Hillary Clinton In Pennsylvania: It's All Too Late
"Being here this morning is a gift," Hillary Clinton says to the small band of supporters, several hundred strong, gathered under the Saturday morning sun at Good Will Fire Company No. 2, Station 52 in West Chester, Pennsylvania. The Senator is late for her first event of the day; her voice is hoarse. But like the day she is bright and calm. Gone are the faux smiles and waves, the slight brittleness, that have been part of her stage entrance so many times on the campaign trail. But it's too late.
Being here this morning is a gift are the first words out of her mouth. It's clear she means it. This is the perception of an older woman, one who has watched friends and family pass on, who has wondered why they and not she, who has had to settle for answers not on the great philosophies but on the simple things. A new morning as gift--there isn't a wise woman in the world who doesn't share Hillary Clinton's feeling. But that a presidential candidate would choose such an opening remark four days out from a primary that looks to be "the one" is extraordinary. For the remark and its tenor show that Hillary Clinton has been digging deep within herself, asking herself some hard questions. But it's too late.
Here is a woman trapped in a bad narrative, partly of her own making, partly not. Perhaps she's been searching for clarity. Perhaps she's been asking herself, "What am I doing here? How did I get to this place? How do I find my way forward?" But it's too late.
The Pennsylvania primary, starting slow, has ended like a demolition derby. Gaffes. Mistakes. Misjudgments. Name-calling. Mud-slinging. Mud-wrestling. Writing some of Hillary Clinton's bad narrative was her decision initially to attack Senator Obama for his "bitter" remarks. She should've kept mum, as she discovered herself in Pittsburgh last Thursday when she was booed for broaching the subject. Afterwards, from Thursday afternoon until Sunday, she hardly referred to her opponent. On Sunday, however, after Senator Obama had spent much of Saturday attacking her, Senator Clinton returned to the offensive. In doing so, she lost the clarity of the previous few days that helped her to do well what she does best: present large policy in small ways that people can easily grasp and understand. But even if she had maintained that equilibrium, holding onto that clarity through primary day, it's too late.
Who are the people listening to Hillary Clinton now in Pennsylvania? For the most part, they are indeed working class and middle class folk who live worlds apart from the wealthy Californians and New Yorkers trying to figure out how to package money to keep Hillary Clinton's campaign afloat. Many places Hillary Clinton has been in Pennsylvania, she's chosen the meaner streets, the humbler, poorer parts of town. She has a long history with some of these neighborhoods. Women in Scranton talk about her returning to a family christening just last spring. Mayfair, a close-knit northeast Philly neighborhood, where families have lived on the same block for three generations, remembers Bill Clinton campaigning in the rain in '92 outside the Mayfair Diner. Friday night, when Hillary Clinton returned to the Mayfair Diner for a block party, at least half the crowd, the largest ever at a political rally in northeast Philly, remembered that rainy night sixteen years before. Clintonism is part of neighborhood identity in many Pennsylvania towns and cities. This is why Hillary Clinton will win Pennsylvania. But winning here--it's too late.
A surprising aspect of the Pennsylvania race has been the obliviousness of many of Hillary Clinton's supporters to the media. These supporters have not heard the pronouncement that the race is all but over. Every Hillary event has had its share of Republicans (Obama is not the only candidate with "kins") who have come out to hear her, the better to decide whether or not to vote for her in November. But most of the people who stand in line for several hours to get into a Hillary event are loyalists. Indeed the tenor of a Clinton rally, from Bristol to Bethlehem, is fierce loyalty. On some level, these believers must know that they are backing the losing candidate; that they will not be returning for her in November. But by and large these are people who are accustomed to losing--it's something they deeply understand because it's been their own experience--and that recognition makes their support stronger. In a powerful way, Hillary Clinton's losing validates her working class supporters' lives. This is the kind of bond that can forge a candidacy. But for Hillary Clinton it's too late.
"The internal combustion engine is the same as it was when it was invented well over a hundred years ago," Hillary Clinton observed to her supporters at the West Chester fire station. Then she challenged those supporters to invent something new. In two sentences, she cut through the welter of policy prescriptions on oil & energy with a concrete image that all Americans, many bewildered by talk of sodded houses and wind turbines, can understand. This clarity, this easy familiarity with difficult issues, would have helped Hillary Clinton with health care in the 1990s. This ability to get straight to the point has been hard-earned. But it's too late.
Even when Hillary Clinton was the inevitable winner, swathed in a cloak of invincibility, it was too late. For her race for the White House has always been circumscribed by the political fortunes of two men: Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
The Clinton family has given it everything in Pennsylvania--this all-out effort says as much as anything that here is Hillary Clinton's last stand. Bill Clinton, as usual largely ignored by the national press, has been speechifying for his wife back and forth across the state in five to seven campaign events a day. This is an almost unbelievably brutal schedule, the equivalent of a forced march. By the time he reached Puerto Rican Philadelphia near midnight Saturday, his eighth event of the day, Bill Clinton was barely coherent. His opening remark was so garbled--"America is not worthy of its potential"--that it's impossible to discern what he meant to say. The tiny group who held out until 11:30 PM to hear him were a rag-tag bunch of artists, bohemians, lovers and neighborhood Puerto Rican supporters. The Clinton event, in a local artists' co-op, was just a sideshow to the evening. In the larger area of the gallery, a Latin Jazz ensemble was just tuning up. It was date night for a lot of these folks, who were much more interested in canoodling and kissing than listening to an ex-President. The atmosphere was barely respectful; at several points the group responded to Clinton with boos and catcalls when he refused to take a question about the neighborhood's problem with a casino wanting to locate there. It was hard to see how this sad event garnered Mrs. Clinton even one additional Puerto Rican vote in Philadelphia--and even if she had every Puerto Rican vote, it's too late.
Saturday night Bill Clinton said that if Philly Puerto Ricans would vote for Hillary "it will be like the wind at her back blowing her forward." This remark was part of a larger observation: "If she goes on to win this nomination and the presidency, it will be because in no small measure of the belief and faith and trust and the loyalty of Hispanic Americans." And, of course, Bill Clinton is right. The Hispanic vote gave Hillary Clinton Nevada, California, New Mexico, Arizona and Texas. But it's still too late.
Leaving the massive Obama rally in Philadelphia's Independence Square early in order to catch Bill Clinton, I was thinking in the same terms Clinton himself would use only hours later. Obama has caught the following wind. Circling Independence Square as my GPS intoned "Please Proceed to the Highlighted Route," I continued to hear Obama, for he had been miked to reach the farther crowds across the square. In the unusually warm evening air, his voice was carrying two and three blocks beyond, where people, some of them undoubtedly caught unawares, slowed, listening, standing on corners, ambling, lowering conversation at outdoor cafes. Adding these listeners to the crowd in Independence Square, easily 50,000 people heard Barack Obama in Philadelphia Friday night. The historic moment and its following wind has ever been Obama's, and nothing Hillary Clinton has done or could have done would ever have changed that. It has always been too late.
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I hold Ms. Fowler no ill will, even as an Obama supporter. That's what the press does, they release stories whether or not we'll like it. Or at least, that's what they're supposed to do.
Personally, I thought this piece was lovely.
Ms. Fowler,
You're trying to ride two horses with one ass. Personally, I too, hold you accountable for the "bitter" tape debacle. However, that responsibility is to be shared by The Huffington Post. I like the site or I wouldn't be here. But I'm disappointed with the decision to run with it.
That being said, I believe they ran with the Obama tape not because it offered insight into his political thinking, but because it was sensational. Anyone who understands Obama or has paid attention to his beliefs, even long before this election cycle began, knows that he does not look down on others. Yes, what he said could be construed that way if you look at it from a certain perspective. This was just another "gotcha" moment. Obama said something ineloquently. Plain and simple. By releasing this tape you have influenced an election based on information you know was contrary to his beliefs.
If you used the same judgment (or lack thereof) and released the tape of Clinton when he did actually misspeak (instead of lie), I would say that at least you were even handed. But you knew Bill wasn't saying what he meant either.
So which is it? Pick a horse. Based on your actions, I believe you already have.
Sorry, but it is all too late for you, too, Mayhill.
Thanks to you and only you, Mayhill, you enabled your histrionic hawk candidate to attach the
word "bitter" to Barack Obama. Never mind that anyone with a brain is bitter. Never mind that
you obviously have not read "What's the Matter With Kansas?" by Thomas Frank or done any
research whatsoever and viewed the video of Obama making his thoughtul, compassionate
remarks about the anger of the disenfranchised on the Charlie Rose show four years ago.
You are neither a citizen, in any sense of my definition of the word, or a journalist, in anyone's
definition of the word.
Has it occurred to you that the "bitter" smear of which you are so proud may become as
infamously ignomious as the Swift Boat ads? Will you put that in your famly genealogies?
Maybe Carl Bernstein will write a book about you and your Citizen Journalism.
Exactly. Well said.
Fowler taping of the fundraiser in SanFran was only one of many. Someone would have gotten those remarks out with or without her audio.
Extremely well said. I won't ever read anything written by Ms. Fowler again. Not because I agree or disagree with her; but because she just wants to present the false illusion that she really cares about the political views of each candidate. But in truth only cares about finding nonsensical things that can be twisted into issues by the media and then if affords her a moment in the sun. For some people any attention(negative or positive) is better than none at all. So, I choose to pay her none.
"Speechifying"??? Um, is that in the Oxford Dictionary?
How about "giving speeches", "speaking", or possibly "stumping"?
Hey, if Bush can make up words, so can Ms. Fowler.
Too late for what?
Neither will end this thing with enough delegates to claim the nom. It's going to the Supers and the popular vote win. And Obama won't be considered legit unless FL and MI are counted, one way or the other.
If he wins today, it is too late. If he loses, this race continues. . .
It seems the more people find out about Obama, the more his numbers tumble. Isn't it time people were given the right to have him vetted?
Hillary has been raked over the coals by the Obama camp with the most vicious tactics I've ever witnessed. Is this the kind of President we want? Even worse than Bush? His camp makes the Bush one look like choir boys.
Ha ha ha ha! Oh, this is truly hilarious! You are clearly not one of those reality-based Democrats!
Obamas numbers TUMBLE?!? LMAO! The guy has gone from a virtual unknown to the presumptive nominee in less than a year! He has closed gaps with Clinton in every single state, most of which she led by UPWARD OF 20 POINTS going in! If that's numbers tumbling, I sure hope my salary tumbles the same way!
Hillary raked over the coals by the Obama camp?!?!? Name one egregiously negative thing he has said about her in this campaign (and I don't mean citing her record... that's simply fact, and it's value-neutral). I'll wait....
The fact is, he has been religious in his refusal to get nasty in this fight. OMG, just thinking about the stuff he could have brought up but didn't makes me woozy. I have been following politics for 35 years, and I have NEVER seen a politician handle his opponent so gently.
You're so funny! You seriously made me shoot iced tea out of my nose I laughed so hard!
I disagree. They both have raked each other over the coals, and it is now time to realize that the party will probably not overturn the popular vote or the pledged delegate count. It is time to chose a nominee and get behind them. I would do the same if Hillary were the one ahead in each category. At this point I am not sure if either nominee can win do to scandals of their own making and some manufactured for sensationalism, but I am going to do whatever I can for the Democratic nominee. However for those people who say they will vote for McCain, if the democratic nominee is not who they wanted, should realize their decision will not be on policy, but who they like best. I realize that I will probably never have a beer with my president and I do not care to do so. I just want some one who will lead this country out of the war, provide health care, and improve the economy. No Republican, however moderate he or she might be, will do that. However you feel about either Democratic candidate, he or she will far better than John McCain.
Obama '08
Oh hay there Ms. Fowler, I was wondering if it's too late?
Correct Mayhill. In spite of your help, it's still too late for Hillary.
This article must be the "balance" to her previous one that broke "bittergate." I'd like to know just how much pressure Fowler was under from the "Obama Boys" (which is a generality, since the term also includes male-identified women).
Too late? TOO LATE? Fowler needs to take a look at what's happening on the ground and in the polls. Obama and his spinmeisters (including HuffPost and almost every other so-called progressive blog) have been pushing this kind of idiocy for so long that it's getting tired, really tired.
And face facts: Obama's campaign has been pretty nasty and negative from the beginning - as far back as January, anyway. Mr. Clean can come across this way because he doesn't get his own hands dirty. IMO that's worse than just being straight-up negative, because it means you can't trust him. I'm not sure who has influenced whom the most: Obama influencing the spin of so-called progressive media, or so-called progressive media influencing O. It doesn't matter, though. The chants and lines are all the same - like a mantra.
I don't want THIS for a presidency. Lack of independent thinking is what got us where we are now, in case you're not paying attention to the Bush administration. And I want no more of it.
Maybe it's time for Obama to see the handwriting on the wall, since he just.can't.close.the.deal.
Maybe if Hillary got out of the way, and realized that there's a snowball's chance in hell that she'll get the nomination, you'd think differently. Ask yourself why someone who obviously doesn't have the good of the party - or the country - in mind continues to do her best to destroy the democrat's best chance at winning the election.
Accept reality. Unless the superdelegates overturn the will of the electorate, which will complete the destruction of the Democratic party for at least the next decade, Obama's your nominee.
For every successful candidate the time and the moment must meet. For Hillary Clinton it would seem that this just isn't her year. This country wishes to move on past Clintonianism to a future that the "bridge to the twenty-first century" was supposed to get us to. She is trying hard, like the little engine that could. But this party seeks a renewal of belief that someone with twenty years as a first lady and fifteen years in Washington cannot supply. Hope springs eternal in the camp of the Obamakins. As if our survival as a great nation on an inhabitable planet depends upon our coping with the challenges of the coming decades, we cast aside the baggage of the dimming past.
Shame on you, Mayhill, for your espionage activities. You knew Obama meant no offense to anyone and was righteous with his remarks. You are part of the problem.
It is not yet time to say "it's too late", Mayhill. Not until the fat lady ( mysogynistic?) sings...
Excellent point that “It’s too late.”
Your conclusion is poetic and also so wrong: that the “following wind has ever been Obama's and nothing Hillary Clinton has done or could have done would ever have changed that.”
She has lost just like Bill was impeached. Both failed to recognize the changes that are happening in the world. He thought he could get away with immoral behavior in the White House, because other people in the past had gotten away with it, but the world had changed. Transparency is replacing secrecy.
She thought she could sail into the nomination on the reliable winds of the “fierce loyalty” of past associations and political machine dominance, but the world has changed. A bottom-up movement is now possible.
Obama and his team have recognized how the world has changed. In fact, they are part of the change and have positioned themselves to catch the wind of it. She could have become part of it, but she did not. By obstinately clinging to the past, she has lost the future.
Sorry Mayhill no sympathy here, avid Obama supporter here and what u did is unforgiveable. You could've either left it alone because it was a non issue in the first place or at least when you brought it out your could've put it in better context. Nice try though.
Huffington should request your resignation for careless reporting. Just like ABC should ask for George's resignation for taking question from the "hack" Sean Hannity, just irresponsibe.
These pundits and media types have over stepped their bounds in this contest so many times, but at least it gives America a chance to see how the media and news have been running and swaying elections for over 20 years now.
Not this year, Not this time...Obama '08
-so another Clinton supporting column where at least we get the very slight -almost admission of anything like acceptance of personal responsibility....The BAD Hillary narrative is only PARTLY her fault...her decades of lying and distortion which continue on a weekly basis in this campaign her failure to run a strategic nationwide campaign, to use loyalty not competence as a way to organize her key advisors, her carelessness with money....none of that would have mattered if not for the part that is not her fault---which is what again? Bill's fault? He was SOOO out of her control...The sexist media? or The sexist electorate? Whover it is--poor victim Hillary--it was not your fault....
The behaviour of the Hillarites as they fail is even more illustrative of why they deserve to fail.
Nice obituary, Mayhill. This race is hardly about Hillary being "too late" -- the story is that Hillary has run the biggest flop of a presidential campaign in decades. The 'inevitable' candidate, the machine, the one that had Superdelegates lining up before she even announced, the more experienced one, the one with fat-cat donors that tried to threaten Nancy Pelosi, the campaign filled with Rove-like tactis... well, Hillary and Bill have simply been schooled, PWNED, smacked down... If they'd just own up to the fact that the reason they have failed is *their* fault rather than try to blame it on everyone else under the sun, then maybe I'd have a little respect for them. Instead, since January 3rd, the reason for every loss has been *us*, the voters because so many of our states don't matter to them. They employed the "insult 45-states strategy" and stll expect some respect? Thanks but no thanks.
Hillary needs to get her sorry ass out of the race.
The people can't stand her and she'd lose anyway.
She's so damned arrogant and oblivious, just like Bush, whom she has supported in each of his worst decisions.
Hillary Clintush seeks to continue the Clintush Dynasty. (Bush/Clinton/Bush/Clinton)
Hillary Clinton and her idiot husband should be deported.
Bush should be extradited to the Hague to be tried for war crimes.
deported to where? They're still American citizens, and have the right of free speech... as do I. I'll exercise it by voting Obama into the Oval Office.
The problem is unthinking Obama supporter like Balzac. If Balzac would just think before he writes, I guess he would make more sense. But then again, I guess if he would think before he supports, he wouldn't be supporting an unready candidate.
Still a Mayhill fan... Gentle... Gently... Gracious... Graciously... Consistently...
.... delusional .... unpatriotic
My mother is old fashioned but yesterday talking with her over the phone she said something that made me laugh but understood her pain...as much as she would like to vote for Clinton; she said, "why is this lady making such a bad name to future women Presidents...this is not the way to win!" with a sad tone! Well, that said it all for me!
Yes, it is too late!
Your Momma was definately correct......smart lady.
Your mother sounds like she has not heard any of the negative things Barack Obama AND his campaign AND his surrogates have been doing.
For someone that says he will be above the fray and not go with the normal politics of being negative and then turns around and is negative is a hypocrit!
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