Sure sounded bitter today at the RBC meeting...
The Hillary rep indicated they would take it to Credentials, and, by implication, Beyond - to the Convention Floor. Rather than quash the speculation his statement triggered, the Clinton campaign issued a press release, fanning the flames, saying as much, officially.
A spectacular video appeared on YouTube tonight, catching an aggrivated Hillary supporter as she stormed out of the meeting room. She seems typical of a large block of female Clintonites. Assuming that Sen. Obama will give the Vice Presidency to someone psychologically better qualified for the office than Hillary Clinton, "What approach might we take - as individuals - to win over disappointed HRC supporters, such as this hysterical woman?:
Without HRC on the ticket, some 1:1 approach must be found to talk to women like this Ms. Harriet Christian, to assuage their grief over coming relatively close, but failing, to elect a woman as President of the United States. It seems unlikely that any specific issue posture that Sen. Obama might take will have much affect on this, its more at a visceral, emotional level. He's already pro-choice; he's for education and health care, he's against war, yadda, yadda, yadda....So, it wont be a platform argument, or a speech to the N.O.W., or some photo-op at a noted 'woman's memorial' or 'woman's museum' likely to have much impact on this audience. Its less likely to be anything that Sen. Obama, or the Obama Campaign itself can do to win over such dejected women, but perhaps, on an individual level, we can figure out how to reel them back in in our personal campaigning.
There is the tragic, heartrending story of Carol McCain; the Senator's first wife, who stood by him faithfully during his six years of captivity in North Vietnam. Crippled by injuries sustained in a car wreck, she was four inches shorter, heavier, and handicapped when he returned after the war. John McCain met Cindy at some official cocktail party, and soon struck up an illicit affair with the pretty, young heiress. Before long, "Mr. Family Values" divorced poor Carol, the mother of his children, and married this healthier, richer paramour just 30 days later.
Then there is the widely reported instance where he called his present wife, Cindy, a "C*nt" in public, during a campaign stop, when he thought he was out of earshot of reporters.
These two unfortunate incidents alone are probably not enough on which to re-forge a new feminist majority behind the Democratic nominee, Sen. Obama, but they represent a worthy foundation on which to start. While there will undoubtedly be a long legislative history on feminist issues differentiating Sen. McCain from this constituency, and from Sen. Obama, again, this does not appear to be an argument likely to be won by logical persuasion on policy matters alone.
Instead of recrimination and invective, lets devote the Comment section following this diary to practical ideas toward developing a common interpersonal argument, suitable for use with the Harriet Christians of the world, as we encounter them between now and November 4th; at work, in church, in civic organizations, online, in line at the supermarket, and across the family dinner table. If this woman were your Mother, Wife, Girlfriend, Aunt, Sister, or Daughter, for example, how would you handle her?
Instead of offering a poll with snarky one-liners (which, admittedly, has its humorous potential...), this post is a serious effort to design and construct a concensus 'power argument' to win over these people in our lives...