Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night with clear premonitions of events that will happen at some point in the future. My wife calls this "News of the Future," and I've been right often enough that she at least listens patiently before going back to sleep. Last night the News of the Future was frightening enough that neither of us could get back to sleep. Yes, last night I woke up with an advance copy of a Hillary Clinton speech lodged in my brain.
It is a sad commentary on the Katman’s life that he awakens with Hillary Clinton on the brain, but, as many of you know, the Senator has earned her place in my nightmares.
According to my premonition, below the jump is an advance copy of her speech at Independence Hall in Philadelphia on June 5, 2008. You will certainly understand why I was not able to get back to sleep after hearing it.
I am thrilled to be here in Philadelphia, the birthplace of American independence, here in the hall where our forebears signed the Declaration of Independence, here in the great Commonwealth that revitalized my campaign after the pundits counted me out. I am pleased to be here by the side of Governor Rendell, one of our country’s great patriots.
We are smack dab in the middle of the longest campaign in history. I want to commend Barack Obama on the tremendous groundbreaking campaign he has run. Together we have shown that America wants change, and it is fitting that we should have reached the conclusion of the primaries in a dead heat. I have won the popular vote. More people have voted for my campaign than for any Presidential candidate in history. From Massachusetts to Florida to California to Ohio and Pennsylvania to West Virginia and Kentucky to Texas to Michigan and Indiana and to Puerto Rico, the American people have spoken. Senator Obama has collected a few more delegates, but it is clear that the Democratic Party has spoken over the last few months, and it has made its preferences known with two distinctly different voices.
My campaign represents an army of constituents who are not represented by the campaigns of Barack Obama and John McCain. It represents women of all ages and all walks of life who have been energized by an opportunity once and for all to break through the glass ceiling that has separated us from power for so long. It represents working class whites who are tired of being excluded from the halls of power, and older voters who have earned a voice in determining our future.
My campaign has overcome tremendous odds. No woman has ever come this far, and there have been predictable attacks from my opponent and from the media that have catered to the old boys network that has historically ruled American politics. No, my campaign has not been for those who want to govern through back room deals, excluding those who don’t have enough education or make enough money to be part of the elite. My opponents have tried to slander me as a racist when I have a long history of support for Americans of all races and ethnicities. My campaign has been written off over and over by those who value a good speech over a lifetime of hard work on behalf of those who don't have a voice in Washington. But my voters have stood up said, "No. This campaign must go on."
Over the last few weeks we have seen extremely disturbing signs that the Democratic Party, which has always been a big tent, an all inclusive tent, is ready to cast these loyal party members aside. On May 31, the Credentials Committee met and voted to disenfranchise the voters of Michigan and Florida. Their eagerness to reach closure on the nomination led them to grant delegates in Michigan to Senator Obama, whose name was not even on the ballot, and to reduce the margin of my victory in Florida, despite the landslide victory that we achieved there. And since the final primaries in South Dakota and Montana, there has been a rush to judgment by the party’s so-called "super delegates," who have declared their support for Senator Obama before the will of the people is carried out on the floor of the Democratic Convention.
To these misguided representatives of the Party, I say, "Not so fast."
I am not going to stand by while the rights of women in this party are trampled. I am not going to allow the people of Michigan and Florida to be disenfranchised. I am simply not willing to enable those who would ignore the desire of the hard-working white voters of Ohio and Pennsylvania and West Virginia and Kentucky to regain control over the direction of this country. I can’t abandon older voters who are concerned about the security of their retirements.
I do not say this lightly. I strongly believe in the Democratic Party, and I remain loyal to its historical principles. Like the great Martin Luther King in the Civil Rights Movement of the sixties, I have left no stone unturned to unify this party. But Barack Obama has continued to be divisive in his campaign while talking out of the other side of his mouth about inclusion. As many of you are aware I have even offered to take the position of Vice President on a ticket led by Senator Obama. But it is apparent at this point that he does not want to unify the party. He rejected my offers to bring my base back into the party’s fold, saying he wants instead to go in his own direction, to define change in a way that makes sense for his voters, but not for mine.
Well my voters need a voice too, and I won’t stand by while Senator Obama excludes them. As I have said, I have received more primary votes than any Presidential candidate in history, and I am too committed to those voters to allow them to go without a champion.
As a result, I am today announcing my plans to continue carrying the torch for change. Unfortunately, it has become clear that I cannot do so under the banner of the Democratic Party. The Party has committed itself to a process that is deeply unfair to those who have been its unwavering supporters throughout history, and that now discriminates against my constituents, It is a process that enables a small group of party elders to overturn the will of the voters of our party who have cast their ballots for me in greater numbers.
As I have carried out a 50 state strategy in the primaries while my opponent focused on a few caucuses and Republican states, so I will continue to take my message of change to every state as an Independent, and continue to represent the millions who have told me they want change from the disastrous policies of the last eight years.
I believe this is great news for the voters of the United States of America. This announcement means they will have real choice, and when all the votes are counted in November I am confident that I will be elected President of the United States of America.
Now some may say, "Hillary, you’ve lost your mind. You can never win this way." But many people have been counting me out from the first days of this campaign. We have been the underdogs from the day we announced our candidacy, but that hasn’t stopped us from getting more votes than either John McCain or Barack Obama. And, of course, we’re underdogs now. But let me tell you something. Ask the women of this country whether they’re used to being the underdogs. Ask the senior citizens who struggle to pay for their medications whether they know what it means to be an underdog. Ask the hard working people who have seen their jobs shipped overseas, or taken by those who are less qualified. No, those who support my campaign love being the underdog, and they know, like Harry Truman, we will give 'em hell.
You know that we will be fighting against the powerful lobbyists who control the Republican and Democratic parties. They have money machines that will be hard to match. That’s why I need my supporters to go to www.hillaryclinton.com and give whatever you can to help make this dream a reality.
Now let’s roll up our sleeves and get to work.