Wednesday, June 04, 2008

History is made.

I haven't been posting on the primary because I would get too upset. I would write a post than delete it. Earlier I had said I wouldn't vote for Hillary after her husband's crazy South Carolina comment and campaign's cynical strategy. Several friends and bloggers like Jenofa2eatwrite said come on are you really going to vote for McCain if she is the nominee? Doing some research on him, I would say to myself no way. He is pandering right now too much to the very right wing of his party. He was put on blast by them because of his bipartisan work with Ted Kennedy on the immigration bill. It's too bad because the "straight talk express" seems to be taken over by the "far right limo service".

Then the Ferraro comment happened, and the Bosnia sniper thing, The RFK thing. The idea that the press is super easy on Barack. I'm sorry, didn't they talk about Rev. Wright and the "bitter" comment for weeks? If Barack had lost 10 primaries in a row like Hillary did I'm sure they would have said he's done. He need to drop out NOW.

Yesterday I was unpacking and found a picture of me, Hillary and another staffer that was taken during the '92 campaign headquarters in Little Rock. What happened? Hillary was not well served at all by her campaign esp. Mark Penn and her very undisciplined husband. I wonder, did he sabotage her on purpose or is it he doesn't realize how much campaigning has changed since he ran? The blame has to rest with her though. She hired these people and she's married to latter. She should have fired them earlier.

Yes there is sexism but that is not why Hillary lost. She entered this race with more money, higher name recognition, yes some high negatives but still she was supposed to be the nominee no problem. She ran one of the worst campaigns I have ever seen in my life. How does someone run through that much money? She waited too late to get organized in Iowa. She had no strategy past March. Big mistake. Then another big mistake was underestimating the "Clinton fatigue" issue which help Barack a lot. Barack ran a better campaign. They stuck to their message and tried not to get off track. Does he have flaws yes. Let me be clear...I am not supporting him because I am black. I didn't support Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton when they ran for President. Please.

I think this country has some major problems and I don't know if they are fixable esp. in one or two terms. I did not agree with Reagan's politics (hello ketchup is not a vegetable!) but there is no denying the man was called the Great Communicator for a reason , as was Bill Clinton and JFK. I feel after two terms of Bush we need a fresh start. I don't want to sit through any more Clintons vs. the world drama. enough!

Hillary needs to end this gracefully. However I don't that will happen when she makes comments like this from last night:

"In a speech to supporters in New York City, Mrs. Clinton paid tribute to Mr. Obama, but she did not leave the race. In a speech more defiant than conciliatory, she again presented her case that she was the stronger candidate and argued that she had won the popular vote, a notion disputed by the Obama campaign." NYT

Okay I know because I worked in politics I might be a little more sensitive about this but this is WRONG. Why is she doing this?
You don't do shit like this on the night your opponent was won the nomination. She did not win more of the popular vote (her people are not counting the caucus votes), and even if she did, we pick our president through the electoral college and delegates. She is not encouraging her supporter to rally behind the nominee, quite the opposite. The night when she was supposed to give a concession speech, Terry Maculiff introduced her as the next President of the United States. This is crazy. Is she on McCain's payroll now or something? She's dissing Obama left and right but now is putting pressure on him to pick her as VP. If he doesn't it could be a problem. I don't think she should be on the ticket. It doesn't help to have two senators and her negatives are too high at this point. Plus I don't trust her, why would she want to be VP?

I feel like she can't quite believe "some uppity Negro" has beat her. I get pissed when I heard Ferraro say Barack is lucky and is getting over because he is black. Really did they say that about John Edwards who had less legislative experience than Barack? Barack is lucky, so let's discount his degrees from Columbia and Harvard Law. As we know he only got in because of Affirmative Action not because he might be smart. If anyone is lucky it's our current president who had horrible grades but got into Yale because his dad and grandfather ( a former senator) were alums. I guess Ferraro didn't hear about the very high number of death threats Barack has rec'd. So high they had to get him Secret Service protection early, or about about the T-shirts that have a picture of a monkey on them eating a banana that say "Obama 08". There are many people who will never vote for him, not because of the issues, or how they feel about his experience but just because of the color of his skin. So don't freaking tell me racism is "poof" over. The only luck he had is that Billary imploded.

I don't know what will happen at the convention. I find it bizarre that she is having people talk her up for VP. McCain is so glad this is going on. He's in big trouble and this is keeping the focus off of him.

Years of politicians using wedge issues have jacked this country up. People will vote against their best interests because of cynical yet catchy slogans and ad campaigns. When I see a photo like this I think maybe we are finally moving away from that.



The fall will be ugly, a battle royale if you will. I'm curious to see who McCain and Obama will pick for VP. Will the Hannitys and Limbaughs who hate McCain rally the base to vote for him? Will the Hillary supporters who say they will never vote for Barack because of all the sexism Hillary has faced, really vote for McCain, a man who called his wife a f**king c**t in public and is anti-choice? What will be the Clintons role in the fall? It's going to be fascinating.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Puts Hillary in an interesting light doesn't it. I wonder if these people ever stop for even one minute to think about what kind of an impact their words and actions have on the world. I really wonder. The fact that she is even thinking about a VP position makes her look kind of pathetic.

Well I won't vote for McCain, no way, no how. Obama it is then!

Mo said...

I agree, I don't wanna see Hilary as a VP...esp after the way she ran her campaign. I wouldn't want someone like that running with me.

erin said...

wow! you just broke the news to me...now I'm reading all about it though. I'm excited to see how it all plays out now. I saw that Hillary said she would take VP if offered...never saw that coming. But, I don't think he'll pick her.

It will be interesting and very telling of America in these next 5 months...

glamah16 said...

Did you catch the comments made by Father Pleger in Chicago? Even though it was so inappropiate ( there was something in what he said). I just wouldnt have voiced it out loud.I say this as a black person from that perspective.But his comments sabatoged rather than helped.
Last night on CNN they commented she's not interested in an Vice Presidency but Co Presidency(kind of what she wanted with Bill). Hilary makes my skin crawl.I think it would be a huge mistake for Obama to make her his VP.Richardson would be nice!
But this all so exciting to have just reached this moment. I hope Hillary calms down and regains some dignity.

Sherry said...

AMEN Ragazza. I started out believing that whether it was Hillary or Barack, our country would be in good hands. As the primary wore on, I realized that all the negative things said about Hillary, and the Clintons generally is true, which is deeply disappointing to me as someone who was definitely a Clinton supporter in the past. The idea that she can insult Barack by refusing to concede and in fact declare that the show is not over during her speech last night (when it is SOO over) while stating out fo the other side of her face that she would be amenable to being VP is a testament to her ego and lack of sincere concern for the good of the party and this country.

Eryn said...

Amen! Go Barack!

nyc/caribbean ragazza said...

tina - I thought about McCain for a minute. Can't do it. He doesn't seem to have a plan for the economy or for Iraq.

kieya - thanks for stopping by. She wants a co-presidency.

erin - I may have to stay off the web. The election might be stressful to follow. Ha

glamah16 - Richardson might be a great choice, if he makes it through the vetting process. He's a gov. had foreign policy experience. etc. Father Pleger did not help. I have never heard a priest get down like that though.

sherry - to be honest, I'm still in shock that she did not concede. It's poor taste. There will be no co-presidency. She insulted the man (in a why that she did with Edwards) and now is going to say to him, "You can't win with me so pick me?" Why would he trust her at this point? Hillary is smart. I want to know what she is really thinking.

eyrn -like Erin said, it's going to be a very interesting five months.

Liz Dwyer said...

Well said. It makes me so disappointed that she could not let even this amazing moment be about someone other than herself, and even this week I'm not sure why she has to wait till Friday or Saturday to concede. It's ridiculous and I pray he does not pick her as VP, despite her unethical demands that he do so.

Jen said...

I'm way behind on my reading this week. First off, beautiful post.

Just to be clear, I was actually linking to a post by Soccer Mom in Denial. Voting for Hillary in November would have made me sick, but voting for McCain would have made me sicker.

I agree with every, single one of your points in terms of both Hillary and in terms of the racist crap that's been thrown at Obama.

I thought his speech Tuesday night was simply brilliant. I feel hope in my heart for the first time in 15 years or so (and I was never a supporter of the Clintons, but I do think Bill was a good strategist and unifier and fit those times, especially in his earlier years).

I'm hoping for a Richardson or Sibelius ticket.

My DH thinks Hillary is holding out for Secretary of State.

I would die. And I'm praying that Obama has too much common sense to make that kind of choice. And I believe he does.

I'm just so relieved, on so many levels, that not only do we have a strong candidate for this upcoming election, but that maybe, just maybe, some of our major weaknesses as a society have been not only exposed, but may be on the way to be somewhat broken down.

Sorry for writing a novel here.

GREAT post.

Island Chica said...

I'm a little late to this tea party, but just be glad you aren't living in the US right now. Between the bad job market, high gas prices, plummeting home prices and credit recession, this is one depressing place to be. I'm hopeful that we'll see an economic bounce with the presidential election, but that's just hope. Maybe I need to listen to Obama some more.

In all seriousness, I believe that Barack Obama is one damn smart dude. He is probably the most charismatic speaker I've ever heard, and I'm an attorney so I've heard lots of BS. I find Obama to be genuine. I find that's he a "thinking wo/man's" candidate, who crafts his words very carefully and is slow to anger or knee-jerk reaction. I do worry that he's a bit inexperienced, but he can surround himself with good people, but hopefully not the Clinton's.

I've never cared for the Clinton's (I can't imagine a more conniving, scheming and disingenous woman to be the first female president - come on - in who's book is she inspiring?), but I've always voted Republican in the past. Not this time.

This turned in to a book. I guess we all have a lot to say on this subject.

nyc/caribbean ragazza said...

los angelista - I really think it's Ickes and other people in her inner circle that were pushing this. The is a battle over power within the party that is getting played out in public. I'm glad some other dems called Ickes and said get a grip. I think the Vanity Fair article on Bill just killed any chance for her to be a VP.

jen - ha. No need to apologize. Thanks for clearing that up. I do remember there was a lively discussion about this about your blog that day. I hope you are right about the fall.

island chica - I know Italy has it's own problems but the U.S. is really going through something major right now. The war has run up our debt so badly I think we'll be paying the price for a long time.

Yes I hope he will surround himself with good people who will also challenge him. Hopefully he will hear them out. Bush shut those people out as did Hillary during her campaign (several people told her to forget Iowa and focus on New Hampshire) and you see what happened.

Anonymous said...

Barack ran a great campaign. I rcv regular e-mail updates and their website allows you to not only check in on what you can do to help locally, but encourages you to initiate projects as well. This is one of many reasons why I like Barack - he and his team get it and you really feel inspired to participate, which will be key AFTER the elections. The NYT Magazine did an interesting profile on McCain and why he's still supporting the war - the 'hearts and minds' angle. You'll have to keep track of the European response to this and let us know. There was a great program on Frontline/PBS recently comparing universal health care in different countries. You should be able to watch it for free:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/

nyc/caribbean ragazza said...

Jen in NJ - thanks for the link. I will check out.
Barack ran a great campaign. He was a major underdog when this first started. His team put together a nation wide plan and really focused on caucuses. Also there was less infighting. Have you read about the battles in Hillayland? People were so busy fight for power and blaming each other they forgot to focus on the candidate. I have to read that article on McCain and Iraq.

Liane Spicer said...

Great post. This has been a fascinating primary. I started out favoring Obama and Clinton equally. Then the downward spiral started for Clinton. I watched in horror, absolute horror, at her lies, and her cynical, sick tactics. Politics is dirty, but this was obscene. Made me sick to the stomach.

I stumbled on to a blog where someone had done a sob-job in honour of Hillary. There were 500 comments (at the time), all these women moaning that poor Hillary had been sabotaged by generalized sexism, and by sexism from the Obama camp in particular. WTF? She sabotaged herself, she and her husband and their mouthpieces.

The sickest part, though, is that so many of these women are saying they would vote for McCain if Obama doesn't make her his running mate. Is this what feminism has come to? Blackmail and self-destruction? Isn't America - and the world - in enough deep crap?

As a non American, I can only hope and pray that common sense prevails. I hope that the efforts and aspirations of good people, young people, smart people like those who crowded the Obama meetings, people who are sick of the status quo, of the bullying and criminally self-serving policies of the US and some of its allies, do not come to naught.

God help us all otherwise. Sorry about the rant.

nyc/caribbean ragazza said...

wordtryst - I know emotions are still raw right now. I am going to wait and see if a few months from now these women are still going to vote for a man with a zero rating from Planned Parenthood an organization that many feminists strongly support.