I'll be honest. I was kinda agnostic about the Halter-Lincoln race. On the one hand, Blanche Lincoln clearly backstabbed the labor movement in 2009 and 2010 and some of her comments on about no special rights for gays really pissed me off. On the other hand, it was never clear to me that Bill Halter was that much different, aside from his willingness to call himself a Democrat. I was afraid that he was taking advantage of our frustration with the Conservadems. It would have been to see labor flex its muscles last night, but I don't live in Arkansas, so I was agnostic.
For those of you who don't believe I'm a Clintonista, you can read me bashing Obama here, here, and here. And this is me joining the Writer's Strike. For those of you who think I'm really not "over it," you can read me bashing the PUMAs here and here.
As a Clintonista, I can relate to how you are feeling. Just as we all read for the last three weeks how Lincoln was headed to defeat, I spent all of 2007 reading about how Clinton was the shoo-in presidential nominee. And then it all fell apart. Last night's vote was--while shocking--at least quick and painless. Unlike you, I had to watch the train wreck unfold slowly over a period of months. I had to watch her stumble and regain her footing, get knocked down and then stand back up. If you think you're having to swallow some gloating from the White House, you should go back and read some of the Hillary Clinton obituaries that were written throughout the spring of 2008.
After the primaries, I had to work through all of my bitterness. At first, I was going to vote for Obama, but that's it. I wouldn't volunteer or donate. I was NEVER EVER going to return to the Great Orange Satan and those biased bastards at MSNBC would never be on my TV again.
And then I realized that driving out the vote for Obama might help defeat the anti-gay marriage amendment in Florida, so I might as well chip in $30 and register some voters. (Seeing the lunatics at the GOP convention screaming "drill, baby, drill" helped as well.) And I did vote for him. I took a picture of my ballot so I could prove to my friends that I actually voted for him (even my closest friends thought I was too bitter to do it). But I still didn't like him (I guess, I still don't like him), so it wasn't until the health care speech in the fall of 2009 that I actually listened to him speak live for the first time (skipped the convention, the election, and the inauguration speeches).
And then I discovered Rachel Maddow and realized that MSNBC--despite my loathing of Keith Olbermann (still some residual loathing there-gotta confess) and Tweety Bird Matthews (yeah, still think he's a bit arrogant)--couldn't be that bad if Rachel Maddow were on the air. I started out slowly watching Rachel Maddow and realized that by ignoring all of MSNBC, I was really missing out on some other great programming. If nothing else, I make sure that I at least catch KO's "Worst Person in the World Segment" and I occasionally watch the whole broadcast.
And as for the Great Orange Satan, I realized that very few of the Clinton bloggers were going to stick with the Democrats and those that did were being tossed aside by the PUMA purists. You should see some of the emails that went some of us stated our desire to stick with the Democrats. I realized that, just like staying on the sidelines of the presidential race and ignoring MSNBC, that I was just excluding myself from Democratic politics. So I swallowed my pride and came back.
The point I'm trying to make is that I spent a lot of time being really angry only to realize that my anger was counter-productive. This is a democracy. In a democracy, we have elections. In every election, there is a winner and a loser. I lost. It sucked. It was a bitter pill to swallow. But sitting in the corner and feeling sorry for myself wouldn't make me feel better. It would only help elect Republicans.
As much as I was convinced the my choice was the better choice and that she had been treated unfairly in so many ways, I had to accept the fact that a decision had been made and that the party could not function if the losing side sat on its hands in bitterness after every election.
So here is my advice,
- This weekend, drink. A lot.
- Put a Blanche Lincoln photo on the dart board. Put a big mustache on her arrogant face.
- Send a thank you email to Bill Halter. It's hard to come that close and lose.
- Give some money to the kind of Democrat that Blanche Lincoln loathes.
- Then get over it. Let it go. And move on with your life.
You'll be much happier. I promise. If you don't believe me, check out the PUMA blogs who are making preparations for the Hillary Clinton 2012 campaign.