Democratic Double Standard: If Obama Had Gone 0-10 in Primaries and Caucuses

If Obama Had Gone 0-10 in Primaries and Caucuses There Would Be Calls for Him To Leave The Race To Unite The Party; Where Are The Calls For Hillary to Leave The Race and Unite The Party?

In politics there are winners and losers. That is why we have elections. Senator Obama has convincingly won the last ten contests and just won the Democrats Abroad election.

Senator Clinton has lost by large margins in these last ten contests yet the Democratic Party leaders are not calling for her to leave the campaign trail and back the likely Democratic nominee Barack Obama in order to unify the party.

If the results had been the reverse and Obama had lost the ten elections by these very large percentages there would have been calls for him to suspend his campaign and back Hillary Clinton. Democratic Party leaders including former President Bill Clinton would have been leading the calls for Obama to support the frontrunner Hillary Clinton.

Senator Clinton is getting a pass from Democratic leaders because she is named Clinton. There seems to be some belief that she will perform some magical event and win the nomination because Clintons (as this theory goes) never lose and never give up). She is losing and she is also not giving up.

With the proportional representation system the Democrats have in place, Senator Clinton will not score a knock-out punch in either Ohio or Texas.

Why is Senator Clinton getting the benefit of the doubt that would not have been offered to Senator Obama or even John Edwards? Why is a candidate who is 0-10 in their last elections still being considered as a front-runner?

Obama has the crowds, the momentum and is leading in delegates at the moment. Clinton is struggling but Democratic leaders somehow dismiss this lack of momentum, lack of money, lack of crowds as an aberration that will correct itself once the voters realize she may not be the nominee of the party.

Now the Clinton campaign is discussing why caucuses are really not that fair, as working people do not participate because they have to work late. This is just another form of rationalization by the Clinton campaign that makes no sense in the real world of politics. They are just trying to muddy the waters and downgrade some of Obama's successes in the caucus states.

Senator Clinton is not being the gracious loser either. She moves on to the next primary/caucus states without looking back. Several times she has not even offered a concession speech and applauded her opponent for winning, which is standard procedure in politics.

This does not really help her in the general election were she to be the eventual nominee--which she most likely will not.

Voters in states do not like to be forgotten only minutes after an election just because the candidate did not win and has flown to another state and is already giving her standard speech without even discussing her loss earlier in the day. It is rather surreal to say the least.

If the Clintons--and let's face it--it is the Clintons that are running for the Oval Office--try and change the rules on Michigan and Florida, then the Democrats face a chaotic and confusing convention that will only help Senator John McCain.

There is a double standard in the Democratic Party. The Clintons are getting a pass because of their last name. A former president deserves respect but he and his wife shouldn't be allowed to change the rules in the middle of the election and they shouldn't be allowed not to be labeled as losers, as Hillary Clinton has overwhelmingly lost this month of February from coast to coast.

If the Clintons support the Democratic Party over personal ambition they would see the handwriting on the wall---the election results---and graciously bow out and support Senator Obama thus uniting the party and moving toward success in the polls next November.

Don't look for this to happen. The Clintons will find ways to try and say losses are really not losses and other Orwellian phrases will be mentioned until they realize--if they ever do--that the party has a new hero and his name is not Clinton.

What should happen will not happen and the Democratic double standard will stay in place and the Clintons will continue to try and win the Democratic nomination by every means possible all the way up to the roll call in Denver this summer.

Let's hope some sane Democratic Party voices will be heard and the party will not tear itself apart in a year when all the odds favor their return to the White House.

Comments

[geg6]

At this point, Clinton is looking an awful lot like her former adversary for her Senate seat, Giuliani. Ungracious, selfish, delusional, and completely lacking in any sort of strategy. I'm quite disappointed that I feel this way because I never set out to label her with those adjectives, but she is reaping what she has sown.

[darrren12000]

if clinton is not a threat to obama, then why are you guys dying for her to get out? you don't see mccain's people fretting over huckabee. just more clinton bashing. geez guys, your testicles will be free from a woman candidate soon enough.

[myhomeo]

Do you consider it even possible that some of the people who don't like the Clinton AREN"T sexist? Should we take that to the next logical step and say that all of Obama's detractors are rascist? Is it possible for somebody to disagree with you without having their motives questioned?
Why sre so many defenders of Clinton accusing the other side of sexism? Is it because there's no other defense for her candidacy?

[lynnn]

She's broke I, she's only raising money to try to pay of debts, I suggest, we give 5 more dollars to Obama, so the people can see how desperate she has become!

[darrren12000]

if clinton is not a threat to obama, then why are you guys dying for her to get out? you don't see mccain's people fretting over huckabee. just more clinton bashing. geez guys, your testicles will be free from a woman candidate soon enough

[LeftRight]

Actually I see McCain's people trying to get Huckabee out WAY more than I see Obama's people trying to get Hillary out. In fact, the only people that I've even heard trying to get Hillary out are the people who either don't have an adgenda, because they like both, or the people on here, most of whom either simply donated or did nothing to help the Obama campaign. I'm not saying that's wrong, I'm just saying that the Obama people aren't trying to get Hillary out, the Democrats on this site are.

And please stop trying to lie about McBush and Huckabee. There have been many times the number of requests and even ORDERS to Huckabee to leave the race so that McBush could focus on the dems, and yet he refuses to do so.

[thatsdebatable]

The debate will be the test. This is where substance outwits fairytales.

[jsarets]

Obama should deliver the knock-out blow in tonight's debate. Talk about the primary race in the past tense, thank Hillary for her spirited campaign, and pivot to the general election. Unify the party, unify the country. His words and body language should exude the confidence and authority of the presidency, which he's been doing much better than Clinton since before Iowa.

Clinton won't drop out before March 4, but if Obama can successfully push the foregone conclusion meme, than he can probably keep the Clinton campaign from unleashing a barrage of last-minute attacks.

[randl1999]

Don't know about you, but that oft repeated "35 year of experience" is beginning to grate on me. It's so obviously meant to sharpen the age differential between the two candidates, but in reality, what did she really accomplish? Go gently into that night, Hillary.

[sassyg]

randl, I *totally* agree -- her claims of "experience" are laughable. How come no one is challenging her on it? Plus, it's not like she's going to be able to use "experience" if she were to get the nomination­...McCain could run circles around her on that one.

[ljsfolly]

The 35 year thing has had me going from "day one" Unless she was sitting in the potus chair while bill was making out in the kitchen next door the 35 year thing makes me wonder. I didn't see her name on anything coming out of the white house. Barack has more years elected to any office. I don't know if she can count the years raking in the dought from Wal Mart on their board. They were only doing their best to screw over the workers at the time but she got a big payout for that board and others while working as a lawyer and doing the charity bit at the same time. Cannot figure the time table out unless she was in the bizarro world at the time. Another poster ran through ther accomplishments she has done in the senate and it looked like the local city council naming things and giving out awards like to the local boy scouts while voting for wars and not reading the intel since she got herself on the committee that handles the intel, and oh don't forget Kyle Lieberman and Fisa the PAA and all the other "I support Bush".

[D2D2]

You are so on point. Well said.

[Heidfeld]

If he went 0-10, but had previously won NY and CA, was virtually tied on delegates (after having had his victories in FL and MI thrown out), nobody would be asking him to step down.

Get a grip on yourself. Obama has a slim lead gained over the last 10 races where just over 400 delegates were in play. In two weeks we will have another 400 plus in play in one day, with Hillary leading the polling in the largest of the states... and you wan't her to step aside?

Don't make me laugh.

Yes SHE Can

[blueraven]

And we all know how accurate those pre-voting polls are, don't we? To seal Obama off, she'd have to rout him in every state that votes in two weeks. Not likely. And those "victories" in FL and MI mean as much as the chad dust in FL in 2000 meant anything to the Libertarians.

[inthenitemare]

Slim lead?? 2 to 1 is a slim lead?
Seems your the one that needs the grip.

[lynnn]

She has lost 140 mil. and counting, she is charging you interest for her loan to her campaign and she her campaign is in at least 7.6 million dollars of debt! The money she is raising now, it going just to keep her campaign from taking on more debt. She has now let her corporate donors release 527 against another democrat. Hon, if she takes their money like that, I would suggest that she is in-debt to them as well.

The more we see of Hillary the less we see solutions,
Please think it through b4 you give her any more money. Where did 140 million go between IA and NH.

[LeftRight]

Slim lead? Where have you been? You're counting the superdelegates who've come out and said that they might vote for someone, even though they can change their minds up until they vote, and they aren't stupid, they see what the county's doing. WITHOUT the superdelegates he's got more than a hundred more delegates than her. Edwards dropped out because of less than 50...

[blaqqardo]

Not to mention your claim of 'having her victories in FL and MI thrown out'. They were not thrown out. These states were stripped of their delegates before, I repeat before the voting. Please stop twisting reality. You can make an honest argument about why they should be counted anyway, which is impossible in a democratic sense, or reason that there should be another vote there, which would definitely have its upsides. But please, stop this.

[LeftRight]

Yeah, you're correct, they should not count the votes in either MI or FL, since they were both skewed by the voters KNOWING that their votes wouldn't count, and in MI, at least, Hillary being the only one on the ballot. If they are going to count, they need to be redone!

[Lon]

Clinton has long touted a strategy of winning Texas and Ohio on the way to Pennsylvania as a way to win the nomination. This looks like a losing strategy. The best she could do is pull into a sort of tie leading to a brokered convention.

But hopefully she will lose in Texas or Ohio. Then I suspect the party leaders will (using Bill's words if necessary) try to convince her to leave the race.

She is under no obligation to leave, and was never likely to do it before May 4th. So party leaders are probably right to leave it until then. They would be right as well if Obama and Clinton's roles were switched. (Party leaders would have to be careful in trying to get someone like Obama out of the race as well).

[darrren12000]

you guys sound so paranoid. who says she won't leave? and if she were not a viable threat to obama, why are you guys so concerned with her presence? why not treat her as mccain does huckabee -- as an afterthought?

[mthespian]

Perhaps because Huckabee isn't echoing Obama's words about McCain and developing new lines of attack that drive down McCain's positives in polling just for his own ego when he knows he can't win.

[SamanthaJaneSalem]

Hillary needs to withdraw after tonight's debate.

She can only win by destroying Obama and misusing superdelegates (and cheating in Florida and Michigan). And what would that do to black voters-- whom the white Democratic establishment has often taken for granted?

It's not just about Obama's support among African Americans, because whites and Latinos can feel the same outrage about these tactics.

Yet there's a pattern throughout our history of black voters being shut out of the political process, and black leaders being called frauds. The "grandfather clause" in the Jim Crow laws, and the felony purge lists in Florida in 2000. The charges of plagiarism against Martin Luther King Jr. The charge of mail fraud against Marcus Garvey.

If Hillary stays in only to treat Obama like a high school graduate cutting and pasting other people's speeches, she will destroy her own reputation, and-- worse-- jeopardize the 90% support Democrats have among black voters. If they see their votes being nullified by old white men in the party with whom a single vote equals ten thousand votes-- if they see this respected statesman and author being dissected in a way no white politician ever has been (they all borrow words from other speeches), why would they vote for Hillary in November? Why would any Democrat?

Hillary is better than this campaign, and far better than this latest tactic of shoving superdelegates down our throats (see http://www.delegatehub.com/) and calling Obama a plagiarist with no solutions. She is giving the GOP more ammo every day, disgracing her own standing among Democrats, and potentially leading the party to alienate for decades the African American community, a community whose story of struggle and quest for equality define the image of the Democratic Party.

[darrren12000]

the african american struggle defines the democrats image? what a joke. how many debates have talked about race? how much have the dems addressed racism -- other than supposed racism against obama? as a black person i am offended by people creating such superficial antiracist images of the democratic party. what a joke. obama is running a post-racial campaign, which is why many white guys - who normally vote against candidates favored by blacks - support obama. it is such a joke to think that obama will do much for or more for blacks than any other democrat. blacks tend to vote as a bloc -- WE supported kerry in the primaries too - by overwhelming numbers.