John McCain is self-destructing - it is a good day to not talk about veepstakes. So I was going to write a fine diary, but something just came up.
I'm not a journalist or part of the pundit class - just a Kossack. I've written a number of positive diaries and articles in support of my candidate, Barack Obama and unflattering ones about his rivals. I’ve deleted most of them in the interest Party unity (I can almost hear someone saying PUMA). I did not delete this onejust because it got a lot of comments - it's not easy to get a lot of comments here. I love good diaries, but I give at least 10 times more tips and recs than I get, probably because my diaries usually get lost in between far better ones. Anyway, that’s why I didn’t delete this diary. Before you shoot, consider that anyone who had not initially supported Barack Obama - whether they supported John Edwards or Hillary Clinton - probably wrote some anti-Obama diaries or left some anti-Obama comments somewhere in the blogosphere.
I have this friend from New York who had lived in England for 12 years. She'd previously told me that former First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton was an icon and a role model that she adored the same way she adored the late Princess Diana (princess of Wales). She said she was disappointed that Hillary had to get into the mud fight of presidential politics. So she became an ardent critic of Hillary Clinton's candidacy. If I had not heard of people opposing Barack Obama's candidacy as a way to protect him from assassination, I would've thought that was the weirdest reason to be against any candidate.
Earlier today, after I read this story, I had a conversation with my friend:
ME: If Hillary Clinton is not on the ticket, what would her supporters do? Vote for McCain or stay home on November 4?
MY FRIEND: They're going to vote for a Democrat. Most of them have signed on already. The rest will come home - eventually. It makes no sense whatsoever for anyone who supported Hillary Clinton to vote for John McCain just because she isn't on the ticket. That's childish.
ME: If Obama announces Hillary as his running mate, what would you do, considering you're FIERCELY opposed to the idea?
MY FRIEND (Angrily): If Hillary is on that ticket, I might vote for McCain.
ME: It makes no sense whatsoever for anyone who supported Barack Obama to vote for McCain just because Hillary is on the ticket. That's childish. Does that sound familiar?
What happened afterwards is irrelevant. But you get the sense that (a) Someone else appears to have a "sense of entitlement" and (b) When the shoe is on the other foot ......
So tell me, what would you do if Obama chooses Hillary as his running mate?