One of the pundits actually had something interesting to say this morning. They stated that Senator Obama started out with this huge movement for change, but in the last couple of weeks another movement has emerged from this primary this time supported by Senator Clinton, and it's the movement to divide. For all of Obama's efforts at uniting the Democratic Party and the Country, in my opinion Clinton is undoing a lot of it. She's not undermining his efforts by merely staying in the race, and it would be incorrect to attempt to present the argument that she is. She's undermining her efforts through her arguments FOR remaining in the race.
Her argument is no longer about fighting for the Americans, it's all about HER. "I am the stronger nominee" is her entire premise at this point, and her supporters, eager for any ray of the hope they ridiculed so much in the beginning, are eating it all up.
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Now, I'm not writing this because I think Senator Clinton is evil, or the Devil incarnate, or anything like that. I am writing this based on my own observations.
From the beginning, Senator Obama's message has been some variation of "WE Can do this, but only if we work TOGETHER." Meanwhile, Senator Clinton's argument has been "I can do this, just give ME the chance." This difference in message is illustrated most starkly with the recent primaries. While Senator Obama tries to pull everyone into the fold, Senator Clinton focuses on women and "working class whites." While Senator Obama never has a disparaging word to say about Senator Clinton or her campaign (and Lord knows he has more than enough reason to speak negatively about both), Senator Clinton is trying to paint Senator Obama as an out-of-touch elitist who doesn't want every vote to count. While Senator Obama plays by the rules as agreed to in the beginning, Senator Clinton attempts to manipulate and change the rules to benefit her.
I do not begrudge Senator Clinton the opportunity to stay in this race until every contest has concluded. My issue is with the arguments she is using to stay in. Her argument that she wins all of the "important states" while leaving out the fact that these "important states" will vote for the Democratic nominee no matter who he, or she, is. My issue is with the popular vote metric she's trying to push which not only includes misleading math achievable only though questionable accountings, but is a lie. She's not leading in the popular vote, but to suggest that she is while counting two contests that violated the DNC rules that everyone agreed to, and ignoring caucus states (since there's no roll really taken at caucuses) is insulting and hurtful to the party. While she makes her arguments, her supporters retreat further into "Hillaryland" and further away from "reality."
I honestly feel bad for her supporters, because I can't say that I wouldn't be equally delusional if the role were reversed and it was Senator Obama making arguments such as this. At the same time, I wonder how she could be so cruel to them, to make these arguments that are quite insulting to those of us really paying attention and cognizant of the current math. It's not about giving them false hope, there's nothing false about hope as Senator Obama is fond of saying, it's about being deliberately misleading in an effort to make herself seem more electable in the fall.
Since Senator Obama's efforts at unification are not nearly as sensational as Senator Clinton's efforts at division, the media (God Bless Them) are so focused on Senator Clinton's faulty arguments that they fail to see the forest for the trees. They all willingly admit (well, most of them anyway) that there is no way she can catch him in pledged delegates. Now that the Clinton campaign has the media afraid to present facts, they are all tip-toeing around the fact that she truly has lost. Even if she wins every remaining contest, she's lost. The fact that Senator Clinton continues to advance all of the myths she's advancing, and no one seems to be willing to call her on it is mind-boggling.
Sure, technically she's not out there calling Senator Obama a closet Muslim anymore and I suppose there hasn't been any "negative" campaigning in the last 4 days, but what she's doing is fostering divisions. I was watching Washington morning where they showed some exit polls from last night, and I noticed that a significant majority of Senator Obama's supporters said they would support Clinton were she the nominee in the fall, the same could not be said for Clinton supporters. Yes, we are in the heat of the moment right now and people on both sides are extremely bitter (your humble diarist included), but I honestly believe that a significant majority of Clinton supporters would also be willing to support Senator Obama in the fall if she were not so intent on de-legitimizing his candidacy.
Last night was a bit heartbreaking a way for me while watching CNN's coverage. David Gergen, who I am coming to respect more and more every time I see him, brought up an interesting point that the other networks seem to be ignoring. Recently there's been a lot of talk about sexism against Senator Clinton in this primary season, some of it is legit, most of it is not. Gergen mentioned that while the Clinton campaign and its surrogates are complaining about sexism, you never hear the Obama campaign or its surrogates complain about racism. We all know it's there, it's evident in the exit polls. 21% of the voters in WV and KY said race was an important factor for them, and of that 21% about 80-90% voted for Clinton. (now, I'm not trying to downplay the racism that may be coming from African Americans, but it's far less significant because Black people have been voting for White presidents forever) Gergen mentioned how Senator Clinton could do so much for her own image and the party if she would just say "If you are voting for me as a way of voting against Senator Obama because you are a racist, I do not want your vote" (my paraphrase, not his exact words). What's really sad about this is the fact that as soon as he said that, my first thought was "she won't do it because those racists, and sexist females too, are the ones keeping her in this race." Personally, I don't mind someone voting for someone for whatever reason, my issue is when they vote AGAINST someone for things like race or gender. And Gergen, the entire time he was saying this just looked extremely sad. I think he's really disappointed in Senator Clinton and the fact that she is willing to exploit these divisions to foster more.
Recently there has also been a lot of talk about women supporting Senator Obama in the fall. Somehow the meme has gotten into the media that women, and in particular White Women (I guess Black ones don't count) will not support Senator Obama in the fall because they will be angry that Senator Obama took Senator Clinton's "turn" in the White House. Since when is it someone's "turn" to be President? The fact that this meme has no real standing, doesn't matter, and the Clinton campaign is not above using this as a talking point. She may not be putting the ideas out there personally, but she's sanctioning them by remaining silent.
Senator Obama has to do everything in his power to unite the Country, and not simply because he'd be the nominee, that's in his nature. He is someone who has been seeking a way to unite people his entire professional life. Senator Clinton, not so much. Her strategy is more "divide and conquer." Honestly, I find it even more amazing that given this divide and conquer mentality, Senator Obama is where he is today. That says a lot not only about his message, but about his supporters. America really does seem to be saying "not this time" to divisions.
The problem is we now have two competing movements. One for Change and Unity, and another for Entitlement and Division. While Senator Obama strives to bring Clinton supporters into the fold, Senator Clinton is fighting to keep them separate so she can have her 'electability' argument. The pundits seem to think Senator Clinton is building her movement so she'll be able to bargain for whatever she wants out of this primary (besides the actual nomination). If this is true, I must say unequivocally that I have no respect for her as a woman or as a politician. The country is sick of the division and the hate, we've had that for the past 200 or so years, and where has it gotten us? It's time for a new direction.
On a lighter note, Barack may want to invest in a gun or two, because he's gonna need them when Malia and Sasha get older, those girls are adorable/beautiful.