I've been a strong Obama supporter for over a year, and I'll admit up front that I've never been a fan of Hillary Clinton. I worked hard to help Obama win Iowa and other contests, and as the primary season wore on (and I got tired), I started to get bitter about the Clintons. Couldn't they see Obama had won? Pundits started discussing how the long battle would hurt the Democratic nominee. I kept waiting for Hillary to fold her cards for the good of the Party... and she just kept going. And going.
My attitude about this has completely reversed. After seeing so many Hillary supporters express support and even enthusiasm for the Obama / Biden ticket, I wanted to express my own appreciation for the ways I think Hillary's battle helped. This is my first diary, so if I'm doing anything wrong please be gentle when you let me know. :-)
Of course, my thoughts may change if things go differently than I'm hoping in the next few weeks. In the meantime, here's how I think the primary season is helping us now:
John McCain has very few serious arguments against Barack Obama that Hillary Clinton didn't use first. Before McCain started creating a mob this week, I sometimes thought he had just adopted Hillary's campaign and put a right-wing spin on it. Look at the arguments he's advanced for himself:
- I'm experienced, he's not.
- Empty suit.
- I know how to make real change happen in Washington, he doesn't.
- He wants to sit down with our enemies.
- Ayers, Rezko and Wright. Somehow I think that before this is over we'll see more of Rezko and Wright, in my opinion both potentially more damaging than Ayers. Hillary's already been there.
- My health care plan is better than his.
- He's too far left.
- He'll be bad for the economy.
- He's not patriotic.
- His plan for Iraq won't work.
- He's an out-of-touch elitist.
- Hey, didn't you notice he's black? I know that whether and how much the Clintons went there is in the eye of the beholder, but we all know it got discussed.
- And from third parties, we've already had multiple beyond-the-pale accusations about Obama's madrassa, Islamic faith, radical beliefs and so on... all of which were published, discussed and debunked.
The conventional wisdom during the primary season was that Hillary lending her voice to personal attacks would give credence to the Republican opposition. Maybe that would be the case with a weaker nominee, or one who didn't address criticism immediately. We have an extraordinary nominee, and I think people see many of these as attacks that already failed. (And by the way, why are these attacks called "the politics of personal destruction" when the Clintons say them, but it's "focussing on character" for McCain?)
In addition to building an enormous grassroots organization, I think that the primary battle helped season Obama's new army of volunteers. I am someone who has never participated in a political campaign before, and I would not have known what to expect if Hillary hadn't fought so hard. In the primary battle the personal attacks and ugliness made me very anxious. Now I can look at each new attack and think, "Hillary tried that too." I can keep going without worrying so much about it. And now I see what the pundits meant when they said that the primary battle wasn't very ugly in comparison with what would happen in the fall.
I've also given real thought to the major issues of this election, and I've had months of practice explaining why I support Obama's positions.
The other conventional wisdom was that Hillary's supporters would never convert to Obama, and we know what's happened there.
As a final note, I'd like to express a personal appreciation to Hillary Clinton and her supporters for hanging in there until the end. She proved she can do it. When the next credible woman becomes a Presidential candidate, that woman will get more respect and have fewer barriers to tear down. Now that we're ahead going into election day, that alone makes all my extra money and effort and time in the primary season worthwhile.