What Hillary Did Last Night And Whose Court The Unity Ball Is In Now
We were witnesses last night to exemplary grit and class. Hillary Clinton put the past behind her and threw her full support to Barack Obama.
After putting 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling, as Michelle Obama reminded us in her impressive speech, and intentionally stomping into the dust the thin pink line women carefully walk in order to avoid derogatory labels, Hillary Clinton rose to the occasion. Her call to support Barack Obama was unequivocal.
America is at a crossroads where we can do what's best for the inordinately wealthy or we can do what's best for the rest of us. That's the choice. It affects all other issues whether healthcare, the economy, Iraq, social security, immigration, women and minority rights, or foreign policy - to name only a few. Our choice boils down to putting people in the White House who, as former Republican U.S. Representative Jim Leach said Monday, "once emphasized individual rights" but have "gravitated in recent years toward regulating values" or a Party that lives by American values.
Hillary was great last night. If we follow her lead and do what is best for this country, despite residual bad feelings, divisiveness will dissipate to a vague memory. We'll be on the path to a better future - what Dennis Kucinich aptly described as a "wake up" to what really matters.
Hillary has hit the unity ball into the other court. It is no longer up to her. She's voting for Barack Obama. If delegates strongly feel the need to vote for her, it is not because she didn't try to persuade them. The choice is theirs.
You don't have to like Hillary Clinton to respect what she did last night. She took a huge step forward for the Democratic Party. She did what is best for America. She's one hard act to follow and a bright beacon of possibility for women. From Seneca Falls to today, as Hillary noted in her speech, there have been steps forward and steps back. Last night was a marvelous step forward and I'm glad my fifteen-year-old daughter was watching.
Dr. Reardon is the author of The Secret Handshake and It's All Politics
See blog at bardscove.com.
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Great post, as always, Kathleen Reardon. Mostly the people on these threads won't get it. They are so blinded by their choice, made many months ago sans any particular reason or set of principles or positions, that they have to insist everyone come behind their candidate. Those months have proved that Obama has very little for anyone to stake out a principle upon and much to feel very sad that a Democrat is supporting such positions: no federal financing of campaigns; NAFTA, stay in Iraq until the commanders on the ground give the okay; capital punishment for crimes other than murder; loosening of gun control; FISA, perhaps the saddest of all.
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I must have missed the part of the speech where she said Obama was more than qualified to be president. She needed to say this after her blistering remarks that she and McCain were qualified and Obama gave a speech. She need to say this after Bill Clintons failure to say yes when asked the question directly. HRC did what she had to do to remain viable in the party. If Bill goes all the way tonight, I will revisit my feelings on the subject.
Maybe I am just salty at all those years of facing white resentment when a longer tenured white person was steamed when I got gig they did not. I was more than qualified for the job then. Obama is now. The Clintons need to say it.
I hope her speech was enough. I have my doubts.
Her speech put her in a win-win situation. If delegates insist on voting for her, it will be because she came across as such a leader in the speech. If they don't, she likewise came across as a leader because she influenced them. The speech also establishes her loyalty to the Democratic Party and should the Democrats rack up another loss, she's in a great position to run again.
It's not up to Clinton to "prove" Obama is qualified. He's not. Why would she want to go on record saying something that is patently untrue? The Monday morning quarterbacks are waiting in the future and will be able to look at this speech and know that it wasn't Hillary's fault that the party cocked up again.
Obama is most certainly gearing up his multi-million Glitzkrieg to compensate for who he's not. For the moment, McCain has been able to use Obama's mistakes in a kind of campaign judo. But the money isn't there. Materially speaking, the campaign will be far more lop-sided than the one between Clinton and Obama. I'm hoping the Obama outlay will disgust voters across the country as it did in my home state of Pennsylvania.
Obamacons everywhere will always agree with that. Obama is not more qualified for the job now or then, especially if the comparison is between Hillary Clinton and him. The speech was certainly enough but it will not win Obama the presidency. He has to do that himself. If you haven't attended or watched Democratic Conventions in the past, you may have missed it but Hillary Clinton further than any defeated primary candidate to try to unify the Party. Even Kennedy, the so-called lion of the Party, could not take the loss and just disappeared. Hillary did not do that. She is a great human being and she'll be back. Doubt that Obama will even make it at all.
I agree; especially since Bill was asked directly if he thought Obama was qualified, his response was a complete avoidance of an affirmative.
The competence of the campaigns says plenty about who is more ready to lead, and it's clear who ran the better one.
Here's a thought. Why don't all of you people that really just don't like the woman no matter what get together and by consensus create the check list of EVERYTHING that Sen. Clinton MUST say in order for you to just get off her case? Then, submit that to her with the ultimatum that you will strip her of her party credentials, if she doesn't cover the entire list on camera with a level of enthusiasm that only you all can gauge as to authenticity. Then, when you're finished wasting that time, maybe you'll be appropriately satisfied enough to focus on what really matters --- NOT electing John Mc Cain.
Fortunately, Bill's speech filled in the missing gaps for Hillary.
Ms. Reardon makes a good point. Hillary did her job and now it is up to her supporters to decide whether to support a nominee of the Democratic party, or to stay at home and not vote because Hillary is not the nominee, or to vote for McCain. By now active Hillary supporters know the positions on the issues advocated by her, Obama and McCain. So, they cannot hide behind the claim of ignorance. My take is that Hillary supporters who were motivated to support her both for who she is and what positions she took on the issues would find it difficult to vote for McCain over Obama. However those who were driven by the cult of personality, and were not at all concerned with the issues, are likely to defect to McCain simply for revenge, or to sit out the election. Thus, for the "Hillary Clinton cult" that thrives on hating Obama, nothing, short of a miraculous transformation, would persuade them to work and vote for Obama. That is a reality we have to face. My hope is the "Hillary Clinton cult" represents a very small fraction of her supporters. I am also persuaded that PUMA, while it may have members who are Hillary supporters, is primarily composed of Republican plants bent on spreading Rush Limbough's "operation chaos" to divide and frustrate Democrats.
Despite my candidate's endorsement and although I"m a life-long Democrat, I still may not vote for Obama. Do you even care why? You are all so happy to agree with each other that the reason *must* be that I'm racist or a closet Republican. I wonder why I would find that insulting? If Obama did not refute those of you who called the Clintons and their supporters racists, knowing it was untrue, because it was to his advantage, I do not want to support him. Can't you understand that? I won't vote for McCain but I may not vote for or help Obama. If he loses, it will turn out that you did need my vote and won't you feel stupid? Amazingly, I've survived eight years of Bush, I suppose I can survive four years of McCain.
Jesus, you are all bad winners - what will you be if you lose?
If you plan to vote not based upon your beliefs but because you felt insulted on a messageboard, well go right on ahead. What amazed me about some of the Hillary supporters like you is that you are completely oblivious to how the Clinton's tried to exploit you. There is a reason why Bill brought up Jesse Jackson after South Carolina. Bob Johnson knew what he was doing when he made his statements. And the first thing Hillary said after the radio DJs pulled their "iron my shirt" stunt was "could someone please turn up the lights." It was a planned event meant to whip women into a frothing rage and it succeeded perfectly.
"There is a reason why Bill brought up Jesse Jackson after South Carolina." I'm sure there was but you assume it was because of race and I do not. I have critical thinking skills. I'm no more "exploited" than you are.
I do think the media was overtly sexist in its reporting regarding HRC and made Obama a media darling for the primaries but that doesn't send me into a "frothing rage" because it doesn't surprise me. Imagine that, sexism and racism don't surprise me. I am hardened to it.
My problem with Obama isn't his childish and insulting supporters although they do not help his cause, it's that I think his choice not to repudiate those race-baiting assumptions about the Clintons made by the media and his supporters tacitly approved them and the whole thing smells a lot like Karl Rove. That's why I'm not supporting him. If he wants to tell me otherwise, I'm happy to listen.
Bad winners?
What does Barack have to do?
Honestly, why not just look at the situation rationally and then make a decision.
You may have survived eight years of Bush, but lots of others didn't.
Now why not stop your selfish whining and get out and support our team?
Hillar has done all she can to help Obama. It is now upto him and the DNC to convince the majority of voters, especially in key swing states such as OH, FL, PA and MI to vote for him.
Per the NYT today, Hillary's supporters have raised over $2M in July for Barack Obama while his supporters have raised a mere $135K to retire her debt.
could someone explain to me the reasoning behind clinton expecting voters retiring her debt? it was her choice to run for president and she is worth $100 million.sh
thank you very much.
the only reason I can think of contributing to clinton now as opposed to obama is because of the small vendors she may have stiffed, but I am not sure that a contribution to clinton would first go to pay off those small vendors -- in any event if the clintons want to get their net worth back up on $100M then they should write another book. and by the way, I did enjoy Hillary's and Bill's speeches
Senator Hillary Clinton has released her delegates
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Since Hillary went town to town campaigning that Obama was not ready to be President, but John McCain was, I think she still needs to set that record straight. That will still be used by the McCain Campaign if Hillary doesn't reject her own previous statement which she repeated over and over again.
Otherwise, her speech was very good. But as long as Bill Clinton still hammers away that Obama's not ready, as he did a couple weeks ago and again yesterday, then her job is far from done.
Bill Clinton said the other day that one could argue that no one is ever ready to be president. Of course, Mr. Clinton would argue about anything but I agree.
He had said all along that his wife and John McCain were ready to be President, so he contradicted himself ONLY to get out of having to say that Obama was ready.
Indeed, Hillary hit it out of the park last night and leaves no doubt she will be working to put Obama in the WH. However, in her desperation to catch up to Obama in the primaries, she resorted to some below-the-belt hits, which will be very difficult to repair. Her insinuations and outright statements that Obama is not ready to be CIC or lead. Now, the McCain camp is recycling her own soundbites. The hardcore PUMAs and JSND folks are now mostly republicans and right leaning independents (ie: that loud mouthed Chrissie Atkins) and these folks need now to be ignored. What kind of lasting damage HRC has done to the Democratic base voters is unclear...
Folks get over it. was never about speeches in the first place.
You either choose that we get out of Irac now or you don't.
You either choose that a women has reproductive rights over her own body or you don't.
You either choose that a clean environment is good or you don't get one.
The problem with republicans is that everything comes down to money and profits not ethics.
Keep religion out of politics or else let religion have it's voice and tax it the same as every other citizen.
The republican party family values now stands for greed, intolerance, racism, bigotry, arrogance, fear, hate, and most important, total blind ignorance.
Republican Party which of these family values did Christ teach again?
It's not what she says in these headline-grabbing speeches (yes, her Tuesday night speech was very good) -- it's what she's saying to her supporters in small groups, in backyards and living rooms, in which she continues to encourage disunity. After all, it was in a backyard gathering that she first demanded a roll call vote.
Look, Hillary is going through the motions. Her large platform speeches are good. But she claims to have control over her supporters and they are still not supportive of Obama. Both Hillary and Bill are responsible for their reluctance.
She may not think that we notice that she says one thing in front of one audience and another in front of a different audience. But we are noticing. And the press notices. Bill needs to get on board.
Bill will NEVER get on board. It is about ego for him. He was once the driving force behind the DNC, now it is this younger guy. What Bill forgets is he was younger once. What is more Ironic is Bills feeling are really hurt because in essence Ted Kennedy handed the keeper of the moral authority of the DNC over to Obama. Bill needs to grow the heck up, and be a man for the party and not just a man for and about Bill. How can he expect someone to respect him when he gives absolutely no respect to the other, his little fundraiser yestereday, X vs Y candidate, how subliminal and phoney can one be. Big Dollar Clinton supporters say it is about Obama needing to show respect, sorry but that is a TWO WAY STREET. What did Hillary fail to say yesterday? Obama is qualifed to be CIC, but she by passed that one, and The MSM is all over it as well as the republican Party. Sorry, great speach Hillary, but it is you missed some key points, and you failed to reign in that husband of your that is still stumping negativism. If you want respect you must give respect.
The world is still enough for you guys. Leave her alone. During the primaries, all sorts of nasty things were said about Clintons. Now you guys are still carrying it on. You people should understand that it is not because we do not want to vote for Obama, it is because of people like you, we are staying away. It is Obama's turn to invite us in.
I respected what she did last night. I just wish she would have considered party unity a little sooner, like during her concession
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A lot of the residual Hillary voters who say they will vote for McCain were registered as Republicans or Indpendents just before the primaries. I know I helped quite a few of them myself to switch registration here in Pennsylvania so they could vote in the Democratic primary.
Now, the pollsters and the media are treating them as if they were loyal Democrats all along. They weren't. They were here just based on gender. They won't stay because they weren't committed to issues and they weren't even committed to Hillary.
So, goodbye ladies. It's been good to know you.
Have you hit the nail on the head or what!
You have exorcised the demon!
oops - meant "freebie" not "freebite" ....tho both might work.
Add to those insincere voters those Republicans who participated in Limbaugh's Operation Chaos, all of whom never intended to vote for a Democrat, and I think the number of genuine women Obama haters is maybe about two percent of those 18 million. And I suspect half of those are bigots who would never vote for Obama no matter how much he represented their other ideas.
Those remaining are entirely inconsequential.
Hillary worked very hard to win cross over voters. Barack cannot expect them to be freebite gifts - they will actually think for themselves rather than zombie along with "The Party". He has to work for crossovers himself and crossovers will be necessary to win this election. He is working on the evangelicals so he knows about this. Since most of Barack's extremist supporters (like most on this site) are vicious towards Hillary's crossover voters and PUMAs, that in itself will insure that Barack will not be capable of winning their votes. Bad strategy, but the hate seems to have been just to much to resist for the hate-party crowd.
So, goodbye ladies, latinos, GLBTs, poor working class whites, and elders. Hello evangelicals, AAs, youth and yuppies. Now we have Donna Brazile's party.
i'm one of those poor working class whites and i am voting for obama this year.
I know a few Pennsylvanians, Democrats, and I know that they were committed to Hillary and were not Republicans. I called into many states and there were women and men who admitted to voting for Clinton to defeat Obama. But there is no brush wide enough to paint all of them.
I thought she did a great job. I think this continuing anger is manufactured too. I can't imagine a Hillary supporter voting to loose Roe V Wade or continuing with the NeoCon agenda. I suspect those who are "still angry" are Republican operatives manufacturing this narrative. Let's all move on and ignore the "angry ones". By whatever definition you choose they really do not have Democrat's values anyway. So what's the difference?
I think the anger is being manufactured. Just because someone says they support Obama & then trashes Sen. Clinton doesn't make that "Obama supporter" real. I believe they are trolls who are using reverse psychology to divide the party, insulting the Clinton supporters. My mom was a Clinton supporter & I know how hard it was for her to see Hillary lose the nomination. I understood how badly she felt; i would have felt the same about Sen. Obama.
But I would have voted for Hillary if she was the nominee because the Supreme Court is too important to trust to a Republican president who is beholden to the neo-conservative base. Health care is too important, education is too important, the economy is too important.
I loved her speech last night - I felt her full commitment to Obama & to the party & country. I appreciate her hard work & her tenacity. Yes, I did feel she went on in the primary too long but I was not clamoring for her to quit; she owed it to history to keep going.
We (most Obama supporters and diehard Dems) appreciate Hillary & Pres. Clinton. Yes, the rhetoric got heated & emotions got overheated during the primary. But the primary is done & the general election is upon us. Give Obama a chance to reach out to you; learn about him & his family; listen to Sen. Clinton; she's spent time with Michelle and Barack & she's on board. Sen. Clinton
Newflash -- I don't care about Obama's family! I really don't want to get to know Michelle or his daughters of Biden's mom! I am voting for a President, not the Brady Bunch. I am mad as hell and I was screaming with Kucinich "Wake Up America, Wake Up!". Our Constitution is in shreds, our balance government is out of balance to our detriment, our economy is in shambles, we have become the whole Axis of Evil for the rest of the world and I am voting for someone who will fix these things. So, if Obama wants my vote, he has to convince me he's the guy that will do that!
One of the things she could have done was to hit McCain better on his most recent ad about Hillary's below the belt attacks during the primaries. She gave some great lines, but explaining clearly to her supporters who hang on every line of hers that many of her attacks were just her campaigning hard and weren't necessarily true would have gone a lot further than just delivering lines. A lot of folks still remember the "I'm experienced, McCain's experienced, Obama has a speech" line and the "As far as I know" bit when she was asked about Obama's religion. Those two lines, combined with her misleading attacks pertaining Tony Rezko (which, if you look into it, aren't nearly as clear as those ads tried to make them...the
Can we all start talking about BARACK OBAMA NOW?
Can we all start FIGHTING JOHN MCCAIN NOW?!
All those Hillary supporters who end up voting for McCain out of spite, or don't vote at all because she isn't on the ticket, need to be made to wear a button for that next four years that says "I abetted McCain's win; it's my fault."
Continued global warming - it's my fault.
No real program for universal health care - it's my fault.
Using torture as an investigative tool - it's my fault.
Endless, useless wars - it's my fault.
Random, illegal spying on Americans - it's my fault.
Rise of the police state - it's my fault..
Roe v Wade overturned - it's my fault.
Continued erosion of middle class and growing desperation in the lower class - it's my fault.
Ad Naseum
So you think he'll lose then? I could challenge some of your conclusions, the ones that you place at John McCain's door like...no real program for universal health care---Obama's plan is not universal and allows fudging; endless, useless wars---Obama wants an expanded military; random, illegal spying....
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