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 Maybe It’s a Guy ThingPosted on Mar 31, 2008By Marie Cocco WASHINGTON—Have you noticed something similar about those Barack Obama campaign surrogates and the media soothsayers who have started a drum-beat to force Hillary Clinton out of the Democratic presidential contest? Hint: They tend to share a certain anatomical attribute. I guess the boys are just being boys again. They’ve failed to dispatch Clinton in the race thus far—remember, they were predicting the fall of the “house of Clinton” in New Hampshire. Then Kennedy magic was supposed to transform Obama into the anointed nominee on Super Tuesday, but star-power appearances in California by the women of Camelot failed to help Obama there, and not even Ted Kennedy could deliver his home state of Massachusetts. Clinton won decisively in the Bay State and took all the big states on Super Tuesday, except Obama’s home state of Illinois and Missouri, where he edged her by a single percentage point. Clinton then was supposed to bow out after March 4 if she did not win the crucial states of Texas and Ohio. But darn! She messed up their game plan again by winning both of those states—and Rhode Island, too. Those looking ahead now see no way, based on current polling and the way the demographics of Pennsylvania break down, that Obama will win that next mega-state on April 22. Those looking even further ahead see only more uncertainty—a series of contests lasting until June in which some states seem to naturally favor Clinton (Kentucky, West Virginia) while others seem to favor Obama (North Carolina, Oregon). Since we’re talking boy-talk here, we might as well get right into their rhetorical comfort zone: Obama now is ahead by a field goal in the third quarter. But the fourth quarter has yet to be played and who knows what the score will be at the end of regulation? So here’s their plan, hatched in the locker room: Push Clinton off the field now so that Obama can take his early victory lap. Obama denies that he is personally behind this strategy. But let’s face it. The pronouncements by Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Chris Dodd, D-Conn., both big-name Obama supporters and superdelegates, that Clinton needs to limp away with her head held low looked terribly orchestrated. Leahy was particularly odious when, after declaring Clinton had “no way” to win the nomination, he offered her a very warm seat. It happens to be one she already holds and it is, of course, comfortably below the glass ceiling. “Frankly, I feel that she would have a tremendous career in the Senate,” Leahy declared. If it weren’t so galling, it would be amusing to watch the Democratic men shuffling nervously in their television studio chairs, trying to conceal the audacity of their arrogance. For they have something in common besides their anatomy: It’s Hillary Clinton. For nearly two decades, she’s raised more money for more Democrats than anyone except, perhaps, Bill Clinton. She’s certainly done more obligatory “Women-for-(Your Candidate’s Name Here)” events than, say, the Obama girl on YouTube. Now Clinton’s methodical, dogged history of work for the Democratic Party is treated just like the methodical, dogged histories of so many women in the workplace: Having come this far she must not go too far. She must step aside to take the smaller office, with the lesser title and the lower pay to make room for the younger guy with the thinner résumé. And please, would she just go quietly like a good girl? Maybe it is true that Clinton has no realistic way to win the nomination. But Obama hasn’t won it either—and contrary to the myth his campaign has spun, Obama can’t win without superdelegates to put him over the top. Somehow the Obama campaign has come to believe that insulting Clinton is the same as beating her. It isn’t. And insulting her supporters—especially women and, in particular, working-class women, who have clung to her candidacy all these months—isn’t much of a general-election victory strategy. Women were 54 percent of the electorate in the presidential election of 2004. Without their support, Al Gore would not have won the popular vote in 2000 and John Kerry wouldn’t have come so close in 2004. Women voters put Democrats in control of Congress in 2006.
So, the Obama campaign can continue trying to get its allies in the media and various party pooh-bahs to push Clinton aside early. Or Obama can welcome the fight—and win it like a man.
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By bert, April 3 at 8:26 pm # Reply to wordsonfireApril 3 at 4:50 am # <<<<<<<<<< Florida vote I had to be in Florida for during the primaries . . . I heard a lot about how HRC was perceived to have ‘cheated” by having her name on the ballot when everyone agreed not to campaign there . . . >>>>>>> SINCE OBAMA WAS ALSO ON THE BALLOT IN FLORIDA THEN HE CHEATED TOO. Thanks for confirming that for all of us wordsonfire. Your hearing a lot about cheaying is only antidotal and as such pretty much meaningless. And you are right, the candidates only agreed, as you state, not to CAMPAIGN in FL. Yet Obama campaigned by running TV ads in FL. Whay was he not penalized. <<<<<<<<< Does everyone understand that Florida and Michigan made their beds and knew the consequences of their early primaries? >>>>>>> NO, I DON"T UNDERSTAND THAT !!!!!!! The voters in MI and FL were at the mercy of their respective satte legislatures, ppliticians, and courts. The average voter had no say in the matter. PLUS both NC and MV also broke the Dems rules but they were NOT penalized. So why FL and MI?
By Conservative Yankee, April 3 at 10:42 am # Clintonesque hubris..Mr. Chalmers says: “Pity those who would reject “god’s love”, though, lib in texas. That is at the very core of our existence - all of us!” All, Always, None, Never, Everyone, no one… all words which should be avoided, for with 6, going on 7 Billion people these words just don’t work. God is a fairy-tale (To me) his “love” is non-existent, and the concept of religion is based on the the unfair aspect of bad things happening (all the time) to good or totally innocent people. James “Whitey” Bulger won the Massachusetts lottery the hit was for 14 million of which Bulger claimed 25%!
By JC Andrews, April 3 at 8:13 am # People should stop whining about how Hillary is using tough tactics. Hillary is teaching Obama how to fight in a campaign. She looks like the teacher and he looks like the student. This is powderpuff. Did anyone notice how the Fox news channels were running the Wright story? The Clintons know how to fight the Republicans. At the beginning of this campaign, Obama wasn’t ready for the big leagues. How can Obama reach across the aisle if all his votes are liberal? You cannot reach across the aisle unless you compromise. Hillary has cast Republican votes, where a Liberal vote wouldn’t matter anyway. For the young people out there, that is called politics. I notice Obama is against gay marriage. Is that because he really thinks it is bad? Or because it is politically expedient? White women democrats over 40 make up the largest voting block of any in the country. And, the party is casting them off like nobody cares. I think it is great that African Americans are voting for Obama, but the vast majority live in red states. And college kids, well, the population is the US is shrinking. Stop pissing off older white women! They already feel like people throw them aside like useless rags. They are the democrats who have been teachers, nurses, social workers, etc. Many of them have been abused by male bosses. Their lifetime of anger will surface at the voting booth, and I think Obama will have a harder time winning than he thinks.
By Paracelsus, April 2 at 10:33 pm # I decided to displayed some pics of Massachusetts countryside.
By Mary, April 2 at 9:08 pm # The best response to this article......is right here on Truthdig: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20080331_the_clint on_backlash/ Can the Dems ever resist the opportunity to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory? The Repugs should have no chance of winning this election except for the damage that will be done to the Dem nominee by the OTHER DEM CANDIDATE well before the convention is even held!!! As a New Yorker I can recall that in 1990 we had an opportunity to get rid of the execrable Sen. Alfonse D’Amato which went down in flames after several Dems, including Elizabeth Holtzman, Gerry Ferraro and Robert Abrams, beat the stuffing out of each other before the primary. So much mud was thrown that it was impossible for the survivor to win the election, thus we were stuck with this cavone for another six years. Hillary did not live here then or she would know this. This is merely an analogy, as it was by no means as catastrophic as a Repug victory would be in 2008. Can we possibly survive a McCain presidency? Do we really want to find out? And by the way, unlike the general election’s anachronistic electoral college, primaries are not “winner take all”. Even if Hillary “wins” Pennsylvania by 10 points, both candidates wind up with some delegates. I have no problem if Hillary wants to keep running (although hell would freeze over before I would ever vote to put another Clinton in the White House). What is unacceptable are the bald opportunism and gutter tactics to which she and Bill have stooped, and the notion that the superdelegates should have and exert the power to overrule the voting public, threats against Pelosi, etc.
By vcjpolitics, April 2 at 11:19 am # You know, women like you make the rest of us look harping shrews. The only time that your kind of “feminist” rises to the challenge is when a white woman’s “rights” are at stake. I gave up on the feminist movement 20 years ago when it was made obvious to me that women of color need not participate unless white women needed tokens to legitimize their latest rants and perceived slights. Hillary Clinton lost what little residual integrity she had left when she voted in favor of both the Patriot Act and the Iraq War. She proceeded to compound her errors by trying to out-hawk the Republican hawks, ostensibly to show how “tough” and patriotic she was. Well, in the words of Rev. Wright, her chickens have come home to roost. One reaps what one sows, and Hillary is reaping bumper-crop harvests from the death, lies, and discord that she and other gutless Congressional Democrats fostered. She stood by Bill Clinton as he paved the way for Dubya by passing the TelCom Act of 1996, welfare reform, disproportionate sentencing of minorities and working-class whites for lesser crimes than middle- and upper-class whites are sentenced for, NAFTA, corporate deregulation, etc. Now she wants us to believe that she didn’t support any of Bill’s decisions? Don’t piss in our collective ear and then tell us it is raining. Or, better yet, don’t tell us that when she lied about dodging bullets in Bosnia, she simply “misspoke.” Hillary has a credibility issue...a can’t-tell-the-whole-truth issue...a I-will-be-President-by-any-means-necessary issue. In short, she cannot be trusted. For you to come up in here with this spurious sexism argument when there are women who are truly suffering from sexism and sexual harrassment is an insult and an affront. I will put my trust in Obama because I BELIEVE him. I TRUST him. End of story. Deal with it.
By vcjpolitics, April 3 at 12:55 pm # Just The (Pesky) Facts, Ma'amLet me see if I understand you: if my opinions on Hillary do not coincide with yours, then I am bitter? Perhaps you should check your condescending attitude at the door. It doesn’t take any thought or maturity to be snide; it does to present a compelling argument. I find it interesting that you did not address or deny any of the issues that I broached regarding Hillary Clinton. Instead, the best that you could do is point the finger and whine, “They do it, too!” That didn’t fly in kindergarten, and it won’t wash now. I, however, will address your post point-by-point. If you consider lying about being shot at is nothing more than “a little white lie,” I suggest that you go and spend time with people living in urban areas right here in the U.S. These people, on a daily basis, live with the reality that they or their children might be shot while trying to go about their normal lives. Compare that with HRC using a completely false story to win political brownie points, and it doesn’t take a cynic to see how cold and callous she is. As for Obama’s “very liberal record,” you would do well to compare his and Hillary’s voting records against liberal and conservative groups’ criteria. Project Vote Smart keeps aggregate statistics for numerous groups and issues covering the political spectrum. You will find that Obama and HRC are rated within single-digit percentage points of each other on the ideology of their votes; in fact, their scores are identical on a majority of the line items. Overall, neither of them would be the darling of “very liberal” or progressive voting blocs, as you will see under the LIBERAL category on PVS’s website. You can view all the ratings via the following links: Obama: http://www.votesmart.org/issue_rating_category.php?can _id=9490 Addressing Obama’s voting “present”--anyone remotely familiar with the Congressional Record knows that votes are not recorded as “present.” They are recorded as “yea,” “nay,” or “not voting.” Not voting includes present, not voting, excused, or absent. Not all votes are roll call votes, nor is a member of Congress needed to or required to vote on every piece of legislation that comes down the pike. Hence, a member can indicate present to show that s/he was in chamber but did not need or was not required to vote on the bill. Not voting is an abstention. Excused and absent are self-explanatory. Do you give your opinion on every subject someone asks you about? Of course not, because you do not always have the time or enough information to weigh in intelligently. Indeed, a member may have a legitimate or, yes, a politically expedient reason for not voting on a bill. These people do have to run for re-election; even the most innocuous of votes can come back to haunt them. This is an unfortunate political reality. Nonetheless, if you look at the votes of each Senator for the current session of Congress, you will find that six of the top seven who missed votes were running for President in the primaries. Miss votes while campaigning? Shocking! Obama missed 37.5% of his votes, while Hillary missed 26.9%--neither of which is out of line for primary candidates. If you want to be alarmed, check out John McCain’s 56.4% missed-vote rate. (By the way, the top vote-misser was Tim Johnson, who was busy recovering from a near-fatal brain aneurysm. I am sure that he will contact you shortly to beg your forgiveness.) http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/110/senate /vote-missers/ Oh, before you go off-topic again by saying, “I meant when Obama was in the Illinois state legislature,” I’ll let Keith Olbermann take you and Tony Snow to school on that one: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/23926746#23926746 As for Obama being a savior, I am not looking for a Deliverer. It is time for a change, and I am willing to give Barack Obama his shot. God knows that he cannot do any worse than his four predecessors.
By cyrena, April 2 at 8:08 pm # Re:vjcpolitics.. I love it!!! I would say AMEN, except that I’m an agnostic. So, whatever you can imagine to put in its place, that’s what I mean. This is the best part… “...For you to come up in here with this spurious sexism argument when there are women who are truly suffering from sexism and sexual harrassment is an insult and an affront."… I hear ya loud and clear. Amen!
By wordsonfire, April 3 at 4:42 am # Amen for Agnostics . . .We still get to say it . . . that’s my theory Cyrena!!! I did an “amen sister” on the other thread and thought . . . hmmm I’m an athiest, can I still say it! I decided not to disclaimer it, but am laughing now, because clearly you and I have very much in common in how we think and write! m! Add Your Comment |
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