Let me start off by saying, I'm still a staunch Hillary Clinton Supporter. I still think she is the best candidate to represent our party in the November election. That being said, I'm not a nut job. I understand that Senator Obama is our nominiee and he will carry our banner in the fall. Senator Clinton lost this race when she was blown out in North Carolina and squeaked out a win in Indiana. Up until that point, I still felt that she had a pretty good shot at winning. Not after that.
The reason for the title of this diary and the reason for me writing it is that many make me feel that I am not welcome in the "New" Democratic party. I have never had any reason to feel taht way in the past. I supported Bill Bradley in 2000, but was the Northern Illinois coordinator for Al Gore in the fall of that year. I supported John Edwards in 2004 (Wes Clark before that) but traveled to Wisconsin and Iowa to work for John Kerry and my efforts were welcome and appricated (Illinois was not in play in 2004). I feel like this year, the "New" Democratic party wants to purge me and people like me, rather than embracing me (us) as family and trying to move forward together. I feel that way in my personal life, my professional life (I work for the State of Illinois, but not for the worthless piece of shit of a Governor we have) and because of the impression I get from media, both traditional and on-line. Here are a few reasons I feel that way:
1.) Racism. I feel strongly that that word has been thrown around a little too easily during this primary. Kos went way over the top with his "Clinton Darkened an Obama photo and stretched it out to make Obama's nose bigger" talk. Bill Clinton is not a racist. Hillary is not a racist. Too many times, I have had to endure the talk of "The only reason Hillary is stil alive is because racists are voting for her". I'm not a racist, my wife is not a racist and my 2 yr old daughter who loves watching election news with Mommy and Daddy is not a racist.
2.) Tiangulation. Maybe people who hate this don't remember 1992. Maybe they have forgotten. Bill Clinton, the DLC and tiangulation made it possible for liberals to compete today. From 1968 - 1992, the only win the Democratic Party had was Jimmy Carter, and only because Ford pardonded Nixon. Republicans were speaking to the American people in a way that moved them to vote for their agenda. Democrats were not. Until Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton did not cost us congress in 1994. Tom Foley did. The Congressional banking scandal did. That is something else I'm tired of hearing.
3.) The "Old" party vs the "New" party. There seems to be an attitude out there that says, "hey, old timer, your time is done. It's our time now. Get out of the way or we will remove you by force." I'm only 35 years old, but I am treated like an out of date dinasour that is out of touch with what is "hip" and "new". The very first election I worked was in 1988 when I walked precints and made phone calls for Dukakis while I was still in High School. I worked on Herb Kohl's 1990 reelction, John Glenn's 1992 reelction, 1992 for Clinton 1996 for Clinton and so on and so on (and many more people you have never heard of). Now, I'm supposed to just say, "OK, my time is done, here you go. Everything I've ever done is worthless now. You new people are in charge. Thanks for allowing me and people like me (the Clinton's) to set the table for you." That's a tough pill to swallow. I've even been told on this site that I'm not welcome in the party (the person actually said "...then I don't want you in MY party"). I don't know how to react to that.
I am one who thinks that is was ridiculous that Hillary didn't concede last night. It makes her look bad. But one thing she said that rung true for me was when she talked about respecting the people who voted for her. Many Obama supporters act like he just steamrolled over her and she never had a chance. Thinking people know that that is not true. This election was extremely close. Even if you don't accept the concept that Hillary won the popular vote, she came damn close to it. That's not a blow out. Every state had a say.
This is just my rambling observations and explinations on why I and I suspect many other Hillary supporters feel like we have effectivly been kicked out of the Democratic Party. There are many typos here, so forgive them because it's early here in Springfield, IL and we had tornadoes last night, so I was up late. But I'm asking Obama supporters to think about what I have written. Are we welcome? Do we still count.
You are now free to make fun of me and call me a troll now. I'm really surprised that people who do that think it bothers me. Anyway, try to address what was written. Are we welcome in "your" Democratic Party.