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Primary Thoughts |
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Place me in the camp of those feeling anger and frustration at last night’s results, not with those watching for the fun of it. These events are not intellectual curiosities - they are powerful national decisions that affect real people’s lives. They deserve to be treated with respect. The ones who deserve our condescension are not those who get “overly emotional,” but rather the emotional cripples who feel no rush of feeling from watching our future unfold - or take a stumble, as the case may be.
Place me in the camp of those who believe the media distorts things in favor of Clinton - or simply to prolong this sick game. For Obama to come from leagues behind, both in Texas, Ohio, and nationwide, after a year of Clinton as “front-runner,” and have Clinton win the title of “comeback kid” (her once-a-month due, apparently), sickens me. It’s a giant lie.
Place me in the camp of those who now question not only the patriotism and integrity of the other candidate, but also that of her supporters:
I think the most telling rhetorical moment of the night was when, during Clinton’s speech, her supporters started chanting “Yes, She Will,” or something to that effect. Whatever it was, it was directly aimed not just at Barack Obama, but at Barack Obama supporters. I can’t remember something like that ever happening before. Were they mainly cheering for Clinton, or antagonizing Obama supporters? Hard to tell. You could feel their disgust with Obama supporters, which certainly is a sign that Clinton supporters don’t care how nasty her campaign might get against Obama. And, if what I see in the blogosphere is any indication, for many Obama supporters the feeling is more than mutual. If Obama decided to retaliate in kind, I doubt his supporters will mind. This could get really, really ugly.
And let me say something directly to Clinton’s supporters: your fantasies of a return to 1996 are delusional. What you get with Clinton would be a nasty surprise. If you flip to any non-American news source, you’ll get a very quick sense of how dramatically the world has changed since that time, and how violent it now is. Bill Clinton dropped the ball on Somalia, Rwanda, Iraq, and Afghanistan, just for starters, and the scale and number of global crises has only multiplied since his presidency. Who do I want answering that phone at 3 am? A leader who lives in the present, which is a distinction that neither Hillary Clinton nor John McCain deserves.
And before you fire back about blah blah blah and Obama, let me say that unlike Clinton, the man represents something far beyond himself. He’s not Jesus. But he has sparked a social revolution the likes of which haven’t been seen since the 1960s. In truth, he’s more Frankie Avalon than Dale Earnhart - in other words, he’s personifying the hopes of millions of Americans hungry for change, rather than creating that movement entirely on his own. But not only am I okay with that, it comes with a corollary - when you drag Barack Obama down, you’re dragging down that movement as well. It’s your choice what kind of country you want to live in.
I understand that Obama is still in the lead. But if this is a culture war, we just lost a major symbolic battle and it hurts.
That’s all I have to say. Mike Lux’s endorsement of Obama meant a lot to me, especially this:
My feelings started to change after going to Iowa for caucus night. The enthusiasm and passion of all the young Obama supporters, their excitement about being involved in progressive politics, won my heart. If Obama could inspire all these folks who probably never would have showed up at all, that was a pretty exciting thing. However, I continued to feel that it was important to stay neutral for all the reasons I mentioned above, and continued to praise and beat up on both sides from time to time as the campaign went on.
However, we have now come to a crossroads in this campaign. Ironically, it was yesterday’s results which have spurred my decision. If Obama had won Texas or Ohio or both, the end would be clearly in sight, and there would have been no reason for me to take the painful personal step of opposing my old friend Hillary. But I now feel it more important than ever to do so. Yesterday’s victories by Hillary were impressive- as I’ve said before, you can never count her out. But even as impressive as those victories were, she gained very little net advantage in the delegate race. It’s become increasingly clear to me that between Obama’s delegate lead and the number of states left where he is likely to win big victories (WY, MS, NC, OR, MT, SD), it is virtually impossible for Hillary to gain an advantage in the pledged delegate count.
It is also clear that she won Ohio and Texas in great part to a harshly negative attack, including an ad and rhetoric on national security that completely reinforces the Bush/McCain/Republican line of attack on Democrats for the last several years.
I am not arguing that Obama is the inevitable candidate, so we should all just fall in line. In fact, I do think there is a path to the nomination for Clinton:
• She runs another harshly negative attack echoing Republican themes and beats Obama in PA
• The campaign lays heavy pressure and cuts every deal imaginable to win over a solid majority of the remaining uncommitted delegates
• The campaign then wins a bitterly negative, highly divisive credentials committee fight by a few votesAt that point, she has just enough delegates to win the nomination in a fight that goes down to convention week.
I can’t think of another scenario at this point for a Clinton victory. None of the pro-Clintonites I have asked about it can spell out another way, either.
With that kind of nomination fight, the millions of African-Americans, first-time-involved-in-politics young people, and all the other Obama folks leave Denver feeling like the election has been stolen.
That is not a recipe for a Democratic victory in November. As high as my regard is for Hillary Clinton, as strong as my instinct has always been to remain neutral, that kind of scenario forces me to support Obama. The best hope our party has in the fall is for Obama to win the remaining primaries, and for the superdelegates to line up behind him now.
What do you think?
I had to change the fucking channel. Her fucking smile, her fixing her hair, made me want to kill myself using a tennis ball machine. Obviously I’m upset and this comment won’t be of much worth other than anger and frustration. Ohio = Hick State. I’m suprised they even have the electricity to light up the polling places. What has Ohio given us? Amish people and Drew Carey. Then there is Texas. You ever read about the town of Tulia Texas? If so, enough said. If you haven’t read about Tulia here’s some other great things texas has given the U.S.:
- George Herman Bush who just happened to hand deliver cocaine to the inner cities via the CIA by forging a bunk alliance with the sandinistas (check spelling on that one).
- They’re really good at capital punishment
- George W, first president who wakes up to people tying his shoes and a bowl of Kraft mac & cheese
I’m not surprised at all about the results from these states. Sure, there are good people there but they are outweighed by the mooks who shop/live/eat/breathe at Wal-Mart and value a good college football game over a good political debate. Fucking hacks. That’s just about how I feel Thurston.
Joey - I’m from Ohio, Franklin county a county in which Obama won. So don’t hate me.
Ohio like many other states has it’s share of people whose IQ is less then their shoe size. These are the same people that Bush and now Clinton win in every election. These are the unemployed blue collar workers that don’t have the sense to turn off their nascar race and educate themselves on the candidates and issues. I know a few of these types and most of them think that Obama is muslim and won’t say the national anthem.
What I don’t get is that the same people that voted for bush and now clinton are the exact same ones that Bush and Clinton will screw over, if she gets into the white house.
So don’t blame all of Ohio, blame the idiots out there who will believe one single email instead of taking the time to educate themselves. These poor idiots would rather someone tell them what to think rather than think on their own. Hence a reason most of them can’t find good jobs.
I am also from Ohio, originally, and I agree with you. I thought it was just me thinking that Ohians, in general, are ignorant! I am glad to see that I’m not the only one that sees what a hypocrite Hillary Clinton is. She says one thing, does another, changes her approach when it comes to herself instead of attacking an opponent. How is this bypassing as much of the American public as it is? Are they blind? Deaf? I am strongly convinced that she is a mean, old, hag that will screw over this country just about as much as it already has been.
Dead on!
The points on Bill Clinton’s foreign policy are huge. In a world today where foreign policy influences domestic policy to such a degree, and after Bush’s failings in the area (which are arguably the worst parts of his shameful presidency), we need someone not only with good foreign policy ideas, but with good foreign credibility. It’s not a Clinton.
I concur; the movement that seems to have risen around Obama is bigger than the man. But I’d say attacks on Obama go not only against his supporters but against everyone who believes in America’s potential for change and improvement. When Clinton’s supporters shouted “Yes, she will”, they were saying more than they thought. Not only were they attacking Obama and his supporters, they were also changing Obama’s rhetoric of community-building and togetherness into the political rhetoric of Clinton’s “me above all the rest” campaign.
Those who criticize Obama’s rhetoric, trying to pop holes in his promises, aren’t just insulting the candidate or his campaign. They are insulting the very heart of those Americans who feel American can be better than what it is not and want a president who will lead us not further into the mire of foreign policy predicated on silences and exclusions but into a global community filled with cooperation, conversation, dialogue and progress.
Certainly one man cannot fix all that is wrong in the world, but following Obama’s lead, yes, we most certainly can. With all that can (and is) going wrong in the world today, a little hope and inspiration can’t hurt.
“your fantasies of a return to 1996 are delusional.”
You know, I’m not clear what Hillary supporters see in her. The possibility that they see a return to 1996 had not occurred to me, but that’s as clear an explanation as I’ve heard.
My turning point with regards to Hillary Clinton was her cynical mocking of Obama:
“Now I can stand up here and say: Let’s just get everybody together, let’s get unified, the sky will open, the light will come down, celestial choirs will be singing, and everyone will know we should do the right thing, and the world will be perfect,” Clinton told supporters here at Rhode Island College.
“Maybe I just lived a little long. But I have no illusions about how hard this is going to be.”
Maybe this is why the right-wing attack machine calls her the Hildebeast?
Nothing sums up the ineptness, the out-of-touchness, the tin-earedness of her campaign, better than “Yes she will!”
AltHippo, that was the moment she lost my vote for November. She personally mocked me, as if I think Obama has a magic wand and magical powers. Why would I vote for someone who personally mocks me?
And it’s not just that Obama came out of nowhere. It’s Obama coming out of nowhere to upset the Clintons. Probably the most powerful name in politics, with every single advantage in their favor. And he’s going to do it. How could the superdelegates not want the best campaigner we’ve seen in a long time?
As a precinct captain for Obama in north Austin, I’d like to share some of my thoughts.
My co-captains and I (8 total) worked for three weeks straight. We made lots of calls. We had a house party for Obama where we answered questions from voters. We canvased *700* homes the weekend before the caucus.
When we caucused, we overwhelmed the Hillary folks. They voted. When they were all done, we were still in line. ALL THE WAY OUT TO THE PARKING LOT. And we stayed in line for another hour solid. Then, as the line snaked into the room, another 50 people stood up from their chairs and joined our line–they were waiting for the line to at least come into the room.
I will never forget the look of astonishment on those Clinton supporters’ faces. I will never forget how hard we worked, and how well it paid off. And it looks like NPR is reporting that Obama’s combined delegates from the primary and caucus exceed Hillary’s in TX–in other words, he has won Texas.
Keep the faith. Our guy is the right person for the job. She is a liar. She is sneaky. She is underhanded. And I’m not saying that because she is a woman and I’m somehow misogynistic. I’m saying it because she is Hillary. She only wants power.
Everything she has done all her life has been geared toward the assumption of power. That’s why she stayed with an adulterer for a husband. That’s why she chose to become a Senator from NY as opposed to Arkansas. It’s why she’s pulling all the mischief currently.
During the 1990s I never really understood why Republicans in Texas (where I live) hated Hillary so much. I’m beginning to see why now.
Read this story when you get a chance, then scream!
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080305.wnafta06/B NStory/National/home
The ground game Obama is building is simply amazing. Not only will it propel him to the nomination, but it puts him leads and bounds over McCain heading into the general. Money and votes are one thing, but dedicated, fired-up supporters are quite another. Obama is building a movement and it shows.
Yes, Tom, this is why I do not support Hillary; it is what turned me off from Bill - they want power. I can even imagine them laughing at night after another of the highly negative, twisted-lies campaigns results in a “gain” for her candidacy. “What fools, what sheep, our citizens are, they DESERVE me!” Close your eyes, sit back, just hear her and Bill mocking us with their “successes.”
I happen to be Republican; a Republican who did not support either Bush. I happen to be a Republican who supports Obama’s vision, because by God, my country NEEDS someone with vision, who sees that his (or her) vision MUST coincide with the vision of the dreaming, visionary citizens. It is what our founding fathers wanted for us, because it is what we need in order to remain strong.
We need to be, again, “One nation, under God.” The difference is, I do not have to define God the same way you do; nor do I expect you to define God the same way I do. In the end, we, each of us, knows what is, “right,” and “just,” and “honest,” and “truthful,” and “strengthening.”
I wouldn’t mind health care, which is one of Hillary’s big pushes; but before I worry about health care I need a job that helps me purchase the right food to promote health; and helps me pay the mortgage so I have less stress. That, my fellow citizens, takes vision.
Carole R.
Florida
Thanks for the firsthand account of the ground game. Everything I hear about McCain’s campaign is that it basically got lucky with Rudy’s collapse, and doesn’t really have anything resembling a strategy. Call me naive or optimistic or whatever, but I would love that matchup.
Ron Paul > all of any party.
Let it go - Paul is done and always has been. While I think he and his supporters should be commended for their great organizational, grassroots efforts, his message is something that only works in a Utopian world, not ours. Sorry, Candyland is a board game, not a reality.
Why do you believe his is a message that only builds upon a standing of extreme perfection? Is it hard to believe that we can have money that has value again, decide that once the interest of yesteryear is finally paid off, we will no longer accumulate the gigantic debt that is interest on a paper currency? Do you also believe there’s no debt? Follow the money trail for goodness sake. Without the money, in your wallet, and in your plastic; You would be searching for a solution to either get more money or make what you have more valuable to others so you can buy goods and services (eg. food, property, and labor) from others.
The value of what you own is dropping drastically because of the illusion that YOU own it. You don’t even own the money that you’re buying ‘your’ possessions with. How is it that if you fail to pay your bills, that other property can be lost that doesn’t even relate to your attached debt? What if, you had a debt so great, that you had no possessions of value and had to give up a child as collateral? By ‘give up a child’ I’m also talking, not just to your creditors, but if you couldn’t afford to feed him/her. You might give them to foster parents, or relatives. Would that be a tipping point to realize that something is wrong? Maybe, that you’re the one stuck in Candyland, because what we’re forced to play because of your myopia certainly feels like a ‘win-lose’ boardgame.
Some great points. Among the best points is that Clinton is dragging down Obama using Republican talking points. That’s just absolutely disgusting to me and I cant see how it’s not disgusting to other liberals as well. For Clinton to favorably compare McCain to Obama is a despicable thing that shows how low she will go.
I totally agree with you. I sent her a campaign email, and tried to play down my Obama support in hopes that someone would actually read it. It’s pretty naieve, but I have nothing else. It went something like this:
Hillary:
I hope that you will read this, or that some aide of yours will pass this message along, because if you truly believe (as I do) that this country can not survive four more years of republican rule, you must hear what I have to say. As a poor student, I have no extra money to contribute to campaigns, so I hope to offer some sage advice instead.
In the run up to the Texas primaries, you began to use some strange language (and have continued to use it in your victory interviews) when comparing yourself to Sen. Obama. It goes something like this: “Senator McCain has a lifetime of experience, I have a lifetime of experience, and Senator Obama has a speech he gave in 2002″. Quite simply, this line of attack needs to stop, and it needs to stop yesterday.
Putting aside the fact that your whole platform of “experience” seems to be a substance-free fantasy, which was invented by your campaign strategists, yet somehow cannot be supported by them %u2013 case in point: when asked by John Dickerson of Slate Magazine to give specifics as to what the experience mantle actually meant, even after a five second silence, they couldn’t come up with anything but platitudes %u2013 this line of attack is completely wrong on two fronts.
First, this attack legitimizes the experience that John McCain has, and reduces the competency test down to nothing more than years of experience in government near foreign affairs decisions. This is not good for you, because even though you have been in the Senate longer than Senator Obama, John McCain has you both beat by decades. Second, he is a war hero, while neither you, nor Senator Obama are. Your attacks on Senator Obama suggest that both remaining Democrats are somehow less competent on National Security issues than John McCain is, which is disastrously wrong.
To avoid the fate of John Kerry in this election, Democrats need to differentiate themselves from the Neo-conservative foreign policy, by attacking McCain and the Neo-conservatives about the kind of experience they have. Competency on National Security must become a referendum on the kind of decisions that have been and will me made by the candidates, not the number of decisions in which the candidates have been involved. Your attack fails to do this, and in fact, makes this case harder to make later in the general election. If you continue your fear based attack, it will come back to haunt you.
Second, should Senator Obama become the nominee, which at this point still looks likely, your attack will have gifted talking points to the Republicans. Your attack will be used to create a narrative regarding foreign policy that places the number of decisions over the quality of judgement, which is an argument that the Democratic nominee, be it you or Senator Obama, cannot win. If you continue with your fear based attack, it will come back to haunt him.
This election is extremely important. Young people like me are very afraid of another Republican administration, because we are only too aware of the view of human rights, executive power, and foreign policy it would have, as well as the kinds of judges it would nominate. Democrats, however reticent they may have been to pursue meaningful repudiations of the republican style of governing, have at least taken an adversarial position. A Democrat handing the GOP ammunition that they will use to fight Democrats is a frighteningly short-sighted move. If you want a Democrat to win in November, whomever that may be, please, discontinue your experience comparison now. Nothing good can come of it in the long term.
Right on, Brother! I am disgusted by the attacks on my fellow Obama supporters by Clinton and her supporters, and her pilfering of his rhetoric and campaign themes even as she charged “plagiarism”. She
has no authenticity whatsoever, at least in a positive sense.
is nonviolent politicking possible? humans are cruel and selfish and we want a leader who deep down is a mother fucker who will be a prick globally while kissing our asses. sorry for the language and negativity but we are not yet evolved enough for obama overall and until young people actually vote instead of whine not a whole lot will change. so kick a kid in the butt and drive him to the polls.
One more quick note. This story is breaking now. Keith Olbermann reports that it was the Clinton campaign, not the Obama campaign, that did the wink-wink, nod-nod thing with Canada, then blamed Obama.
Sh*tty politics, and Ohio voters get the shaft.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOLEK2lr3CM
Great post. And as far as the commenter who said “I had to change the channel…”(when Hillary & Her Hilarious Hair claimed ‘victory’)… I couldn’t agree with you more. She’s the biggest boon to the TV Remote Control since George Bush himself. I can’t stand to watch/hear her either. Her patronizing, condescending false talk is nauseating. How stupid does she think we is? (to quote someone else.)
That, Tommy, is the point: she does think we are stupid. Her campaign is based on that; and since it is at all successful, she is rather proving that many ARE stupid.
CR