Checking in from England, I see that Obama has gathered enough elected delegates to convince those unelected superdelegates to announce for him, or to switch over to his side -- including our own Los Angeles representative, Maxine Waters, long a loyal Clintonista.
Meanwhile, I see, our Hillary is still not ready to give up the fight. Ourselves in the Obama camp since the California primaries -- and myself, since John Edwards's withdrawal -- we have been surprised to meet many avid, even angry Clinton supporters on our travels. We have heard, frequently, the accusation of sexism leveled against Obama and his campaign team. The use of the word "shrill" to describe Hillary's behavior, in particular, has been picked out as one that identifies the worst of sexism on our side. For myself, while I realize how commonly the word is used offensively to stereotype women, I also believe that it's a word that carries a value and meaning other than that stereotype, and that Hillary has, in fact, slipped over into excess in language and in capitalizing on her victimhood.
Months back, I would have been elated to have had the chance to vote for a woman candidate; now, were she the Democratic Party's nominee, I would still vote for her without qualms, but with less enthusiasm. To those who say that Obama is untested, that he lacks experience, that all he has going for him is preachy rhetoric I would say: take a good look at the history of the two campaigns and compare them. Hillary, frankly, has made a hash of hers. She can't simply blame the media, blame sexism, blame others for the failure. She started out an easy frontrunner, with the full weight of the party machinery behind her. It was hers to lose, and she lost it. She cannot disclaim responsibility for the mismanagement that brought her to this point. By the same token, the Obama campaign has remained relatively dignified, has survived the worst of crises, has been even-keeled, efficient and well-managed throughout. I think the man can take some credit for that.
So looking at nothing more than the management of the campaigns, I say that Obama has proved himself the greater potential leader of the two -- one who is capable of listening, stepping back, re-grouping, maintaining a dignified calm not only within himself but amongst his supporters, keeping on track and achieving the eventual goal with fortitude and imperturbable strength. I realize that others, those Clinton supporters who have still not accepted the alternative possibility will disagree with my assessment. It's just my view. I only hope, for the sake of the country, that sound reasoning will soon replace the current emotional posturing, and that neither one of the candidates will have sufficiently alienated the supporters of the other for the Democrats to lose the real battle of ideas and issues that must now take place between this moment and November.
And, yes, let's be ready for that October surprise. I put absolutely nothing past Bush and his team of incompetent ideologues, desperate to keep their hold on power. They will do anything to win. Hillary should have learned enough from the example of their political tactics to have resisted every opportunity to emulate them. She did not. And clearly the American voters have decided they want something different from their politicians than falsification and attack. Real strength is made of other qualities than these.
Obama is a leader, not a follower.
Her advisers misled her.
She should have seen the logical move as if she played chest with a baby.
No, she missed her move.
By March, HRC was already so far down--but none of her staff or her--as well as supporters bothered to look at he actual electoral votes that were left on the table for them..
As they"d won some primaries at the end--it gave them a false sense of reality-in believing she could win..
Perhaps that's why they chose to simply ignore the fact that HRC HAD broken the rules-which she herself had signed onto-by campaigning in Fla & Mich.
Her voters honestly believed something to be true--that Mich & Fla were just minor obstacles to be overcome instead of the fact that she'd lost 12 in a row-and was 150 down in the delegate count..
a delegate count where the amount of states left could NOT deliver a win..
The 2-floors below gound level- with no cell or wireless coverage during the night Obama clinched--shows the deception and ongoing misinformation her candadacy was trying to deliberately mislead her voters to believe..
It also shows how she would continue to isolate her voters from Obama and create a boogyman to her voters "we're gonna win--the media, people who use sexism..."--rather than telling them the truth..
Her Waterloo was March-she hid this from her voters and denied herself(and voters) reality-creating much animosity and division among the Democratic party..
Absolutely right. He might be younger, but he has showed a hell of a lot more maturity. It's also worth noting that the dominant pronoun in his speeches is "we," while in Hillary's, it's "I." Rarely has the choice between two words said more about the differences between two people.
First, I would not level any charge of sexism against the Obama campaign whatsoever. My venom
on the sexism issue I would aim squarely at the media.
Second, I give you that Barack Obama is cool, calm and collected under fire. This is especially
advantageous for him since Hillary is not letting go of the fight easily, and that's just fine by me, and Obama needs to move on and focus on McCain. Let his emotional supporters post their comments here about how terrible and graceless Hillary is. Too bad. If I were Hillary, all I would do is issue a press release that my campaign was suspended, congratulate Obama, and go back to Washington.
No endorsemnet, no intervies. Nothing. I might campaign for Obama later in the year, unless I can come up with a good excuse not to.
It could turn out, from the way many of us Hillary folks feel, that Obama will luck out to have us sit the election out than to actually vote.
executive exp,e.g., Governor), too liberal (most liberal voting record in US Senate - #1;
Hillary is 16th), too sure of himself ( he knows he's cool, he knows he's hot). I don't like him. AND HE STOPPED MY HILLARY. He does not get my vote. I'm pissed.
But I guess you're misguided enough to be fine with those two things. Sigh.
The MP said he saw the ex-Iraqi leaders as a "bestial dictator" and his pre-war visit to Iraq had been aimed at getting him to readmit weapons inspectors.
Mr Galloway has gone to the High Court in London over claims he took £375,000 from Saddam's regime.
Add this fruit cake to Hamas and Chevez as endorses of the Marxist. Nice work libs