Hillary Clinton, in the interests of party unity, has finally offered to concede, if Obama will too.
*****
Not funny.
Much of the joy and new hope I expected to feel last night -- with the blessed lifting of some part of a lifelong shame about America's perpetually broken promise -- was spoiled, of course, as it was for many others, by the characteristic spectacle of Senator Clinton both refusing to concede to the presumptive nominee and, at the same time, letting it be known that she would be willing to do him the favor of accepting the second spot on his ticket.
If Obama can't deal with this particular 3 AM call, this potentially fatal threat to the hope and promise of his noble and inspiring campaign and his great message of change, then he may not be strong or experienced enough to be president.
As with so many others who felt victory turning to ashes at the prospect of this nightmare ticket, I've been asking myself if I could in good conscience still vote for this great man if that means also casting a vote for her.
I've decided that I can, but only if she can put my mind at ease by taking the following steps:
1. She must apologize for her war authorization vote (& for voting against the Levin Amendment; and for not reading the NIE first). She doesn't have to explain. I've heard her explanation, and it is not as good as mine; but I'm willing to move on. All she has to do is apologize.
2. She must apologize for saying that McCain is more qualified to be Commander-in-Chief than Obama (even though McCain never actually served as First Lady).
3. She must apologize for her Iran war authorization vote (Kyl-Lieberman Amendment) and for threatening to "obliterate" Iran.
4. She must apologize for her hypocrisy about the Michigan and Florida votes (you know, for Most Admired Woman--celebrities always win).
5. She must apologize for her nakedly racist plea, often repeated, that she is more "electable" than Obama, especially in states with a lot of poor WHITE working people who just won't vote for him, bless their hearts.
6. She must apologize in general for her husband's behavior and promise to keep him out of Obama's way, by divorce and a restraining order, if necessary.
7. She and her husband must give solemn promises that there are no smoking guns in his post-presidency behavior that will allow McCain and the contemptible Republican swiftboatmen to distract the voters and damage Obama in the general election.
8. She must solemnly promise that she will never triangulate again: she will always tell the truth, as calmly and clearly as she can; and as close to spinless truth as she can manage; and that her position and message will be exactly the same whatever crowd or person she is addressing.
9. She must apologize for her alternately lying, crowing, and whining campaign, for Mark Penn, Howard Woolfson, Harold Ickes, Terry McAuliffe, James Carville, Lanny Davis, and Geraldine Ferraro, and especially for blaming her inevitable plunge from "inevitability" on "sexism."
10. She must apologize for all her insinuations (i. e., "as far as I know") and her pandering (i.e., using different accents in different states, bragging about her long history of duck hinting, knocking one back with the poor WHITE guys who love her so much, jumping aboard McCain's out-of-gas gas-tax-moratorium bandwagon, etc., etc., etc.).
I'd also like her to repudiate the Schumer-Feinstein centrist wing of her party, those fully responsible for giving us a fascist Attorney General, but that's a larger question; and besides, how can she turn her back on such a strong part of her base?
Is that enough?
She can't do any of this, you know. She doesn't apologize, can't do it. She just talks faster and orates in a sing-song and whines and changes the subject. She thinks she is a lot smarter than anybody else and can talk her way out of anything, so why should she have to apologize, even if she ever made a mistake, which she never does.
But I'll be fair: if Obama selects her as his running mate and she fulfills these few simple conditions, I'll vote Obama/Clinton '08.
Otherwise, I don't think so. I decided about the time of the Schumer-Feinstein Mukasey vote that I was no longer going to vote for the lesser of two evils. The lesser of two evils is still evil. Barack Obama has the opportunity to establish a new progressive Democratic Party. With Democratic majorities in the House and Senate, he may be able to work the miracles of restoring our democracy, restoring our reputation, ending the war, protecting the poor from the vicious rich, saving the world, and even maybe saving the planet. I've been so hoping that I would get to vote for him. I'm still hoping.
i'm not saying that she should be on the ticket; that's for obama, clinton, and the delegates to decide. but this steady trashing of her, especially after the nomination is locked up, will do far more to hurt obama than anyone else...sneering at the choice of 17 or 18 million voters, and dismissing her as if she hadn't won a single delegate, is not only unseemly; it is political suicide. the phrase 'we will remember in november' could end up as the epitaph on the tombstone of the obama candidacy, along with something about 'typical bitter whites'
Um, no.
It's Obama's decision.
They'd have to fully vet both Bill and Hillary and there's no way his library donations are going to pass the smell test.
Blech! I can't wait to see the last of her.
According to Howard Fineman "And why does Hillary care so much that Obama not pick another woman? Perhaps because Hillary has spent the last several months turning herself into the tribune of millions of working women. She deserves a lot of credit and respect for doing so. She is still their candidate, and she doesn't want to cede that to another Democrat of the same gender."
Granted it is an unnamed source, but this is disgusting and completely undermines her credibility as "working for the millions of women that don't have a voice, etc."
Hillary can be President of the United States of Denial. Isn't that in Egypt?
That is a naked display of weakness that I cannot stomach. And the phrase I've heard resonates with me: "If he can't stand up to a clinton and make a sound decision, how can he be expected to stand up in the international community with credibility?
It will not be for the good of the country, it will not be for the good of the party, and it certainly won't be good for democracy.
I will stay home that day.
It is time to reconcile, for those willing to. Not the racists, or hardline feminists of course, who will gladly sit by and let Senator McCain rob women the right of choice by appointing anti Roe V Wade justices to the Supreme Court, but those middle of the road Clinton supporters who just want to beat the GOP, and were afraid Barack's race would prevent that from happening,
They're the ones to reach out to, not insult. Hillary ran an endlessly entertaining campaign I must say. It provided me enormous amounts of pleasure to liken her to Norma Desmond, and Sgt. Barnes in " Platoon", and to see her change her state of origin with every primary. ( she didn't say she grew up in Guam though to her credit ), but its over. Barack won fair and square and to move the goal posts on him, and every person watching this race would be a travesty of justice.
She should apologize for one thing though, endorsing Senator McCain over Barack, and relegating the Illinois Senators career to a single speech. That was truly her greatest offense.
What an appeal! I'm sure Clinton supporters will jump right on that band wagon.
WWII was caused by "rubbing the German's nose in it" after WWI, true. But Hitler's egomaniacal moves into Czechoslovakia and Poland were prompted by Chamberlain appeasing him by giving him parts of the Rhineland that he demanded. Also, remember, we showed no mercy to the NAZIs after that particular war, sparked by appeasement tactics.
Shall we spark a civil war in the Democratic party now by appeasing Clinton? I suggest not. Shall we consult Hillary about the conditions under which she will cede the nomination to Obama? Absolutely not, no more than we asked the NAZIs what conditions they wanted to see fulfilled before we partitioned Germany.
If the loser wants favorable consideration, the loser must accept the loss with some modicum of humility if not grace. Those are the only acceptible conditions, PERIOD.
I'd throw in that Hillary and Bill need to apologize for and disavow their DLC corporatism.
She won't apologize.
She won't admit any mistakes.
She'll never be even VP.
I am curious who Huckabee will choose as McCain's running mate now that the losers get to make this decision.
You people are scary crazy. I hope she runs as an independant so that MOST democrats can vote for her again, not just super delegates.
Also, some information about election laws might keep you from going down so many false trails, like trying to push Hillary into running as an independent when she cannot do so by law after having participated in a party primary process and lost.
That's why you people seem so delusional to those of us who have taken part in this country's elections for so many years. Your ideas are crocked because you don't know enough about the process or even about what is legal and illegal.
Fuzzy math aint fact, btw.
Yes He Can
It's ridiculous how stupid democrats have become with our new infusion of Obamaniacs.
Was she "behaving" when she got more votes than he did? *rolls eyes in disgust*