by Last night, Barack Obama became the nominee of the democrat party — even though some on the Clinton side still feel he cannot win in November.
Instead of quietly conceding defeat to Obama last night, Hillary refused to acknowledge Barack’s evisceration of her candidacy by congratulating him on winning. In fact, she was introduced last night at her pep rally as the “next president of the United States.”
She also mocked Barack’s dedication to healthcare by saying she’s been fighting for fair healthcare for 16 years while Barack has only been concerned about it for 16 months.
Would it have been so awful for Hillary to at least to pretend to be gracious in her exit?
In today’s New York Times, Maureen Dowd puts her finger right in the eye of the continuing Clinton storm:
Clintonologists know that Hillary is up to something, but they aren’t sure what. Theory No. 1 is that it’s the Cassandra “I told you so” gambit: She believes intensely that he’s too black, too weak and too elitist — with all his salmon and organic tea and steamed broccoli — to beat her pal John McCain.
But she has to pretend she’ll do “whatever it takes,” even accept the vice presidency, a job she’s already had and doesn’t want again, so that nobody will blame her when he loses on Nov. 4. Then she can power on to 2012.
Since Hillary now plans to be Barack’s Vice-President, he is now in for a world of hurt. I warned Barack to avoid that Clinton squeeze play by picking his Vice-President early. He didn’t listen. Now he will have to do much more than just paying her to play her.
Or it Hillary’s master plan to stay around, sticking knives into Obama’s back and hoping for the worst?
On my private Barack Obama blog, the largest amount of comments on any article I’ve written is one titled — “If She’s In, I’m Out!” — where I argue that taking Hillary on as Vice-President would shatter any sort of Realm of Hope for his campaign as Bill Clinton, again, becomes the locus of yet another failed campaign.
Having Hillary on the ticket means we’ll be hearing about Bill Clinton nonstop for the next four months!
We’ll read more about the women he’s bedding behind her back, rumors of his dirty money dealings and the whole rest of the Clinton nightmare that traumatized our country.
We deserve a fresh start.
We voted for a new hope.
We want to follow Barack Obama — but we cannot, and shall not — do that with two Clintons hanging on his backside and hoping for their resurrection in a national tragedy that will put her in the Oval Office instead of the Vice-President’s chair.
The very antithesis of hope is the wish for death and we’ve all had enough of that to last a lifetime.
I am so proud of Barack. I don’t think she will ever quit. She’ll just hang around.
I fear you’re right, Anne! She will never congratulate him on winning in any genuine and heartfelt way and she’ll never “quit.” She doesn’t wan to be on-the-record giving in to any man.
Barack does not need her. He should run from her.
I am so glad for Obama but equally skeptical about the Clintons!!!
Katha!
It will be fascinating to see what her next move is — she gave another speech today and did not congratulate Obama for winning and she didn’t drop out.
What is the general reaction to Obama in India? Is he seen as a healer, an unknown, or dangerous?
Now there’s even a petition to reject HRC as VP. Wow. There’s also some talk that she’s not even interested in the VP position and that it’s just a small group of her followers that happen to be obnoxiously loud. Like the one person on the bus who needs their mobile phone confiscated. Oh, yeah.
Gordon —
That petition site is an answer to Lanny Davis’ new online petition to draft Hillary as VP.
She said in a conference call with NY reporters yesterday that she wanted the VP spot.
Hillary Rosen — a columnist and HRC supporter — said today that she is backing Barack because she is a democrat and he’s the pick. She also did not like that Hillary is holding her 18 million votes “hostage” as a bargaining chip. Rosen said she refused to be a chip in Clinton’s pocket and that’s why she came out so strongly for Barack today.
He will blow all he has achieved – if she picks her – I go with Colin Powell – I think that would be a formidable mix.
He owes her nothing. If Obama chooses HRH as his running mate then I would have to seriously question his judgment and the veracity of his platform.
My bet is that he will not choose her. Nonetheless, I’m on the edge of my seat right now.
At this point HRH is an embarrassment to herself and the party.
But what can one expect from a woman who remained with a man who cheated on her over and over again … That says it all, my friends.
Can someone please make Hill and Bill go away!!
I agree, Nicola! She’s a dangerous pick for VP, but she’s brutalizing him with her 18 million votes. She can cut off his head if she wishes. She’ll kill her future aspirations in the process… but I don’t think she cares any longer…
Yeowzah, Donna! Right on pinpoint all the way!
Earlier today, Hillary was quitting on Friday. Now it seems she’s having a staff party on Friday and will “suspend” her campaign on Saturday instead. We’ll see what happens and if she really gives up or not. I still think there will be lots of fudging…
I agree the Clintons are done in political leadership roles. Will they fade into the sunset? No. They will go out screaming.
I think Hillary would be great on the Supreme Court to counter and pound down Scalia — her idealism and intellect would be a perfect fit on that high court of the land.
If she is done there is always Chelsea to carry on the family tradition.
Ha! That was Bill’s suggestion last week when he said, “If you don’t want Hillary, there’s always Chelsea!”
Ooof, Nicola! I think Chelsea would be even worse than her parents. She’s privileged and smart… but unlike her parents… she is brittle and un-cunning and she has zero charm.
When will they learn that we do not actually want a return to either CLINTON or BUSH …… we want a new era …… ( she says as an English person).
For a republic you sure have enough “royal families” !
Hi David,
I was curiously watching the reaction of media in India from the onset…
The overall approach is –
Whether USA is going to have its first women president or the black one and then about the impact of it on India – politically, economically and socially.
Some say the Obama presidency will offer something “different” than Bush…
http://www.indianexpress.com/story/300432.html
Some say Hillary has a better chemistry with India –
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/USA/Hillary_in_favour_of_strong_ties_with_India/articleshow/3021844.cms
The extreme sarcasm targeting to our own colonial hangover for fair skin is just priceless –
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Editorial/Ram_Ram_its_Obama/articleshow/3077853.cms
Nicola —
We do seem to like proprietary titles and blood-infused reasons for belonging. They’re dangerous notions. We need to freely move into the future and Barack is our best chance at making that happen.
Thanks for those supreme links, Katha! I love reading the analysis from outside our USA mainstream media focus. The skin color article is incredible!
It’s good to see Hillary backing off – finally!
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/05/the-long-goodbye/
Katha —
My concern is that by backing off, she is indicating even more forcefully that she wants that VP slot.
David! good on Obama! If the republicans do their best, he’ll most probably make a great president!
It will be interesting to see if Obama can bring the country together. He didn’t go negative against Hillary and I don’t think he’ll need to do that against McCain. If Obama can stay politically neutral while leading, he just might bring us all back from the brink of world destruction.
True, David. also liked how Hillary put her bid for the presidential nomination into perspective. “Although we weren’t able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you, it’s got about 18 million cracks in it.”
Dananjay —
That was a good line for Hillary — but it was also a bit of a slap at Obama — as if he was the one who prevented her from breaking through when it was her own rotten campaign strategy that lost it all for her.