OutCampaign.org

07 March 2008

Why, oh Why, Hillary?

08This from the Chicago Tribune:

"I think that since we now know Sen. (John) McCain will be the nominee for the Republican Party, national security will be front and center in this election. We all know that. And I think it’s imperative that each of us be able to demonstrate we can cross the commander-in-chief threshold,” the New York senator told reporters crowded into an infant’s bedroom-sized hotel conference room in Washington.

“I believe that I’ve done that. Certainly, Sen. McCain has done that and you’ll have to ask Sen. Obama with respect to his candidacy,” she said.

Calling McCain, the presumptive GOP nominee a good friend and a “distinguished man with a great history of service to our country,” Clinton said, “Both of us will be on that stage having crossed that threshold. That is a critical criterion for the next Democratic nominee to deal with."

[source]

Ok, let me just cool down for a second here before I comment…

breath in…breath out…breath in…

WHAT THE FUCK HILLARY!! What in the world do you hope to gain from this? You've played the experience card against Barack Obama since the beginning of this campaign and where are you now? You're campaign is in shambles and you're only a viable candidate because the democratic party and the media wouldn't dare proclaim a Clinton campaign over until a Clinton says it's over. Think I'm biased or putting a spin on the truth? Jonathan Alter at Newsweek backs me up with the facts.


Regardless of the effectiveness of the tactic (minimal), I simply fail to see what the good can come of this at all. Does Hillary Clinton really think that claiming that John McCain, the only candidate on the Republican side who ever had a chance to cut into Obama's appeal to independents, is more qualified to protect america than Barack Obama can be anything but damaging to Democratic chances in November. Can she really be misleading herself so much as to think that if she somehow received the nomination it would be anything but a pyrrhic victory. The numbers in the Jonathan Alter article indicate that the only way for Hillary (or Barack for that matter) to win is with superdelegate help. Citing the Alter numbers again, even assuming Hillary absolutely cleans house for the rest of the campaign (which she won't) she would still trail Obama in pledged delegates. Clinton currently holds a small lead in superdelegates who have pledged allegiance, but about 33% (according to the Wikipedia article on the subject) still remain uncommitted. Does Hillary really believe these uncommitted party elders are sitting around waiting for the convention to come so they can all declare for her and overturn the will of the people? (cause that's what it would take) They will almost all go the way the wind blows, for fear of angering constituents and destroying the passion that has been so lacking on the democratic side for so long. Whatever she believes, it's simply not going to happen. Senator Obama will receive the nomination of the Democratic Party. Then only question now is when will Hillary step out? Her continued use of the sorts of campaign tactics of late can likely only bring about two possible outcomes. The first is that her reputation will be badly damaged as history will not look back on these events favorably. History will show a woman driven solely to win who was incapable of setting down the sword at the right moment and frankly incapable of recognizing the truth when it was staring her straight in the face (not a good characteristic for a president as we've learned in the last seven years). Or, her attacks will either convince independents that McCain is tougher on national security than Obama of their own accord, or the line even Hillary Clinton said so will become a staple of the McCain campaign come October. (I bet both)And while Senator Obama thus far seems to have been able to shake off everything his opponents have thrown at him and even frequently turn the attacks into a plus, I somehow think we don't need to test that strength against a bipartisan attack.


I think the best I can hope for is that Obama crushes Hillary quickly in the coming states and we can move on to the campaign for the general election presently. The longer Hillary stays in the race the more damage she risks causing to her party's chances of winning the White House. The chances of her becoming president on January 20th 2009 are simply too small to justify these sorts of attacks. Hillary needs to get out of this race. Now.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

There is a good article in TNR today about this. That HRC is on a parth of torpedo Obama chances. So she can again in 2012. It's pathetic, even more so is the behaviour of the 'elders' in the party to coalsace behind the leader.
http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=ba30ff16-a5af-4035-a883-cf15ffee406c

Anonymous said...

The Clintons are notorious for playing dirty, selfish politics. They very much only care for themselves. Hillary chose to stay with Bill after Monica's gate only because she could ride his coat tail to become President. Anyone who vote for her and really believe that she care for the country, for the people, for her party must be a fool. Yet it seems there are lot of fools in the US nowaday.

JJ Berg said...

You're link got truncated but I found the article here
very good read

JJ Berg said...

On the superdelegates:
I think it's important to note that those that are counted for either candidate are not committed to vote for that candidate. It's just a count news agencies are using based on who's endorsed who. I think it likely if at the convention it is apparent that Obama will win, many of those who endorsed Hillary will vote for him because they don't want to create controversy and of course, want to be in good standing with their nominee so they have a shot at gaining a position of some sort. (although I'm not sure how much Obama will play to that)

What is really are the ones that are jumping back and forth. If you endorsed Hillary you endorsed Hillary. Bad choice, you can still vote for Obama at the convention (please do!) but don't be like the kid in elementary school who showed up with a Troy Aikman jersey after super bowl XXX, a Brett Favre (*tear*) jersey after XXXI and a John Elway jersey after XXXII.

Unknown said...

On the question of superdelegates. Team Obama hinted that they may have 50 or so ready to endorse as a blik, as of yet that hasn't happened. Obviously Tuesday had some effect even though Obama really won Texas. Still, I believe instead of a one time block vote, those delegates will be endorsing in trickles of 5 every few days. Expect to see that, so it don't appear they are 'ganging' up.

Anonymous said...

I've read all the posts on this blog and all the articles recommended to me. All good stuff. But, after all the analyzation and speculation, the one statement that rings true is "WHAT THE FUCK HILLARY!! What in the world do you hope to gain from this?" That really is the question. And the answer is, that she fully intends to gain the nomination. Debate #19 was the set up and she has been forcing the action since debate #20. The Clinton's always have a number of alternatives to what ever the response and unfortunately Barack has been defensive and side tracked from refining his message and presenting the presidential character he was displaying so well. Plus his staff hasn't done him any favors lately either. Back to the point. She's doing what she does best, manipulating and duping the electorate with a smile. Remember, it wasn't just the 28% pure conservative, fundamentalist voter that elected "w" not once but twice. History has not shown the American voter to have learned. To many, including loyal uncommitted deligates, I'm sure it makes perfect sense to nominate the #2 person and have Barack the Veep. After all, I can't imagine an administration with him as President and Hillary as the Veep. This is all very crazy. So, crazy is as crazy does. The only logical solution is for Hillary and McCain, "a good friend." McCain a "distinguished man with a great history of service to our country." And she thinks, "it's imperative that each of us be able to demonstrate we can cross the commander-in-chief threshold," (it would really be Bill's due for them to do it in the Whitehouse)Hillary should propose McCain as her running mate and they can satisfy the moderate Rebulican electorate. After all, as portrayed in her Jack Nickelson spot, military men like saluting women. Barack can then continue on, choose his own running mate, and while Hillary and John are crossing the threshhold, win an election and get on with the most important four years in our nations history.