I'm not really sure how to make up with my Hillary Clinton-supporting friends.
I got damn mad at them. They got damn mad at me.
Even when we tried to be civil, we were gritting our teeth and muttering swear words.
I accused their candidate of turning GOP. Of dirty tricks. Of lies. Of stealing delegates. Of race baiting.
They called me a cult member said my candidate was inexperienced, a dreamer, filled with talk and no substance. They called my candidate unpatriotic and went after those in his past and present.
I got angry enough to spew very hate-filled speech post-South Carolina.
I'm still not sorry.
I'm pretty sure they are not either.
So now what?
Do we hug it out? Because really -- that's all I have left.
I currently have nothing nice to say about what went on between the Clinton and Obama campaigns. I can't yet blog about uniting the Clinton and Obama voters or give the 'let's all just go against McCain together' pitch.
I still want to yell and scream. I want the former President Bill Clinton to explain himself. I want Senator Clinton to tell me why she got so damn right winged in her fear-mongering rhetoric.
I realize those answers are not coming.
I realize we have to move forward to beat John McCain.
But I have NOTHING to get us moving on this immediately.
Except hug.
Weak? Maybe.
But trust me I've gone through every option I can think of -it's all I have got.
You know how you have those crazy relatives in your family you will never, ever agree with and fight with all the time? You get soooo mad at the things they do, yet...they are family. And somehow you hug and move on.
I'm hugging my HRC-supporting friends because I don't know what else to do.
And I really don't want to kick them.
Or do I?
I do. I still want to kick them.
But I won't.
Free hugs.
Who wants one?
Read more reactions from Huffington Post bloggers to the Indiana and North Carolina primary results
So if anyone wants to stay home on election day on that basis, I would respect their choice, even though I choose differently. I'd give 'em a hug, not to persuade them to come out and vote for Obama, but because they were acting as people of principle.
That kind of principled abstention is very different than someone saying they're going to stay home out of childish petulance. They didn't get their way, so they're going to take their ball, and go home.
You can try a hug, or a cookie, or whatever else you want. What's really needed though, is an inside job - maybe some therapy or meditation - some mechanism that provides for a distancing of the clear-minded observer self from the sulking, resentful ego-self.
Obama's real problem is not these sour grapes Hillary supporters - he's on the right side of all the issues that traditional dem women care about and most will come around - but rather the residual racism in the American electorate that has been well documented in the exit polling.
Fortunately, he's running against a weak candidate in McCain, joined at the hip with the worst president in history.
The worst of what was thrown at Obama was caused by his not ditching Wright as soon as he decided to run.Sheer political stupidity on his part. If you don't properly secure yourself, can you really complain when you're robbed of your good name?
As a person who really sees not much substance in either candidate but who voted Obama( uselessly, in a red state) I have to say there probably won't be much hugging til the general election comes around and we see that we can win while being nice and civilized . It's a premise yet to be tested, and given the Rovian nature of politics may end up being the usual Dem gentlemanly method of suicide.
At the same time, I have always been - and will continue to be - contemptuous of anyone who makes such a serious decision in such serious times as these based on identity politics. And it really doesn't matter who you support. If your basic reason is that your candidate has the same skin color as you, or the same genitalia as you, or the same religion as you, you deserve a slap upside your thick head, not a hug.
There's a truism that says that, ultimately, we get the government we deserve. So if you want a government that continues to pander to the rich, that leaves the poor and middle class without health care, and that institutionalizes US aggression as policy for another 4 years, then by all means pull the NIHILISM lever. Vote for McCain, or Nader, or just stay home.
And then, after you grow up and come to your senses, I'll give you TWO hugs.
===
Try Gloria Steinem, in her recent NY Times op-ed..
Or, here on HuffPo, Erica Jong or Kathleen Reardon.
Or all of the first wave feminists who accused other women of betrayal if they chose to support Barack.
Unfortunately, identity based thinking is all too common, and has had WAY too much of a role in this campaign.
But you know what? I'd even be willing to make that sacrifice if it helps elect Obama and defeat McSame.
Ever since inevitability disappeared, the Clinton campaign has essentially been predicated on the fact that only a democrat who can run as dirty as a Republican can beat a Republican. And in retrospect that certainly seems true of 2004 and 1988.
Obama's campaign has been predicated on the idea that in 2008 one does not have to run like a republican, and in fact that one can do better by running a more moral campaign. I think he is right, which is one reason that I have been a big Obama supporter. But I do not know I am right. I am not about to pretend that the reaction to the Wright scandal has not scared me a bit. We are moving to whiter territory in the general.
Obama has shown that his approach is better for winning the democratic nomination. But the rationale for the Clinton campaign will not be undermined until November, and even then it may turn out that she was right. I hope for more from my country, but I have been disappointed in this regard as recently as 2004.
So what is there to forgive. Clinton had her approach to avoiding 4 more years of Republicans. Obama has his. So what is the difficulty in being magnanimous in victory? That is a much easier thing than being graceful in defeat.
I'm not a Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama supporter, but I am definitely against a McCain presidency, so I will vote for either of these two less than stellar candidates.
Give all of the "Hillary supporters" and the neither-nor supporters a real reason to support your candidate . . . right now, his lack of experience and qualifications are making it hard for a lot of moderates and older voters to support him. Quit being silly and acting like your best friend just won student body president.
Most Hillary voters do not fall into the ardent category.
They did not lie about Obama. They didn't climb into the gutter.
Some did, and you were more likely to meet them if you're in politically active circles or spend a few seconds at HuffPost or other blogs.
Most Hillary supporters did not do the things you object to, and many were at the very least uncomfortable with Hillary's tactics. Historical precedent in US politics taught them to tolerate it, but they didn't admire it.
Furthermore, at least on HuffPo, many of the worst are not even Hillary supporters or even Democrats... they just oppose Obama. There's also a high likelihood some were being paid to spew, and won't be motivated once the checks stop.
I emphasize "most" and "many" because there were too many exceptions.
There's no denying we'd do better as a party if we don't give up on them though, and since Hillary gained the support of many of them by portraying herself to the left of Obama, it's clear McCains policies aren't a real alternative.
We need them to join us... not love us.
Therefore, I left my feedback at this same entry on your own fair blog:
http://xrl.us/bj82z
(Capsule version? I'm not ruling out the hugging thing. Just not quite to that point yet. A Dixie Chicks song is quoted - you know the one.)
See the example below from the NYTimes. It's the same person but the second post has the first name spelled backwards.
1.May 6th, 2008 7:01 pm
Evil persists: that explains Hillary’s tenacity.
— Posted by Libby
3.May 6th, 2008 7:18 pm
Good always triumphs in the end: that explains Hillary’s tenacity.
— Posted by Ybbil
They have been hateful, condescending a-holes for months, while refusing to debate on facts and not spin. If they don't like Obama as the Dem candidate, let them stay home on election day, and history will judge them for their selfish crime, as McSame lights the final torch to begin the incineration of Rome.
Scary!