Make HuffPost Your HomePage
Get Email Alerts
Dignity And Respect -- Except for Hillary
Michelle Obama spoke on Monday about how "....you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don't know them, and even if you don't agree with them."
Is that the same kind of respect that Obama supporters show for Hillary supporters when they yell obscenities at them in the streets of Denver, according to one Hillary delegate who is afraid to go out in a Hillary shirt without a few friends with her. Ironically it's the Obama people who are shooting themselves in the foot. Instead of embracing Hillary supporters, they are effectively spitting in their faces. Would you reach out to someone who spit in your face? Is it any wonder that these people are so mad that they'd go over to McCain just for spite? It's simple human nature. You get more flies with honey. But that's not one of Obama's catch phrases.
Michelle Obama mentioned that being there at the convention was due to the people who came before her, who made it possible.
People like Hillary Clinton, who put those 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling, so that our daughters -- and our sons -- can dream a little bigger and aim a little higher.
At the mention of Hillary, she received the biggest hand of her speech according to MSNBC commentator Chris Mathews.
Mathews also remarked on how Hillary was handicapped from the start with her early vote for the war in Iraq. Well I guess he has to be fair. If he pisses off Obama fans he should give equal time to piss off Hillary fans, and thus drive in the wedge between Democrats a bit further. Interesting that he failed to mention that Biden also voted for that war, or that Hillary no longer supports it.
Such is the biased media that works for the politicians (Republicans, it would seem in this case), not for the people. Jon Stuart, probably the most respected political analyst (even though he's really a comedian) said as much in his on-air bout with then CNN Crossfire hosts during the Kerry campaign. Crossfire was canceled soon after. Stuart did a recent encore at a political reporters' press breakfast that stunned reporters in attendance, leaving them unsure whether to laugh or be insulted. I'd go with the latter.
It seems quite apparent that Obama was very concerned over the inexperience issue. This is the leverage Hillary had over him when she was a viable candidate. Now a substantial number of Hillary supporters are going over to McCain for that very reason, so they say, and as Debra Bartoshevich, a former Hillary delegate testifies in a timely new McCain campaign ad:
"She had the experience and judgment to be president," she says in the ad. Of McCain, she adds: "I respect his maverick and independent streak, and now he's the one with the experience and judgment. A lot of Democrats will vote McCain. It's OK, really!"
But I think the real reason they're going over to McCain is the animosity coming from the Obama people, the people who idolize a leader who treats people with "dignity and respect," in the words of Michelle Obama. More irony abounds here when you realize that had Obama taken Hillary as his running mate, he'd have killed two birds with one stone. He'd have had her experience and her supporters. Now he pretty much has neither. Ironic again that this choice on his part can only be attributed to inexperience.
Of course if you paid attention to Chris Mathews citing the "polls" on Monday, you'd have heard him say that 48% of Hillary supporters are going with Obama. Funny how 98% of the media stories on Hillary are about "PUMAs" or the animosity that Hillary fans have for Obama. Negligible mention, though, on the animosity of Obama fans for Hillary, unless you consider the sheer overwhelming number of these anti-Hillary articles the execution of that animosity.
The media runs rampant with stories about Hillary supporters disrupting the convention, planning a parade, holding out against Obama, and going over to McCain. They push their cutesy but tired "PUMA" acronym, with its highly charged negative connotation that only serves to infuriate both Hillary and Obama camps to drive the wedge between them deeper. Why all the anti-Hillary and anti-Clinton media play? Did someone die and make Rush Limbaugh news media king? If the Republicans aren't controlling the media, they're getting a hell of a deal on free spin from it.
The real problem is with the Obama supporters who can't let Hillary have her moment in the sun. They can't have her name placed in nomination. No, it has to be unanimous. What was that about dignity and respect? What about the thousands of Hillary campaign workers and delegates who were seemingly disenfranchised by super-delegates, as McCain's ad points out. Are they not worthy of respect? Is all their hard work to be scoffed at with this inundation of negative Hillary media? Is this what we can expect from an Obama lead nation? Hypocrisy? Bigotry? This sounds more like McCain. No wonder Hillary supporters are going over to him.
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
Respect earned....Respect given.....Doesn't owe her anything further than that. Never have I seen where the winner is beholden to the loser. Why wouldn't this choice be his and his alone!!!! Sore loser are those who chose to abandon, what they claim to believe in because there candidate loses!
For Hilary's sake, please stop treating her like victim. She deserves better than that.
No. We are the victim of being denied her.
Barack can no more control what his supporters say on the street to Clinton supporters than Hillary can control her supporters.
Barack himself has indeed shown respect and dignity to Hillary up front and personal. I am still not sure what more O could have done for him to be "CIVIL" to Sen. Clinton.
This was a passionate contest, but it is over, except the formality of the official nomination. If the Clinton and Obama supporters continue to engage in spirited debate how can you (or anyone) really say this is Barack is not showing respect. This is what I am perplexed about.
There may never be a coming to terms on which of these efforts where the most historic or crucial, be it the first African American President or the first Female President. Let's accept that and get a Dem elected President. I personally feel Barack has carried himself as a gentleman.
BTW, if someone hollers at you on the street holler back at them, but don't blame that on Barack.
Obama blew it with the ultimate betrayal when he chose Biden. He may say the words of respect, but his actions show disdain. This is the problem I have with him.
As for the "ultimate betrayal" ... are you kidding? I thought that was Richardson or whoever else didn't agree to crowning the Queen. You seem to leave out everything Hill said about O? Your post is about as rational as the pooma group you seem to side with. What about hill supporters who were worse than repub's, furthering everything from the Muslim angle to resko, ayers, birth certificate, flag pin, sexist, misogynist, "inadequate black man" and the always popular empty suit with empty rhetoric ... and who is he, we don't know, be scared.
There seems to be a double standard here, hill and supporters can say and do whatever with out consequence but O and supports have to keep it clean and take it on the chin. Your mind set is getting the respect is deserves, little to none.
Still waiting for my first comment to be "approved" and posted here, but do want you to know that I appreciate blogs like yours and especially when you get right in there and mix it up yourself. Great fun to post knowing you are "conversing" with a real person. Your subject is so important and quite overlooked on HuffPo but it is crucial to Obama's being elected that his supporters get the message.
thanks.
Jon Raymond, I have tried posting comments to that effect on many of these threads to no avail. Some of them are not even allowed to be posted; others only with a lot of begging. You don't hear or see Clinton supporters badgering and yelling obsenities at Obama supporters at the Convention. It is quite one sided. And those of us who are still Clinton Democrats will find it very, very difficult to vote for Obama, Any criticism of Obama is seen as an attack. His flips in policy positions are defended as if they were the word of God himself. THAT is why Obama himself has to reach out to those who still can't get on board the Obama train. He needs to tell them to respectful directly. But even if that happens the hate, as you can see and feel even here, will probably remain. This used to be a country where power was transferred rather peacefully. No more.
Yes. I think Obama needs to court Hillary supporters like there's no tomorrow. He broke their hearts with his betrayal of Biden. It will take a hell of a lot more than empty words to win back these people, and even then I doubt it's at all possible.
At least with the internet we can bring some of this stuff out into a public forum. Thank you.
I couldn't agree with anyone who shouts obscenities at supporters of another candidate. It just makes them look stupid, whether its Republicans shouting at Democrats or Democrats shouting at each other. Leave the dirty fighting to the Republicans, its what they are known for.
If Obama supporters are doing that then they haven't paid attention to the message of their own candidate which is to respect and reach out.
I have seen the media focus on the PUMA's and broadcast them every chance they get, like those women who talked to Chris Matthews the other day - although I am not convinced those women were actually Hillary supporters and not Republican shills --some of that may explain the reaction of a few supposed Obama supporters.
If any of Hillary's ardent supporters saw that speech and still can't get behind the Democratic party, then I don't think they were ever democrats to begin with.
Way to go Hillary - brilliant speech!
"NO WAY, NO HOW, NO McCAIN"
"WE CAN'T AFFORD 4 MORE YEARS OF THE LAST 8 YEARS"
Perhaps Hillary's supporters aren't treated with respect by other Democrats because during this election they've not acted like they care about this country or the Democratic party, only about anger, spite and revenge. They've not acted like they care about ANYTHING else, and it's hard to respect people who don't seem to care about what's best for their country, only about getting revenge on the rest of us because their candidate didn't get the nomination.
Where do you get your propaganda?
Granted, I'm not saying they are all like that (my mother is a huge Hillary supporter, but will vote for Obama because she cares more about the issues that one candidate, and because she knows McCain would be a huge disaster), but there is certainly a significant portion of them who behave as though they are all about Hillary Clinton, not the country, or the party, or the issues.
More more do Hillary supporters want?
She has a speech tonight, her name will be put into nomination, her husband will have his night tomorrow. Come on wwwwhat! Please tell us.
If O had not agreed to this, none of the above mentioned things would be happening.
This is not her convention, this is Barack's convention. This is his coming out party. This is his nomination.
This is like have the 1st runner up on the homecoming court go schitzo and try to snatch the winners crown off in the middle of the field during the halftime festivities.
Please just and tell us WWWWWhat do you guys REALLY want?
For you to treat people with dignity and respect, even when you disagree with them, even if you can't actually respect them. It's called CIVILITY. A big word, I know. Did you even listen to Michelle Obama?
Have YOU even listened to Sen. Obama, Mr. Raymond? He has treated Sen. Clinton with nothing but dignity and respect since the beginning of the race, even though he did not agree with her. He has asked his supporters to do the same. The problem is, Hillary, Bill, and many of her followers refused to do the same for him. Seeing this continued disrespect for Sen. Obama, many of his followers have continued to be disrespectful in return.
Now, Hillary and the more rational of her supporters have also pledged their support to Sen. Obama. Both senators have asked their respective supporters to join for Democratic unity and have declared a ceasefire.
However, some members of EACH side are still angry and have been disrespectful and ungracious TO EACH OTHER. It has not been a one-way street. Therefore, dignity and respect will not reign until BOTH sides change their ways, and act like sane adults. Please demand the same courteous behavior from ALL concerned, or, stop whining about reaping the same type of negative behavior that you and other Clinton supporters have sown.
I'm glad to see that there are so many political experts here. I choose to wait and see what shakes
out sometime Friday. BTW: I just spent a couple hrs making phone calls on behalf of the state and
natl. Democratic candidates. I'm also going to a "Obama watch" party Thursday evening.
What have any of you "experts" done on behalf of you chosen candidates. Did you send them any
money? I passed on a 6-pack to send $10.00 to the Obama campaign.
Someone has a selective memory.
HuffPost's Pick
Mr. Raymond: Dignity and respect are earned. Dignity and respect must be given, as well as received. Dignity and respect must be shown by ALL participants, and are not exclusive to any one side.
IMO, your entire post was a perfect example of demanding courteous behavior from others, while exhibiting none yourself. Either Clinton and Obama supporters demand the same high ehtical standards from themselves, as they expect from others, or, they will each continue to reap the discourtesy hat they have sown.
It works BOTH ways. Be honest enough to say so. Until then, I feel no dignity or respect toward a post that does nothing but spew dishonest, one-sided negativity toward one group, while tacitly approving poor sportsmanship and negative behavior from the other. You, as well as we, can do better.
Of course it works both ways. But Michelle Obama is the one making such a dramatic point of how she and her husband "treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don't know them, and even if you don't agree with them", and I'm assuming here, even if "them" is Hillary or her supporters, unless somehow they don't qualify as people. I'm just quoting Michelle. if you have a problem with what she said, you should take to her. Ask her to explain the hypocrisy.
Are you saying Hillary is excluded from her statement?
No. Michelle Obama doesn't exclude Hillary, nor does Barack. But you do, and so do the Obama supporters. the problem isn't Hillary alone. It's equally shared by the obama people you won't let it drop.
Does Michelle say respect and dignity are earned? No. She didn't say she necessarily respects them. It's how she treats them. It's simple common courtesy. But the Obama people are below such civility. Then they wonder why Hillary fans have a problem with them.
Now, I fail to see where Hillary or her supporters lack respect. Have they invented any demeaning acronyms for Obama supporters? Have they complained about his obvious hypocrisy, even in the face of being victimized by it? They feel disenfranchised, as well they are.
Giving them some face time is a way to make amends. What's so wrong with that. Wouldn't you expect the same from Hillary if the situation were reversed?
Mr. Raymond: Thanks for your very courteous reply. I don't disagree with Michelle Obama at all. But, I'm not the one who wrote a diary guaranteed to further inflame already seething emotions. I didn't accuse only ONE side of poor behavior, without addressing the equally immature behavior of the other side. YOU did that.
How did you expect Obama supporters to react? Did you really think that your post would foster love and good will toward all mankind? How could it?
Are you truly unaware of the overtures of unity made by Obama supporters once the primaries were over and how they were slapped back into our faces? Have you just disregarded the polling data that consistently showed a much larger % of Obama supporters were willing to vote for Hillary if she won, than Clinton supporters who would vote for Obama? Have you forgotten the discourteous non-concession speech Hillary made, refusing to concede until her own NY delegation forced her to? Did it slip your mind that she only "suspended" her campaign instead of releasing her delegates to vote for the presumptive nominee? How she has used her "18 million voters" as a cudgel to threaten and blackmail Obama into submission? How could those actions promote dignity and unity between supporters?
My ONLY issue with your post is that you didn't demand equal respect and dignity from BOTH sides. We ALL should do better. Period. Our children and the world are watching.
Hear, hear! I do think you got it right! The Obama crowd needs to learn some respect and now, long before their attitude turns off so many voters, that he will loose the election. I am a Hillary Clinton supporter and will vote for her as a write-in, unless I see some REAL CHANGE in the Obama crowd. The Clinton has done much for the DNC over the years including campaigning for candidates for various offices and raising 10s of millions of dollars for the DNC. Money that will be used to finance Obama's convention nomination and later in part, his campaign. Obama, if he wins will have quite a mess to cleanup after Dubya is gone. He will be lucky to be able to do half of what Bill Clinton did in his eight years of working for peace and prosperity. Obama will need Hillary Clinton to help with any legislative efforts he might want to mount. Don't shoot the messengers or the heavy lifers. . .you will need them more than you can possibly know.
Ah yes. Write ins. I forgot about that option. Good idea. if only enough people stood up and demanded to be counted. It could work. You might even call it a great HOPE for America.
For people who are so turned off that they don't intend to vote at all, this is a great option. Let election officials know that Hillary is alive and kicking.
Good point about cleaning up the mess. This is exactly where Hillary excels, and where Obama falls short. As she said, it took a Clinton to clean up the mess left behind by the first Bush, it will take a Clinton to clean up this one.
"The real problem is with the Obama supporters who can't let Hillary have her moment in the sun. "
Too funny. This strong, confident, independent feminist couldn't win the nomination but still "deserving" of "her moment in the sun"?
Whatever happened to politics being a "contact sport"? Or take your licks like a man?
Now she is needy.....?
She need O to pay her debts....despite her millions.
She need O to put her on the ticket....
She need O to "give her some time..."
She need catharsis.....
Making demands that any other candidate would never consider.....
Biden, Kucinich (?), yes, even Edwards.....What of their supporters?
They were disappointed, yet which of them are crying, whining, and demanding?
The woman candidate.....Hillary "Three Balls" Clinton....
I don't care if I never see a woman in the WH, I would never vote for her.
She couldn't win the nomination?
If you look closely you'll find that some states didn't even release the popular vote numbers. But it can be estimated at 17,869,542 or 47.4% for Obama to 18,046,007 or 47.9% for Hillary (2008 Democratic Popular Vote, RealClearPolitics.com (2008) [http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/democratic_vote_count.html]).
That's not exactly a mandate for Obama now is it? This is the problem with Obama supporters. They live in a fairy tale. Everything is sweetness and light. We have HOPE and little girls blowing kisses at daddy. Yeah, that stuff will go far in the real world.
And you wonder why Hillary supporters have a problem with you.
"If you look closely you'll find that some states didn't even release the popular vote numbers"
Once again, The popular vote is irrelevant in the primaries, it's the delegate count that matters. And please, for dignity's sake, do not start the inanity (and insanity) of counting MI and FLA while discounting caucus states.
It's been proven fuzzy math is just that.
"And you wonder why Hillary supporters have a problem with you.".
Not my issue considering the problem Hillary supporters seem to have with reality and facts......
If voters are voting for McCain simply because of a few Obama supporters who have angered them, then they have very little grasp of what a democracy means. No wonder the country is in the state it is if this is representative of any fraction of our electorate.
No. They know exactly what democracy is SUPPOSED to mean. Freedom of choice. I have a big problem with McCain, too. But I can see where voting him in could be better for the country in the long run and in a negative way.
If we have four more years of the Republican totalitarian agenda with a continued depression of the economy, increased war, propagandized media, erosion of civil rights; in short a country by and for the very very rich, well that might be just the thing that people need to wake the hell up. Apparently they have't yet seen the light if they think Obama is going to get us out of this.
With Obama in office you'll have less of all that. But you'll have the hardship of a recovery period and you won't see any Clinton in office who can turn a 400 trillion dollar deficit into a 300 trillion dollar surplus. No way.
So why not light a fire under the collective back ends of our citizens? Vote McCain.
Mr. Raymond: I started on this thread not agreeing with you, but certainly respecting you. I'm rapidly losing that respect as I read more and more of your responses.
Anyone who wishes America to suffer through the miseries that a McCain presidency would insure, does not, IMO, care about America. You say that if we have 4 more years of the Repub agenda with continued economic pain, more war death tolls, media propaganda, fewer civil rights, and continued enrichment of the mega-rich "...well that might be just the thing that people need to wake the hell up..."
I don't know about your family, Mr. Raymond, but my family has suffered enough. I'd rather have 4 years of an imperfect Obama/Biden presidency at least TRYING to help the middle class recover, than another Bush presidency with no goals other than to maintain the status quo for the super-rich. I don't want any more moms, dads, brothers and sisters, dying on foreign soil in unjustified wars. Thousands with serious illnesses won't survive another 4 years without adequate health care. Those who don't have 8 houses are struggling to hang on to the only one they have. Without a liveable wage, they won't be able to do so.
Obama wouldn't be governing alone. He'd have millions of the brightest old and young minds in the world fighting with him to save our country and our globe-- even Hillary and Bill Clinton, who love their country, also.
Hillary Clinton will rock the hall tonight! Bill Clinton will rock the hall on Wednesday night!!
The Delegates will have severe buyers remorse all week.
McCain today, after Michelle's speech last night jumped 2 point today and has taken the lead according to todays Gallup poll!!
Uh huh, and the delegates and supers are just standing around waiting for the hill 'n bill show...
After which they will ALL throw their vote to hills....
Then hoist her on their shoulders, and march around the convention center while sticking their tongues out at Obama and his supporters.....
Obama will agree to be her VP....
Michelle will agree to be her fashion consultant....
Her debt will be paid off by Obama's camp.....
The pumas will swoon with joy.....
Monica will break out the little blue dress......in celebration, of course......
mccain will win in a landslide because some were STUPID enough to believe this country really want hill 'n bill in the WH again.....
STUPID enough to believe all those votes were cast in good faith for her......
Repubs and operation chaos had nothing to do with it.
Hopefully you wake up before you do some REAL damage.
You are exactly the kind of obsessed Obama person filled with venom toward Hillary that this article talks about. Keep ragging on Hillary. See where it gets you. If anyone is doing damage, it's you. Apparently you have no respect for Michelle Obama or her words. You're one of those "do as I say, not as I do" people. Then again, that's what Obama is all about.
Loading comments…
Posted August 26, 2008 | 05:36 AM (EST)