OBAMA WON'T WOO HILLARY SUPPORTERS?
If more Obama supporters (and the Obamas themselves) would take this seriously, there might be a chance for the Democratic Party to unite in common cause going into the GE. Problem is, they're not showing any eagerness to do it.
By winning the nomination, Obama supporters may feel that they have gained the upper hand in debates with Hillary supporters, but this is a false perception. This campaign is not over until the race is over. Political campaigns can never afford the luxury of feeling superior to anyone. Obama may have won the nomination but it will mean nothing if he does not win the General Election in November, and to do that he needs the votes and even the enthusiastic support of Hillary and her supporters. Clinton's supporters cannot be insulted, bullied, or guilted into enthusiastic support in the fall. Like any other key voting bloc, Obama and his supporters can only gain these votes by understanding Clinton's supporters' real concerns, making a connection with them and making a compelling case for their support.
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First, stop labeling Clinton and her supporters as the politics of the past.
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Second, Democrats need to reclaim the luster of the Clinton years.
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Third, embrace feminism as one of the indispensable pillars of the Democratic coalition.
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In victory or defeat, Clinton and her supporters deserve to be heard regarding their views about the sexist climate of this campaign. The sexism that just as much as racism persists in our culture, and consciously or unconsciously in our political campaigns must be "denounced and rejected." The Chinese proverb, "women hold up half the sky" does not even fully describe the Democratic Party where numerically, women account for substantially more than half of the votes we will need to win in November and this core group of Democrats deserves real respect from the Democratic Party and its new presidential nominee.
Problem is, few Obamatrons show any willingness to go there. And they need to, fast and furiously. Those Democrats-for-life among us who have been fixtures in local party politics, the volunteers who stuff and stamp envelopes and man voting booths, have been told in no uncertain terms that the party no longer needs us, that we're witchy old broads and relics of "old politics." So it's going to take a lot to win us over. And this kind of approach won't get it done:
Obama is not, one of his senior advisers assured me Tuesday night, going to spend a lot of time in the next few months wooing Clinton supporters whose feelings may be hurting.
“I think there are always immediate feelings of disappointment and anger,” Anita Dunn said. “But in the months ahead, he must appeal not just to the constituency groups who favored her in the primaries, but those he wants in the general election, and that includes independents and Republicans.”
So he wants independents and Republicans and not the Democratic constituency groups he lost, eh? Careful what you wish for. That kind of attitude could convert a lot of Dems into (I)s and (R)s. Would that then make us more palatable to The Precious?
Labels: Barack Obama, Clinton supporters, general election, Hillary Clinton
posted by Motherlode at 12:54 PM
5 Comments:
I have supported Obama for president since 2004 and have been actively following the campaign, on the blogs and elsewhere.
One of the most sinister aspects of the democratic primary blogs has been the name-calling that goes on in the comments and some of the posts ("Shrillary," "The Chosen One," etc.)
I wholeheartedly agree with your post, that a lot of attention should be paid to what Clinton voters see in her. And while Obama voters have an obligation to be respectful of Hillary, Hillary's supporters should respect Obama as well.
Do you agree?
Agree? Speaking for me only, NO! Speaking for me only, an older women with no comprehensive coverage and whose car has been "keyed" NINE times,for the crime of having a "Hillary" sticker, NO! Speaking for me only, whose garage door was spray painted with the words "HILLARY HAG", NO!Speaking for me only, who was actually AT the 1968 convention and was told yesterday, by a 21 year old male "to get out of HIS party", NO! Senator Clinton ran in this primary ham-strung, by the media's vile, sexist, all things Clinton, hatred, the media's blatant Obama bias and unwarrented racist smears and more, but damn that women soldiered on and from the DNC and Obama - Silence! I cannot, nor do I, presume to speak for the other 18 million who voted for her, but I think that it's now out of Hillary's orbit - it's about us! Mrs Clinton will call for us to support Obama and come together, just like the soldier she is, but speaking for me only, this PUMA shirt wearing woman will sit back and watch Obama destroy himself, and destroy himself he will - from me? Silence!
Why does Obama's campaign and news outlets assume that Hillary's supporters are all women? Do they think women are the only ones who won't vote for Obama.
I wish to inform you I know just as many men who are staunch supporters of hers who are absolutely livid that the DNC has chosen to anoint a weak, unqualified and dissembling candidate over Hillary. They will not vote for him under any circumstances.
And re Cardoza's post:
As for respecting Obama, I did not have any disrespect for him at the beginning of the campaign, but due to his divisiveness, race baiting and dragging Hillary and her reputation, policies and record through the mud, coupled with all his lies to the American people and his nefarious associations, I have no respect left for him.
He and his surrogates have been vile to anyone not voting for him -- insulting and mischaracterizing us at every turn. Why, then, is he worthy of any respect?
I have no intention of voting for this man.
They slime the most qualified public servant ever to run for the presidency in my lifetime and now they want us to accept the most unqualified, underserving man with open arms, despite a betrayal of 18million of its members? Dream on.
Sorry, Motherlode, but this is how I feel:
"No self-respecting woman should wish or support any party that ignores her." Susan B. Anthony
It was true then and it's infinitely more true now because Hillary is the most qualified candidate and one that our country sorely needs during this most pivotal moment in our country's history. She won the popular vote, she has the most electoral votes and she won all of the swing states any democrat must win in order to win the White House. Yet, the DNC "anoints" the guy who won in caucuses in red states?
I also choose not to vote for a man who stood silently by and allowed his surrogates and the MSM to trash this extraordinary woman, while claiming to be a man who believed in justice.
I still believe in my principles and I will never enable nor reward any abuse of any woman, much less the egregious abuse, heaped upon Hillary for the last 5 months by a party that has, IMO, gone mad with all those male losers for the presidency determined to stop Hillary by any means necessary.
Let us also not forget that it was Donna Brazile who stated publicly that the DNC did not want or need the women, the blue collar workers, the Hispanics, Asians and the poor any longer. They had created a "new democratic coalition" made up of AA's, latte liberals and college students.
They made their bed, now they can damn well lie in it and for the first time in this primary, be accountable for their dispicable, unforgiveable actions.
Kathleen Wynne
Hell No! Obama has gotten way more respect than he deserves!
The media has had a field day promoting B.O. However the opposite has been true where Hillary is concerned. The media acts like absolutely anything goes!
No insult is too crass, no lampoon too denigrating. If this kind of bile were directed at any other minority it would be prosecuted as unprotected hate speech! My response to hearing this garbage as well as many other women is PRIMAL INDIGNATION that goes way beyond hurt feelings. After 8 years of a despicable despot who managed to erase decades of hard won social progress for women, in a matter of less than a year in office, these unmitigated attacks of misogyny by the media have fueled a revolt that has been long overdue and Hillary's candacy has brought into bitter focus. What is worse is this will be the third
election in a row that the will of the majority of voters will not be represented by the candidates. If anybody in the press including Air America, had taken the time to actually act like reporters and take the risks at home that many were willing to take abroad Al Franken would not have had to waste his time trying to figure out how Bush supposedly won the election in 2004 in his book "The Truth". The proof is irrefutable that the GOP fixed both elections
which should have gone to their democratic rivals. Now thanks to these people who call themselves journalists there is a liklihood that we could end up with another woman hating, right wing, war mongering Rebublican for four more years. I will write in Hillary's name in protest if she is not on the ballot. I will never vote for either of the men who are running after seeing how these two who think they are worthy of our country's highest office are willing to stoop to the very lowest common denominator. Carl Rove couldn't have done a better or more blatant job. For me this race has been tainted since the first sexist comment was aired and no one said shit about it. In fact I could not turn on the news if there was talk of the primarys.
After the polls closed in my state California, which has one of the largest voting blocs in the west some guy at CNN couldn't wait to get at Hillary. Even though she had just won two major primaries he was talking about her being devisive and asking if she shouldn't quit for the sake of the Democratic party. Yea sure be a good little girl hubby's back and expects you
to stay in the house and iron shirts while he takes away your job and gets payed twice as much for doing it half as effectively.
That may have worked in the 1950s
but it's not going to work any more! Cultural enlightenment and
social justice for women which has been in a holding pattern for far too long is getting ready to land.
Today more than 50 women have been
elected to their country's highest office, yet for every woman that believes that our constitution is not "just a piece of paper" the media's refusal to give Hillary fair and equal time, there is undeniable confirmation that bender bias, and misogyny fueled by special interest has undermined
our democracy and the fourth estate has been a willing co-conspirator.
What is the more heartbreaking is that even the most liberal champions of humanity and populisim
stop short of "gender" when fairness demands, the same insight and respect afforded every other
class given equal protection by virtue of historic discrimination.
This oversight is a consistent theme in cultures and religions accross the world. In America you fair minded men and so called journalists know who you are.The
psychopathic bile that has been spewed at Hillary from all sides has shown that the press in this country and leaders in both party's are finding misogyny the last socially acceptable bigotry. This while those "fair minded" men hypocritically go about the business of invading other countries because, for one, "they don't know how to treat their own women." It may be acceptable to you but it is absolutely not acceptable to all of us who voted for Hillary. Therefore I will not be allowing any of the bastards including those I thought were fair minded into my living room via my television or magazine subscriptions again. At least I won't be surrounded by treachery in my own home. Never in our history has our Democracy been so consistently or so prolongedly undermined through GOP related voter fraud and now underhanded politics so dirty that
there has never been a sharper divide than what the B.O. and McCain camp and the press caused with their blatant bigotry,
and have been blaming on Hillary from day one. After all they actually want us to believe, like the rapist,blames his victim for being too provocative, that they can't help themselves for being sexist bigots. It's unbeleivable how they are saying "it was her fault,
for what she supposedly has done when the real reason is they are thinking "politics is a dirty business and should be left to the men." Yea especially when they reserve a special hell on earth for any woman with the courage and credentials to try. After all look at the great job the men have been doing with our country so far!. Hillary Clinton has had to deal with this pervasive and insidious ugliness
simply because she, a female, won fair and square. Yet she has overcome what "no one" should have to endure with dignity, compassion, intelligence and hard work. Therfore, in support of her I am completely unappologetic!
However the very surviaval of our democracy is at stake for without fair elections Democracy only exist in a vacume. And worse because of a press either intimidated by the facist tactics of the present admministration or corrupted by money, self interest, or the heady power of hearing their own stupid, meanspirited opinions broadcast across the country they've long ceased to be effective watchdogs for a free people. Furthermore they have become worse than irrelevant because they have failed to stop an administration from stealing two elections and are now in the process of helping a third do the same! They need to go home and look up in the dictionary the mening of the word word Reporting then do just that without bias or opinion or fear of the truth. Debra Hood
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