Posted on 09/08/2008 7:36:47 PM PDT by ovrtaxt
Published: September 8, 2008
TAMPA - In her first appearance in Tampa since losing the Democratic presidential nomination, Hillary Rodham Clinton strongly endorsed Barack Obama Monday, but refused to criticize the newer woman on the presidential campaign scene, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
"Barack and I may have started on two separate paths, but we are on one journey now," Clinton said.
The crowd and the speakers at the event appeared to consist largely of former Clinton supporters who now back Obama, but her speech was aimed at convincing those who don't, or who may be wavering.
She reprised lines from her speech at the Democratic National Convention two weeks ago saying, in effect, that anyone who supported her ought to support him.
Referring to her 35 years working in politics and public policy issues, she said, "I haven't done that to see us squander this opportunity. This is bigger than any one person – it's way bigger than Barack and me."
Clinton spoke to a crowd estimated by organizers at about 2,300 at the All People's Life Center in East Tampa, following two previous stops during the day in Florida – a forum in Kissimmee and a presentation to unions in Orlando.
Several times, she declined to discuss Palin, chosen by John McCain as his running mate, who has been criticized as lacking experience. Instead, she shifted the discussion to differences between Republicans and Democrats and the errors she said Republicans including President Bush have made during the past eight years.
When an audience member shouted out during her speech, "Tell us about Palin," she responded, "I don't think that's what this election is about,"
"This election is about the differences between us and the Republican Party. Anybody who believes that the Republicans, whoever they are, can fix the mess they created, probably believes that the iceberg could have saved the Titanic."
Asked by reporters after her speech whether she considers Palin qualified to be president, she again declined to answer directly.
"I'm going to stay focused on the issues and I'm going to keep talking about the issues because I think that's what matters to the American people," she said.
She added that having Palin on the ticket is "a great milestone for our nation."
"The Democrats did it in 1984; it took a while but the Republicans got around to doing it this year," she said. But, she added, "That's not the determinant as to who should be our president."
But Clinton also couldn't help referring to her own quest for the nomination, and to the fact that Florida was one of her strongholds.
When an audience member shouted, "I love you Hillary," she responded, "I love you too -- I especially love Tampa and Hillsborough County for supporting me in the primary."
Clinton also said she thinks Florida Democrats are no longer angry over the national party's sanctions and the candidates' boycott of the state over its too-early primary.
"All of that is in the past," she said. "This election is about the future."
Several attendees at Clinton's speech said they have made the transition to supporting Obama, although some said it took them some time.
Cindy Bauer, a lifelong Democrat from Tampa, said she was "very disappointed" by Clinton's loss. "It took a few days, but I got over it. … There's too much at stake for the future of our country," she said.
Bauer said McCain's choice of Sarah Palin only solidified her decision to support Obama. "Anyone who tells me that I shouldn't get an abortion if I choose to, that's it," she said.
Chris Cernosek of Tampa, a no-party voter who couldn't vote in the Democratic primary, said it was tough seeing Clinton lose the nomination and acknowledged, "I was on the fence at first."
But she sees Clinton as an influential role model for younger women, and brought her two daughters, ages 7 and 11, to the speech. "It's wonderful to see women playing such an important role in our nation," she said.
State Rep. Arthenia Joyner and former Tampa Mayor Sandy Freedman, both ardent Clinton supporters, spoke prior to Clinton at the event, endorsing Obama.
But not all Democratic women who supported Clinton have boarded the bandwagon.
Julie Harris, a longtime local Democratic Party activist who worked in Clinton's campaign, wasn't at the rally, but said in an interview Monday she's backing McCain.
"I'm looking at the top of the ticket and find him to be very inexperienced," she said. "Maybe I've become more conservative as I've grown older."
Clinton, however, said she's not concerned that significant numbers of her backers won't get behind Obama.
That concern, she said, "is certainly receding. There is an enormous amount of focus on this election … and that's because women as well as men know what's at stake."
Former Clinton adviser Howard Wolfson has dismissed the notion that Clinton would take on Palin.
"Some might enjoy the spectacle, but don't expect Hillary Clinton to play along," he wrote in his New Republic blog. "It wouldn't be good for the Democratic Party, or the cause of women's rights."
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report. Reporter William March can be reached at (813) 259-7761 or wmarch@tampatrib.com. Reporter Christian M. Wade can be reached at (813) 259-7679 or cwade@tampatrib.com.
“Barack and I may have started on two separate paths, but we are on one journey now,” Clinton said.
When did Barry get on the “Barack Loses 2008/Hillary in 2012” path? Gonna be a hell of a journey.
her plan should have been to run for congress, get elected as Speaker of the House and then ‘something’ will happen to both obama and Biden.
they seem to think she can’t get though the process because of the library funding
Precisely.
c’mon if Obama goes that will be the end of the entire democratic party
I wonder how these wimyn will react when their desired liberal government here adopts the chinese system and either tells them that they MUST bear children or MUST abort them?
Nope.
A lot depends on how he goes.
If -God forbid!- he's assassinated, he joins the Democrat's god's pantheon; Lincoln, JFK, RFK, MLK. Yes, Lincoln was a Republican. How many democrats know that???
If the eeeeeeeeeeeeevil Republicans smear him out of the running, then the demonrats circle the wagons around the survivors, with the Hildabeast at the center.
As long as Hillary!™ maintains plausible deniability she can nuke zerObama at her leisure.
Any time after McCain-Feingold kicks in and makes it difficult to get the word out works. Perhaps even after the election, if it looks like he can win by himself.
Meanwhile, Hillary’s people are whispering that Obama’s economic team is staffed with the same people who ran Fanny and Freddie into the ground. This scheming witch wants 0bama to win about as badly as I do.
“Abortion, abortion, abortion. Is killing babies all these “women” care about?”
In a time when birth control methods are numerous and easy to obtain, one has to wonder what the deal is with this. It won’t be too many more years when those women born when Roe was legislated by the SCOTUS will no longer be of child bearing age. Why the exteme, amost religious, screaming for keeping the abortion issue from going back to the states for decision? Tis a puzzlement.
The first rule of Operation Chaos is not to talk about Operation Chaos! Tyler Durdin WILL be visiting you soon if you continue to speak of O.C.
"I'm going to stay focused on the issues and I'm going to keep talking about the issues because I think that's what matters to the American people," she said. She added that having Palin on the ticket is "a great milestone for our nation."She said that no one should vote for McCain-Palin just because Palin is a woman -- which of course immediately points out the fact that no one should vote for Obama because he's...
“All the above but there’s also the angle if Biden is dropped and she moves into the second position then Katy bar the door.
Or if zerObama’s real BC surfaces and he’s ruled ineligible, Biden moves up to the first slot, who is more logical for the ViPer slot?
If Biden leaves office for health reasons two years and one day into his term, the Hildabeast finishes it out and is still eligible for TWO FULL TERMS!
Ten years, less one day, of having to say ‘President Hillary!™...”
GOD ... It came up and I tasted it just reading this.
Please don’t say things like this. She is worse than Michael Meyers coming back from the dead every time.... she is a true life horror movie!
The common belief is that she’s posturing for 2012, which seems dead-on. However, she’s taking gambling that Palin will screw something up royaly. If Palin is genuine, and her popularity does not wane sufficiently by the next election, Hillary will be irrelevant.
Poor 0!
He can't get help anywhere!
Now, not only Obama's presidential aspirations are going up in smoke, Hillary Clinton's is too. There's no way she can beat Palin in 2012 assuming McCain doesn't run for re-election. I don't see it happening. The Democrats blew a huge opportunity here, just like Gore did when he should have asked Bill Clinton to resign and he would have had the power of incumbency in 2000.
I stated over and over and over and over that the superdelegate system was set up by the Demodogs SPECIFICALLY to keep then from having this occur: a radical kook with kookie supporters nominating their candidate. It was up to the SUPERDELEGATES and them alone to pull the trigger. They failed. They failed their party. They failed those they were meant to serve. They failed themselves.
I’ve no pity for the Demodog superdelegates - not a single one of them.
I first posted that back in August of ‘02.
Haven’t slept well since.
No reason you should sleep well either...
1. Hitlery won’t accept VP - her own internal polling now shows that snObama will lose even (I think especially) if she were to join that ticket. In addition, her constitution dictates she can’t accept #2.
2. DNC explodes if somehow she becomes Pres nominee now.
3. DNC blowhards will give up on the Pres race and soon start with the line, “vote for Dem congress so we have a counter to that radical J.McCain and Palin.” Mark my words here: that will happen by the second week of October.
Hitting the other side hard with criticism and taunts is usually left to the VP candidate.
They draw the slings and arrows and the presidential candidate tries to look presidential.
So now, being the attack dog is Bidens’s job.
Hillary was passed over for the job and she’s not going to do his dirty work for him.
She has to appear to help the campaign to remain next in line with the party but she isn’t going to make enemies of voters she will be courting in four years.
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