Posted on 06/04/2008 3:06:16 AM PDT by billorites
Barack Obama would like to remind you of something: He won and she didn’t. It’s about him now and not her. He has made history, and she is history.
Not that Hillary Clinton admitted to any of that in her nonconcession concession speech Tuesday night, after Obama attained the delegate votes he needs for the Democratic presidential nomination
For someone giving indications she would like to be Obama’s running mate, Clinton was surprisingly ungracious. In fact, if you had just awakened from a (blissful) 17-month sleep, you would have thought she had won.
“Because of you, we won together the swing states necessary to get to 270 electoral votes,” she told the crowd in New York City. “I want the nearly 18 million Americans who voted for me to be respected, to be heard and no longer to be invisible.”
But her fighting words only increased the need for Obama to show that he can be strong, tough and in charge. Clinton’s unwillingness to recognize Obama as the victor only increased the need for Obama to act like a president and not like a doormat. And denying her a vice presidential slot may be a way of doing that.
It has been a hard-fought and sometimes bitter campaign, but Obama is not, one of his senior advisers assured me Tuesday night, going to spend a lot of time in the next few months wooing Clinton supporters whose feelings may be hurting.
“I think there are always immediate feelings of disappointment and anger,” Anita Dunn said. “But in the months ahead, he must appeal not just to the constituency groups who favored her in the primaries, but those he wants in the general election, and that includes independents and Republicans.”
Another Obama adviser, who asked not to be identified, said that he was not worried that Clinton supporters would stay angry.
“Look at how many switched today to Obama,” he said. “Look at the Clinton supporters, look at Maxine Waters [the congresswoman from California who endorsed Hillary Clinton in late January but switched to Obama on Tuesday], who were passionate advocates for Hillary, but who switched to Obama.”
“At the end of the day,” he went on, “Hillary supporters will look at John McCain and decide they are not going to vote for a man who will put judges on the Supreme Court who would overturn Roe v. Wade.”
The easiest way, the Obama campaign has decided, to turn the page away from Clinton is to go at McCain full bore, start the general election campaign immediately and ignore the media chatter about what Hillary does or does not want.
“Now is the appropriate moment to begin the general election discussion,” Dunn said. “That is why Sen. Obama chose Minnesota [the site of the Republican convention in September] for his speech.”
And while Obama spent a few moments praising Clinton in his speech in St. Paul, he spent most of his time attacking McCain, raising the issue he so effectively used against Clinton: the need for change.
“Change is a foreign policy that doesn’t begin and end with a war that should’ve never been authorized and never been waged,” Obama said. He used that argument against Clinton, it worked, and now he is going to use it against McCain again and again.
“Obama put his stake in the ground tonight for the general election campaign, just like McCain put his stake in the ground for the general election campaign,” a senior Obama adviser told me. “The story will shift to that. Obviously, the vice presidency will be part of the back story, but there is going to be a pretty active general campaign story going on."
McCain did his part by giving a major speech in New Orleans on Tuesday night. “I have a few years on my opponent, so I am surprised that a young man has bought in to so many failed ideas,” McCain said. “Like others before him, he seems to think government is the answer to every problem.”
But the three speeches — Clinton’s, McCain’s and Obama’s — showed off one of Obama’s great advantages: While McCain was reasoned and detailed, while Clinton had a few good lines, Obama soared.
“Behind all the labels and false divisions and categories that define us, beyond all the petty bickering and point-scoring in Washington, Americans are a decent, generous, compassionate people,” he said. “America, this is our moment. This is our time.”
It was, after a momentous struggle, Barack Obama’s time Tuesday night. And he made sure everybody knew it.
Michelle to the right of me; Hillary to the left of me;
Stuck in the middle,again.
The Clintons will NEVER let a BLACK GUY beat them....NEVER!
Couple of questions seeking facts too toss in the Hildebeasts face;
1. When did McCain win the GOP nomination ?
2. When did the Hildebeast start winning ?
3. Does she really really think she got “just” socialist DNC votes after the GOP nominee was decided.
Now all that aside, and Rush’s operation chaos considered and acknowledged etc. I for one voted for Obama in the Texas primary & caucus trying too rid the world of the Hildebeast THEN !
Is it just me or are the talking heads, MSM handlers etc ignoring the fact that a bunch of HRC’s votes came from the GOP disrupting the DNC bankroll’s.......?
She can’t even be thinking for one minute she got 18 million votes that make her viable in a real election , or as a policy trend setter.
Just my opinion of course........Stay safe !
Sure they will. The Clintons will take the VP slot gladly .... with an eye toward some catastrophe.... impeachment, health, assassination, so they can reclaim the White House.
All of which puts the folly to Operation Chaos... Limbaugh and the participants should have helped bury Hillary when we had the chance.
If she was smooshed in March, Hillary would have NO leverage to demand VP ... which I am quite sure Obama will cave to.
The dual ticket of Obama/Hillary will be very tough to beat.. regardless of the "common knowledge" pundits who deny that reality.
I fear more for the USA today than I did yesterday.
Not!
Nice line quoted from Obama, and it’s the essence of Obama. Pompous gas, no meat.
The war is going to be THE issue, and don’t you think the fighting is almost over? He’ll look like a fool if he advocates for a pullout. Only 19 troops killed in May. RIP. How many US citizens killed in auto accidents in May, and no one was even shooting at them?
I believe Zero has to take Hillary. The dems will make him do it. (Ooooo, Michelle will be furious!) So he won, but only by a hair, and it took a long time. No way is that a mandate.
The sumbitch is an affected poser! Notice the way he sticks out his chin when he poses for photos or speaks to a crowd? Don’t you know he doesn’t do that at home?
And the Obama$$es just eat it up.
I honestly think Obama/Clinton would be a very tough ticket to beat. But it will be a three-ringed circus of disaster, to “their” presidency and, unfortunately, to our country.
As Judy Tenuta used to say, “It could happen!”
Perhaps 5% tops came from Chaos ... probably a little less.
I said it before, and am more convinced than ever: Operation Chaos was the WRONG move.
We should have helped destroy the Clintons when we had the chance in Feb/March.
If so, she and Bill would have absolutely NO leverage or power today.
They'd be washed up bums... and the Democrats (and Independents) who can't stand Obama would STILL hate Obama and likely support McCain.
All we did by keeping Hillary alive was to put Hillary on the VP ticket.
Obama can hardly say no to Hill/Bill/Obama ticket... which I fear will be extremely hard to beat -- even if it is perverted. (Dems are perverted people)
Clinton’s will never step out of the lime light. Giving her/him the V.P. spot would be the dumbest thing he could do.
This is a perfect opportunity for Obama to display his “Kumbaya, can’t we all just get along” negotiating style. Meet with Hillary! in a completely open discussion and come to a mutually agreeable compromise.
Doesn’t work so well when the opposing party has none of your interests at heart does it? What makes you think it’ll work with countries like Iran or Syria? Obama, you naive idiot.
No way Obama is going to put that disrepectful witch on the ticket. He knows her feminazi supporters will never vote for McCain. He needs to put a boot in her ass, and fast.
They live in their own little privileged world.
I’m with you!
Our future is really scary.
>> Perhaps 5% tops came from Chaos ... probably a little less.
I don’t think Rush’s “Operation Chaos” was all that influential; rather, it labeled and co-opted a “crossover” phenomenon that was already bound to occur. But, chaos we got, and Rush cheerleading for it was still useful and fun.
>> I said it before, and am more convinced than ever: Operation Chaos was the WRONG move.
Do you mean in the sense of keeping Hillary alive? Here I respectfully disagree. The BEST outcome (IMO) is Obama as the nominee, but after the maximal infighting and bad blood among the democraps.
If Hillary concedes any time before a convention floor fight, we’ll get less than maximal bad blood, but some bad blood is better than none. So I’d like to see a bit more chaos up to and through the convention, to maximize the “lose-lose” situation the democrats have wedged themselves into.
Like Ahmadinejad, Kim Jong il, Castro and Chavez - he'll meet with her without preconditions.
I've concluded there are two very good reasons to consider swallowing my pride and voting McCain.
Judges and our military. Not that I think Roe will be overturned but the judges and justices are crucial.
Agree completely. BO would always be in their shadow.
Squantos, you may very well be right. I am not immune to the idea that Democrats still like Hillary. When you compare her to Obama, she doesn’t look half bad. (more like 95% LOL)
I take the Rush Limbaugh Operation Chaos with a grain of salt. Let’s remember when Rush was trying to get folks to take a long hard look at the lefists who were leading out in the polls. Republicans (and probably a lot of Democrats) still voted for McCain. Did he affect the primaries? I don’t think he did much. So now, is he really pulling off the upset of the century by Operation Chaos? I’m rather stridently iffy on that. I don’t think he has had as much impact as we might like.
Well, the Democrats have saddled themselves with Obama. I think they have stepped in it big-time. I believe McCain will win, if he can control himself for around five months. I wouldn’t take that bet on a dare myself.
Here were are, the worst election in this nation’s history just months away. It’s a race to the bottom from here on out.
Went last night too Hillary.com too leave her a message (as you can guess) yet too leave a message or get on her site one MUST donate at least 10$ minimum !
She is just paying the bills now IMO per observation and reads........her voters / backers have stated they won’t , will not ever ever ever vote for him/her if she folds and take VP slut position too BrHO’bama ! The senior DNC leadership has too see this and with all the perception of success in mere numbers of those who voted in the socialist rat primaries.........they know better, the facts vs the fiction they are surfing on right now !
Regardless of rush or other media pundits, talking heads etc there WERE conservatives and republicans and independents that were AGAINST the socialists yet the GOP nominee was established and the election game was afoot !
I as well as a number of friends , family and co-workers worked here locally to disrupt Hillary’s possibilities yet others believed the chaos model of fun with votes. But the point I want too make is lots of NON SOCIALIST RATS voted DNC side in the primaries too play em for the fools they are.
If in just my small circle of friends we had that many participating there had too be a significant number of like minded folks across the nation doing the same.
Conservatives IMO don’t get mad they get even.......this was just one way.
Stay Safe D1 !!
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