On the Obama nomination - a rare public post
From an email exchange with my mom, a Clinton supporter who's quite upset about Obama getting the nomination.
I admire and applaud Hillary for having come as far as she has. She's got some great ideas, a lot of which I believe in and agree with, and she would doubtless make a fantastic president. Her only weakness - the only thing that made me certain to support Obama instead - is that she's the same old story, whereas Obama, wild and dangerous fool that he is, just might give us something different. 2000 and 2004 (not to mention 1980 and 1984) taught our country that intellect is not a requisite of voting rights. Hillary may be the better choice, but she's not the people's choice, and in our goofy democracy, the latter is (usually) all that matters, and Barack Obama won the people in every way it is possible to win the people.
Unfortunately, Hillary Clinton's choice to not drop out in February - a noble and brave choice, true to her image as champion - has probably cost the Democrats any hope of winning in the fall. Excessive months of expensive campaigning have drained the resources available to the party. And her sudden willingness to take on the VP role - in complete contrast to what was being suggested back in February - is just what the Republicans were hoping for. If Obama accepts her, the Republicans will have not one but *two* people on the ticket they can spend all day long beating up after so many months of campaigning and revealing each other's weak spots, as well as being able to build a message of "the more confident, unified party" to maximize their swing votes. And if Obama rejects her, the Republicans have only slightly less of that, and the Democrats are weakened by having a lesser VP on the ticket.
If she had really wanted to do the right thing, she would have ended her primary run in February and immediately positioned herself as a willing vice presidential candidate. A unified Obama/Clinton ticket would be a force to reckon with, one the Republicans would have a desperately hard time fighting. But her insistence on carrying the top spot has probably created a rift that has finished the November election even before it's begun. Some Clinton supporters, so dedicated to the vision of taking part in electing the first female president of the United States, have in their rage declared that they will vote for McCain in the fall, a man who has consistently voted and worked against the feminist movement. The depth of foolishness inspired by the leftover anger in this campaign is stunning, and saddening.
If we're going to have any hope of winning in November, the time to put down the anger from the nomination campaign is now. I would ask every Clinton supporter to honor their dedication to their candidate by transferring that dedication to their party, by giving Barack Obama the chance to reveal the spirit and brilliance that earned him his start and so many endorsements, a chance he hasn't had while he's had to fight the image battle for three months. I would ask them to support and champion his assets instead of speaking against his faults. And I would ask them to start today, right now, so that in five months we can look back from our victory and see that we really are all on the same side, and always have been.
I admire and applaud Hillary for having come as far as she has. She's got some great ideas, a lot of which I believe in and agree with, and she would doubtless make a fantastic president. Her only weakness - the only thing that made me certain to support Obama instead - is that she's the same old story, whereas Obama, wild and dangerous fool that he is, just might give us something different. 2000 and 2004 (not to mention 1980 and 1984) taught our country that intellect is not a requisite of voting rights. Hillary may be the better choice, but she's not the people's choice, and in our goofy democracy, the latter is (usually) all that matters, and Barack Obama won the people in every way it is possible to win the people.
Unfortunately, Hillary Clinton's choice to not drop out in February - a noble and brave choice, true to her image as champion - has probably cost the Democrats any hope of winning in the fall. Excessive months of expensive campaigning have drained the resources available to the party. And her sudden willingness to take on the VP role - in complete contrast to what was being suggested back in February - is just what the Republicans were hoping for. If Obama accepts her, the Republicans will have not one but *two* people on the ticket they can spend all day long beating up after so many months of campaigning and revealing each other's weak spots, as well as being able to build a message of "the more confident, unified party" to maximize their swing votes. And if Obama rejects her, the Republicans have only slightly less of that, and the Democrats are weakened by having a lesser VP on the ticket.
If she had really wanted to do the right thing, she would have ended her primary run in February and immediately positioned herself as a willing vice presidential candidate. A unified Obama/Clinton ticket would be a force to reckon with, one the Republicans would have a desperately hard time fighting. But her insistence on carrying the top spot has probably created a rift that has finished the November election even before it's begun. Some Clinton supporters, so dedicated to the vision of taking part in electing the first female president of the United States, have in their rage declared that they will vote for McCain in the fall, a man who has consistently voted and worked against the feminist movement. The depth of foolishness inspired by the leftover anger in this campaign is stunning, and saddening.
If we're going to have any hope of winning in November, the time to put down the anger from the nomination campaign is now. I would ask every Clinton supporter to honor their dedication to their candidate by transferring that dedication to their party, by giving Barack Obama the chance to reveal the spirit and brilliance that earned him his start and so many endorsements, a chance he hasn't had while he's had to fight the image battle for three months. I would ask them to support and champion his assets instead of speaking against his faults. And I would ask them to start today, right now, so that in five months we can look back from our victory and see that we really are all on the same side, and always have been.