Monday, June 02, 2008

Hillary Has Done A Great Job To Strengthen The Democratic Party

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Sure, she has some psychotic supporters and some naive supporters. But she has put up a stupendous and admirable fight. Even if my skin crawled every time I was subjected to whining on cable TV by the hideous likes of Lanny Davis, Terry McCauliffe and that Icky person, Hillary has inspired millions of Americans in every demographic group and in every region. My support for Obama was never an anti-Hillary statement-- even if I detest her horribly corrupt advisors (probably almost as corrupt as McCain's)-- and, in fact, there were two major factors they nearly kept me from endorsing Obama. One is that, though on the whole, they both have moderately progressive voting records, Hillary's is consistently-- if not gigantically-- better than Obama's.

The other reason is harder to quantify. Hillary-without-the-advisors could have been one of the most inspiring political stories in American history, the country's first-- and long overdue-- woman president. The symbolism was powerful enough for me to almost look the other way on McAuliffe, Davis, Icky and the rest of the monsters she surrounded herself with. The shattering of the ultimate glass ceiling is, in itself, something so powerful and such an ultimate good, that it nearly negated-- for me-- her vote to support Bush's attack against Iraq. There is no way to know what Obama would have done were he in the Senate. Congressional Democrats were split on this vote. Most Democrats in the House voted against war; most in the Senate (including Clinton) voted for war, showing colossal, and possibly fatal, bad judgment.

Today we hear that the Clinton campaign has sent pink slips to numerous staffers and that they're meeting in New York tomorrow to plan out the endgame. The least palatable and most corrupt of her senior advisors want to fight it out to the end regardless of how much harm it will do to Democrats and no matter how helpful it will be for McCain. For me a wonderful ending would be for Lanny Davis to become an official McCain surrogate as Democrats rally around Obama. Serious Democrats who have believed in Hillary have told her it's time to turn her tremendous energy and talent towards making the general election a blow-out for Democrats up and down the ticket.

Obama will need Hillary and, unlike Gore (who, after all, preferred Joe Lieberman), will seek to use Bill Clinton to help Democrats retake the White House. On paper it looks like an easy job. But Rove isn't in prison-- let alone solitary confinement-- so we can be sure it will be a hard fought campaign. And make no mistake: Team Bush is running the show. McCain is tired, old and incapable of raising any money. Bush is bringing in all the money and its all going to the RNC, a criminal organization dedicated to using every dirty trick they can dig up. They have hired Rove, Jr., Tim Griffin, to lead an anti-Obama effort, despite any tepid McCain posturings about a "clean campaign." CIA spy Larry Johnson is already circulating some kind of racist red-meat-for-the-brain-dead tape targeting Michelle Obama.

Obama supporters owe Hillary a lot for the inspiration and leadership she has provided during the campaign. There's no reason to believe she won't be as energetic and powerful between now and November... and beyond.

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6 Comments:

At 10:38 AM, Blogger Jimmy the Saint said...

Howie:
How could you forget her most important ickiest advisor of them all? The odious Mark Penn.

 
At 10:56 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

Hilary's the boss.

At anytime she could put a stop to any bickering or untoward comments by those under her in her campaign. Obama told his staff "No Drama".

Are we to believe that either Hillary has no control over her own people? Or that her people do not or will not allow themselves to be controlled by her and will just shoot their mouths off to the press?

I don't buy it. Not for one second.

 
At 11:44 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm sorry. I am not falling for the "she fought a good fight" epitaph for Hillary Clinton's campaign when for months the viciousness and vitriol toward her was stifling. It is totally up to Obama and his supporters to court the Clinton supporters if they think they will need us in November. Women are sick and tired of being patted on the head and told to "get over it." As far as Obama and No Drama, that is total crap. We have had nothing but drama from the Obama campaign and his surrogates right down to Saturday and his stealing 4 delegates from Clinton in Michigan.

 
At 11:54 AM, Blogger KRK said...

I'm sorry. I am not falling for the "she fought a good fight" epitaph for Hillary Clinton's campaign when for months the viciousness and vitriol coming from her was stifling. It is totally up to Clinton and her supporters to get on board if they want to be a part of victory in November. Women are sick and tired of being lumped together and told they're bad feminists if they don't support Clinton.

 
At 2:35 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well put. A campaign like this raises a lot of emotion on each side, and that creates a lot of bad feelings. I do think the Clintons share the blame -- a return to power seemed to close that were willing to try anything to "reclaim" it. But that's part of the groupthink that goes with any hard fought campaign.

 
At 2:51 PM, Blogger hermitage said...

When i came to USA in the 90s i learned so much positive things about the Clinton's an dtheir service to the citizens of this country, locally, regionally and internationally. One of the things that i remember was seeing Hillary's name and her Health care idea in a Health Administration text book. Her service and work for this country throughout her life and her interlectual responces during the debate was enough for me to support her for the presidentail nominee. In addition, their was a sense that the some people in USA wanted and was assking Senator Clinton to run for president.This is someone that i admire and think that she is still the best person for the job. During the debate i think that Senator Obama was the most remedial of the serious candidates. Great speaches, but very empty and itt was clear he does not have any knowledge about policy. The amount of time that he would say i agree with the seantor or i support what the senator said caught my attention. With all of the problems in the on the local front, regionnaly and internationally i just do not want another president elect base on the fact that people like him like American idols fans normally cast their votes and the best singers normally loose...he is just not ready for the job...maybe later... I decided that i will vote for Hillary (I am black). Evidence now shows that Hillary may not be the Nominee, I am now face with McCain and Obama to make a decision. A very hard task and i am a registered democrat. McCain i never considered at all and Obama I had taken off my list becuase of his poor debate performces. Please note the debates were very important to me because i do not want another idiot in the white house like Bush. Another factor why i am having a hard time considering voting for Obama is because the press has yet to educate and inform me about who Obama really is. Maybe they spet to much time hating and making sure Hillary did not get the nomination so they forgot to tell me who is Obama. Finally, i created my own strategy on paper to see who is the best person to beat the republicans in november and concluded that Obama is not presidentially electable in November based on the primary results by race, gender, policy, the millitary vote and Iraq position and geographic primary returns and what the people arround me are saying in my professional and social environment on a daily basis. MAYBE I SHOULD JUST GO GREEN IN NOVEMBER AND CHANGE MY PARTY AFFILIATION ON MY VOTERS REGISTRATION CARD IN FLORIDA SINCE THE DEMOCRATS ARE UNABLE TO COUNT MY VOTE OR HAVE MY VOTE COUNTED A THIRD TIME.

 

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