In one of the classiest moves I've seen out of Washington lately (competition: nil) I just got the e-mail below from Joe Biden. He and Obama are using their list of contributors to help Hillary retire her campaign debt. Seriously, this shows real class. Now I'm wrestling with whether I should try to show as much class and contribute.
Here's the text of the e-mail:
President-elect Obama and I have been assembling our team, and we plan to hit the ground running next month.
We want to be ready to go, and that's why I'm asking you to help us honor an outstanding commitment we made during the election.
Our campaign pledged to help Senator Hillary Clinton -- one of the vital members of our team and our future Secretary of State -- retire her campaign debt. That's the money her campaign owes to the vendors across the country that make our political process possible.
Barack and I had the deepest respect for Hillary as an opponent on the campaign trail. Her undeniable intellect, talent, and passion strengthened Barack as a candidate and tested our movement for change.
We welcome Hillary as a partner in our administration, and I hope you will show your support by helping Barack fulfill our campaign promise.
Will you make a contribution of [a dollar figure matching the largest single contribution I made to the Obama campaign] or more now to retire Hillary's campaign debt?
I saw your generosity and commitment to this team throughout the election, and I know we can do it.
In the general election, Hillary was one of our strongest advocates. She traveled the country and did more than 70 events, raising money and bringing new supporters into our campaign.
As Secretary of State, she will be indispensable in furthering Barack's agenda for change.
Let's welcome Hillary to the team and thank her for her efforts in support of our campaign by helping to retire her debt to the hard-working individuals and small businesses that were a part of the election:
https://donate.barackobama.com/...
Your support and generosity got us this far, and I know I can count on it now.
Thank you,
Joe
Does Hillary deserve it? I'm ambivalent at best. Some of the borrowed money went to buying ads damaging to Obama, that the Republicans echoed later in the campaign. Some of the money went to pay political 'consultants' so dumb they don't deserve to get paid. As the e-mail says, "Barack and I had the deepest respect for Hillary as an opponent on the campaign trail." The e-mail doesn't go on to mention whether Hillary showed Barack the same respect. I don't think she did.
Does Hillary need it? Some of the debt being retired may be the $10 million she lent her own campaign. That was out of an estimated net worth of $90 million. In tough economic times I'm reluctant to give money to somebody that much richer than I am.
Do I want Obama and Biden to think their pool of contributors as a cash cow that can be milked for anyone's benefit? Not really; I have nightmares of them asking me to help retire some debt of Joe Lieberman's.
On the other hand, I was happy to see Hillary get the nod as Secretary of State.
A lot of us will be getting this e-mail or a similar one. I'd really like the daily Kos community's input on what's the right thing to do, and more important, on what others are going to do. Please answer the poll!
If you do contribute, I urge you to add that extra penny to the amount, as a tracking device.
I must say, the internet address (of all things) just might sway me. I just noticed it's not computer gibberish, but
"donate.barackobama.com/hillary"