"?
I would have given her the benefit of a doubt if she had said it once, but she said it repeatedly. And after watching her easily and convincingly lie about being under sniper fire in Bosnia, I'm tired of giving her the benefit of doubt.
You are naive to believe that.
"This race is far from over. Florida and Michigan will seated."
- Florida and Michigan being seated will not make up the difference in pledged delegate lead. Not even close.
"Hillary Clinton will have the popular vote."
- The only way she has the popular vote is by throwing out the votes of 4 states and not giving Obama any votes from Michigan. No matter how much you repeat it, the Supers aren't that dumb.
"it will go to the superdelegates whose primary responsibility it is to ensure that the candidate they choose will be able to win the White House back for the Democrats"
- Sorry, hate to break it to you, but unless its clear beyond a shadow of a doubt (not just in Hillaryland), there is no way Supers, who are elected officials, are going to take away the nomination from Obama. They know damn well that flipping the nomination to Clinton would result in many of them getting voted out of office. Self preservation is more important to them. They would need a grossly obvious reason to flip the nomination, a reason that the vast majority of the public would agree with. Hillary's lame EC arguments aren't going to cut it.
" and which candidate will be best able to run this country."
Entirely subjective, and one the Supers have already voice their opinion on... that they believe Obama would be the best.
Sure, it's not over. Check back Thursday, though - OK?
But how quaint that you think the author owes hillary an apology! She rarely apologizes for any of the crap that she's done or said. She's forfeited any seeming obligation for anyone to have to apologize to her.
If you pay a pick-up game of basketball and one player is hacking constantly and never calls their foul, that person shouldn't expect anyone else to call one when they hack that dirty player. That's the way it is (or usually is, at least) and she's got no one else to blame for the quality of her game, either. If you're gonna play dirty, don't expect others to respect you and don't expect anyone to feel sorry for you when you get hammered to the floor.
Hell, bubba himself said 'politics is a contact sport,' so here's your karma, served extra cold.
If she was making a point about timelines, she not only got her facts wrong, but there was no need to mention assassination. It was unrelated to her supposed point. The context argument implies relevancy.
The race was over a long time ago.
Insisting on changing the rules so she can win isn't justification.
Hillary's poor management skills on the campaign hardly suggests she is best able to run the country either.
Do you mean the article that also states "Make no mistake. Clinton stepped on a rake with her comment and got bopped in the face"?
I think YOU read the first three lines, not the entire article.
I am a proud African American and an Obamakin. While I am not a Hillary supporter, I truly do believe that there was no suggestion of "assassination" in her statement. My mind traveled back to being a 18 year old kid and wondering what the world was coming to. We had just lost Martin and now this!!!! It was a sad time for me and everyone else.
I choose to believe the RFK assassination reference was a timetable. It may have been used to justify staying in the race just to say it ain't over til it's over!! Some of the younger voters may have known that through their history books and some of us older ones may have forgotten exactly when it happened (I remembered the year, but not the exact month until her statement). It was insensitive but taken totally out of context!!!
I feel that most people, including the Clinton's, care for and honor the members of the Kennedy family for their dedication and contributions to public service and would never be purposely insensitive.
Everytime any tragedy happens to the Kennedy's, references are made regarding the family losses of the past and I think that's insensitive. They don't need any reminders of what they have suffered and unless you have lived under a rock, neither do we. Stop dredgging it up and move forward.
You are obviously not black. Most black people don't refer to themselves as African Americans. Especially those from the era that you claim to be a part of.
You sound like a troll.
yes...it does sound a bit suspect..
lol
Obama/Webb 08
Thanks for that long, tortured, elaborate explanation.
Why couldn't she just say, "I made a mistake in my choice of words, and I am sorry for any offense or confusion that caused"? We all make mistakes. We all misspeak at times. We all can relate.
Instead, we get these convoluted, conspiratorial explanations.
Amen!
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