Clinton
Fantastic. She hit every note she needed to. If she was this good in the primaries, things might have turned out differently. Not only did she put to rest the silly media-fueled Clinton drama, but she really established herself as a Democratic leader for years to come. As someone who never supported her candidacy for a variety of reasons, I can say that I finally get what people saw in her.
That said, it’s sad to think that she even had to include her “I want you to ask yourselves: Were you in this campaign just for me?” line. It’s remarkable that the people who ostensibly share Hillary Clinton’s ideals need to be reminded again and again and again that she’s a Democrat who supports Barack Obama. Even more bizarre was hearing a teary-eyes Clinton supporter on CNN tonight grudgingly concede that she “did what she needed to do” (or something along those lines) as if to imply that Hillary was insincere in her ringing endorsement of Obama. The PUMA brand of zealotry, which mixes equal parts self-righteous promotion of and bewildering disrespect for a candidate, is one I’ll never understand.
The primary is over, guys. It’s time to unite for a common purpose. Universal healthcare. End the war. Fix the economy. Stop McCain. Y’know, the stuff that Hillary has been saying all along?
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The problem is, she spent several weeks repeating, over and over, that her own party was fucking her over because they weren’t awarding delegates based on the old (non-proportional) system. And just like Saddam being responsible for 9/11, bullshit that’s often repeated becomes fact in the minds of certain people.
I’m glad Hillary gave such an excellent speech, but I doubt it will be enough to control the damage she inflicted.
Hope I’m wrong.
Comment by Doobie — August 27, 2008 @ 2:25 am
At first I was like “why is she talking about herself for 15 minutes before mentioning Obama’s name?” it seemed a little self serving and almost like she was going to accept the nomination herself. But then I realized that that was probably the right move. Her supporters are so emotionally attached to her, that they needed to pat themselves on the back and give her a glory moment before she handed it over to Obama. And she did it very well. I’m glad.
I was listening to NPR yesterday to a show about the Hillary vs Obama thing. Several of her supporters were saying that they might be voting for McCain because they think that Obama stole the nomination from Hillary. It’s so infuriating that they would throw all their democratic values out the window and support McCain just because Hillary isn’t the candidate. The more cynical side of me thinks there is some velied racism or at least reverse sexism at play there. But maybe they really are just rabid Hillary supporters who are blind to the bigger picture.
I really hope Hillary continues to get her supporters behind Obama. Otherwise she’ll turn out to be this years unintentional Nader and steal enough votes away from Obama for McCain to win.
Comment by tomN! — August 27, 2008 @ 8:00 am
I agree with what tom says regarding her speech–it started long-winded, and with a lot of self-aggrandiz-a-mentalization (did we really need a slide show of her childhood?), but by the end I realized she was rallying the troops more than a simple “Vote Obama!” would have done.
Comment by orangehairboy — August 28, 2008 @ 12:38 am
bill clinton was awesome last night… totally redeemed himself to me after i had started to not like him during hillary’s campaign.
Comment by tomN! — August 28, 2008 @ 8:34 am
I’m glad that Obama and Hilary have made up,and that soap opera,has ended.Meanwhile outside the pepsi center,reporters are being arrested,peace activist are being beaten,pepper sprayed,and thrown into jail.Will any of our great speakers address the brutal repression of civil liberties taking place right outside the door of the pepsi center?Even Kucinich failed to do so.I certainly prefer Obama over McCain,but if the Democratic leadership fails to speak out against the destruction of civil rights in the streets of Denver,we simply exchange one group of brownshirts,for a another.I hate to rain on the unity parade,but believe it or not,there are still those in the Democatic party who remember the ideas,and struggles the party once stood for,and fail to find them in the rhetoric of our current party leaders.To ignore dissent,and the current civil rights violations in the streets of Denver,for the sake of party “unity”,makes us a mirror of the Republicans who have perfected the politics of deaf,dumb,and blind.
Comment by pogo — August 28, 2008 @ 9:36 am