Hillary Clinton’s spectacular display of indecision last night might have been what her most faithful admirers wanted to hear, but it did a great disservice to her more public supporters.
State Senator Creem was just such a victim of Clinton’s inaction, which could to be remembered as a symbol of political selfishness and irresponsibility. Last night on NECN, Senator Creem had to negotiate a very tricky path, staying faithful to her candidate without ever seeming bitter about Obama’s victory, and without making herself irrelevant. She did a fine job, being gracious, and applauding Obama’s victory. Something her candidate wouldn’t do. Sen. Creem deserved better from her candidate.
How can elected officials like Sen. Creem and thousands of others who supported Clinton display public loyalty to both Clinton, and to their Party? How do these politicians, who have to worry about their own elections, go from zero to sixty in their public support of the Democratic Presidential nominee in the dwindling time left, without seeming like disingenuous opportunists?
Clinton’s supporters deserve better. Leadership means taking the heat for your people, not throwing them under the bus.
This was the last opportunity for Senator Clinton to convene with her supporters and look back on the good aspects of her campaign — garnering more votes than any other Democrat has during any primary, engaging many supporters, and encountering many regular people with real problems. I thought she spoke movingly on that topic.
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p>Once again, people want to push Senator Clinton and her supporters down the staircase or to their knees. How inappropriate. The Senator has said many times that she is committed to Democratic victory in November, how many pints of blood do you want?
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p>As for the great Senator from Newton/Brookline, she is a class act and I’m sure she understood what she was getting into when she went on NECN. She’ll survive and thrive.
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p>Calmer heads need to take the lead the next few days, if the anger and frustration is to subside and the party is to move forward.
I am very offended by your assertions and implications. I am also disturbed by your metaphor that suggests abhorrent violence against women. I am also disappointed that the point of my post may not have been clear. I am pointing out the effect and unintended consequences of Clinton’s non-decision on many of her supporters. I am not looking for any contrition from anyone.
former Jesse Jackson staffer, who helped negotiate his support of Gov. Dukakis and supported Senator Clinton, from theroot.com
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p>”Historically, if you’ve got a substantive number of delegates, you go to the convention,” said Caraway, 57. “If it were two white men in the race and it was like this, do you think one of them would drop out? Do you think if the situation was reversed and Obama was second and it was this close that he would drop out?”
… had pleaded earlier in the campaign that they shouldn’t drop out until the ‘magic number’ had been reached, yeah… I’d expect one of them to concede once the number had been reached. Pretty straightforward if you ask me.
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p>Nobody, least of all me, is asking her to drop off the face of the earth. Actually, I’m not really asking her anything, since it’s not really my place anyway. I can, however, express disappointment that she seems to still be resisting the conclusion of the contest, even though the standard of measure has been reached. It’s pretty much an automatic that we teach our kids in little league all over the country… once you lose the right thing to do is to graciously congratulate the other team’s on their win. We’d tell our kids that not doing that would be unsportsmanlike.
pony express…. You guys have won, so please spare the histronics. Funny, I didn’t see any of your concern about some very real sexism during this race…until now. Where ya been?
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p>I actually thought your post was lame; it was written by an Obama supporter who is pretending to feel badly for an Clinton supporter elected official; It’s just another way to take a shot at Hillary. So noted.
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p>So, speak for yourself; I’m with Blu – count this Clinton supporter very comfortable with how Senator Clinton is managing the end game.
I thought Hillary was gracious and eloquent last night. I loved her speech and I thought she was very gracious in her remarks toward Sen. Obama. I think she has certainly earned the right to take a few days to plot her future…she will certainly do right by Sen. Obama and the Democratic Party.
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p>Please…the Primary race is over. No need for any more Clinton bashing. And please don’t speak for her supporters. She certainly didn’t ‘throw them under the bus’.
It’s not a surprise that the race was over today, and the outcome of the race has been pretty clear for weeks [months] now.
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p>It’s not as if there are no superdelegates and the outcome of MT and SD would decide the nominee. It was known well in advance of yesterday evening that Obama would be making the “I won” speech and Clinton would be making the “I didn’t win” speech.
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p>So, given that it was predictable and predicted, I just don’t understand the “give her a few days” meme. She’s had days, if not weeks, to prepare for last night.
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p>I didn’t see any speeches last night, and I’m not criticizing the contents of HRC’s speech. I’m just questioning the claims that the race just finished and she deserves a few days to let it settle and ponder her future. This wasn’t a photo finish.
… no problems with her strategizing about her future and taking some time to do it. Shes arguably spearheading a large group of Democratic voters and since she’s campaigned this whole time with their interests in mind, I think its entirely appropriate for her to ponder what to do next to continue to advocate for them.
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p>She also certainly did heap praise on Obama’s campaign and did so graciously. What I’m disappointed in, however, is that she didn’t concede that, whatever her plans are, they don’t include the nomination because by her own measure of success (‘hit the magic number’) Obama is across the finish line. We’ve been hearing for weeks how Hillary shouldn’t stop fighting for the nomination until the the number has been reached. That moment has come, but no nomination concession.
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p>I think it makes sense for several reasons:
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p>(1) Many of her close advisors and no doubt Hillary herself still thought she could win until recently, which was reasonable given polling and the close nature of the popular vote. So why would they continue to run while focusing on an exit plan? The campaign was running to win, which is certainly fair.
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p>(2) Last night was Obama’s night. Officially exiting the race in a more high-profile manner, when the attention is on her, is not simply an egoistic maneuver but will likely have the most positive effect on her most passionate supporters (e.g. “I’ve thought long and hard and heard from many of you, and came to the conclusion that we must support Obama”, etc.)
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p>(3) Simply politically speaking, she has some leverage now to possibly get a position (or at the very least pay off campaign debts), so why not use it?
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p>(4) The campaign has lasted months. At this point, a few extra days means very little. Besides, given that Clinton has essentially been running since 2005 or so, it’s quite reasonable to have a bit of time before making any rash decisions.
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p>Of course, by a “bit of time”, I mean probably by the end of this week, which is when I think we’ll know a lot more. Much past that, and my tune towards Clinton’s delay will change. But I don’t think the campaign will drag its feet much beyond Friday, and until then it’s quite reasonable.
Hillary you are committed to what you believe in. Do not let anyone (Obama and his people) rush you!
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p>There is plenty of time even after the national cconvention to get the message out. If Barack feels he needs all that time, maybe there are issues that haven’t even been raised!
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p>There is time to unite behind the nominee!
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Message? What message would she be getting out? What issues have not been raised yet? How would HER message and HER issues be furthered by further dividing the democratic electorate, and pushing Clinton loyalists in the direction of John McCain?
did you really expect her to drop out and direct all her pledged/unpledged supporters to Obama?
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p>It is quite clear what she is doing- she is maintaining her bargaining position for a few days (weeks?) to achieve something- VP, policy commitment, debt relief, who knows?
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p>She’s earned it. After all, she has garnered more votes than the presumptive nominee.
…She’s dropping out in a couple days. After all this time, and everything she’s been through, she’s supposed to concede the minute it’s clearly over?
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p>She’s earned some space, as have her supporters. And while her elected supporters might have a couple of awkward days, it won’t even be a blip on the radar in a couple of weeks.
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p>But where there may be long-lasting damage is when Obama supporters decide this is their chance to dog her, mock her, and push her down the stairs all the while. This thing is going to play out fine if we give it a chance.