More on Clinton at the Convention
Today’s Maureen Dowd op-ed is about the Clintons and Obama’s convention later this month. As I read it, I got more and more outraged at both Hillary’s and Bill’s drama. They are — quite successfully — making the convention all about them.
While Obama was spending three hours watching “The Dark Knight” five time zones away, and going to a fund-raiser featuring “Aloha attire” and Hawaiian pupus, Hillary was busy planning her convention.
You can almost hear her mind whirring: She’s amazed at how easy it was to snatch Denver away from the Obama saps. Like taking candy from a baby, except Beanpole Guy doesn’t eat candy. In just a couple of weeks, Bill and Hill were able to drag No Drama Obama into a swamp of Clinton drama.
Now they’ve made Barry’s convention all about them — their dissatisfaction and revisionism and barely disguised desire to see him fail. Whatever insincere words of support the Clintons muster, their primal scream gets louder: He can’t win! He can’t close the deal! We told you so!
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She said she thought it would be good for party unity if her gals felt ‘that their voices are heard.” But that’s disingenuous. Hillary was the one who raised the roll-call idea at the end of May with Democrats, who were urging her to face the math. She said she wanted it for Chelsea, oblivious to how such a vote would dim Obama’s star turn. Ever since she stepped aside in June, she’s been telling people privately that there might have to be “a catharsis” at the convention, signaling she wants a Clinton crescendo.
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The Clintons know that a lot of Democrats are muttering that their solipsistic behavior is “disgusting.” But they’re too filled with delicious schadenfreude at the wave of buyer’s remorse that has swept the Democratic Party; many Democrats are questioning whether Obama is fighting back hard enough against McCain, and many are wondering, given his inability to open up a lead in a country fed up with Republicans, if race will be an insurmountable factor.
Some Democrats wish that Obama had told the Clintons to “get in the box” or get lost if they can’t show more loyalty, rather than giving them back-to-back, prime-time speaking gigs at the convention on Tuesday and Wednesday. Al Gore clipped their wings in 2000, triggering their wrath by squeezing both the president and New York Senate candidate into speaking slots the first night and then ushering them out of L.A.
Well, I say to the Clintons: Get Lost. You’ve shown that you can’t show any loyalty to the party’s nominee. If you can’t support him fully, just go away and lick your wounds in private. It is not all about you, Bill and Hillary. Also, for the record, there isn’t any buyer’s remorse here.
It’s enough to make you want to scream. Their behavior is tantamount to planning a coup. Previously I had been conciliatory toward Hillary Clinton and her supporters — the PUMAs. No longer. Obama has made all the right noises about party unity and trying to reach out to disaffected Hillary supporters. I submit that he doesn’t need them. He can create a new coalition. Let the PUMAs vote for McCain (against their interests, I want to point out). Obama will win without them. And when they clamor for positions in his Cabinet and other political appointments, they should be told, “Sorry. No vacancies. Don’t call us, we’ll call you.”
An aside: Everyone is talking about how Obama is stuck in the high 40 percent range in the polls and trying to use that as an example of how he can’t close the deal. No one is talking about how McCain is stuck in the low 40 percent range. Which numbers would you rather have? Obama’s? I thought so.
I, too, can no longer be kind to the Clintons. And I know in the past you probably supported them as much as I did. Dirty politics and resentful to boot.
I do think Obama was smart to pull Bill into the convention. Now Bill’s going to have to deliver. Bigtime.
But the convention’s Obama’s. He’ll have the great stadium speech.
As far as the PUMAs. Who cares about them? Let them go their own way… the low road.
I was a little perturbed when I read Dowd’s piece. Clinton better deliver at the convention. Both of them.
Talk about solipsistic thinking…
The nerve of the Clintons and their supporters for thinking that
The last Democratic President of the United States…Bill Clinton….and,
The strongest contender Obama had, who by the way, was just as popular among the PEOPLE than Obama was, won more primaries, and is currently at a higher approval rate in the latest polls…Hilary Clinton..
IN light of a man who has not yet SECURED the nomination and all of his supporters fed-up because anyone else who has MILLIONS of Americans supporting them still want to hear from them b/c this is a DEMOCRATIC party, not OBAMAS party, the leader who has already subtley called himself the leader of not just the United States, but the world…Arrogant, pompous Obama…
And the word solipsistic is thrown around?
http://www.mulloverthis.wordpress.com
The PUMAs scare me. They are the kind of people who cut off their nose, and shoot themselves in the feet in order to spit somebody else. Go ahead and vote for Mccain. Then see how much better you feel 4 years later.
I’ve been blaming the HillBots (PUMA’s) but it really is about the Clinton’s. She says the right things – publicly. But what you’ve posted here really makes one take pause.
Bruce, you’re right. That resentfulness is what is amazing to me. I never would have thought that from him … or her.
I had no issues with her staying in the race through the end although her tactics were questionable. But once it was over the Clinton’s should have done the right thing.
People keep saying that the Clintons ‘are doing the right things’. I disagree – they are not.
Hillary made ONE speech in Nevada last week the day Obama left for vacation – so? The least of democrats would do that.
What would have been impressive is her making one speech each day on behalf of Obama. That’s how I see it.
As for them taking over Obama’s convention – I think not. There are maybe 20 people speaking at the convention – the Clintons are just 2 of the speakers.
No matter how conniving and manipulative the Clintons are, they are politically astute. They will not commit political suicide. They WILL look genuinely enthusiastic and animated for Obama at the convention – even Bill. If not, they will be removed by an angry BOOING crowd. Give Obama supporters some credit, we WILL NOT stand idly by at the convention and let Obama be insulted – NO WAY! The Clintons would feel the WRATH of Obama supporters. Believe that!!!
Obama 08!
I’m feeling a little wrathful right now, in fact.
You know, I’m old. So old that I remember what happened between Teddy and Jimmy in 1980. We didn’t have blogs back then, but most people said the same things about Kennedy then that they are saying about Clinton now. He’s smart, he’ll do the right thing, et cetera ad nausea.
I never want to go through what happened in 1980 again, but right now, I’m scared…
A friend was telling me that he knows some women that voted for Clinton in the primaries who said that they won’t vote for Obama and they said they won’t vote for McCain. It’s sad for these women. They feel that they lost the only opportunity to have a woman in their generation to become president of the United States and so they will instead be angry at Obama. Makes no sense. I say, get over it and move on.