Friday, April 4, 2008

Some politicians are done #2

Hillary Clinton has lost the Democratic nomination to Barack Obama.

No it's not official yet, but the media and the politicos have registered their tiredness with Hillary. The math, whether you go by delegates or states, is against her. Obama is closing in in Pennsylvania, where Hillary needed a 12-point win to really stay in it. She's now up by 6, or down by 2. Either way, her lead isn't big enough.

The Bosnia story hurt her. I do not know why someone would invent such a story. I'm not truly convinced she even knew she was lying. I have often remembered events that did not happen in such-and-such a way. What makes me wonder is how her staff let her repeat it. Did they check the facts? If so, why let her lie? If not, they should be fired for negligence.

Obama didn't implode over the Rev. Wright mess. It hurt him, but not so much as everyone seemed to think. I guess democrats and independents realized that they weren't voting for Wright. It might have hurt Obama more if anyone but Sean Hannity really believed he agreed with Wright's positions.

A few mistakes from Hillary's campaign coupled with her long run of not-winning and not-winning-by-enough seem to have convinced non-partisan observers that she's lost. You don't need to support Obama, or the democrats, or even the USA to reach this conclusion. You can believe that Obama can't win in November and reach this conclusion.

Expect more stories about Hillary's distasteful behavior to come out as the "she's a candidate, let's have some respect" aura fades from her. Cautious Hillary supporters may begin to pressure her to leave, since her insistence on staying may do damage to the democrats.

What makes me wonder, once again, is how she and Bill behave towards Obama. Do they honestly think that being mean to him, demanding delegates, being inflexible and denying reality ("there's no such thing a a pledged delegate") will win Hillary the nomination? What makes the Clinton Campaign so sure that people would even vote for such a personality, especially since McCain is making himself out to be a measured and thoughtful man?

Stranger still is the fact that Bill Clinton seems dead-set, Jimmy Carter-style, on making far-out assertions are ruining his own legacy. Carter, until a couple years ago, was a kind man and religiously-minded moderate. Now he calls Palestine an apartheid (Ask a South African and he will sharply disagree) and says a lot of mind-bogglingly non-moderate stuff. Bill Clinton seems to be going down a similar path. It's a bit distasteful to watch.

I thought people were supposed to mellow with age.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

the bill and hillary raod show is more sitcom than reality tv. as a political junky I feel like a voyuer watching and accident, I want to turn away but I can't wait to see what happens next.

political emt

Anonymous said...

I do think Hillary remembered the Bosnia incident differently than the reality of it. But you are right: Her campaign staff should have nipped that story in the bud and saved her a lot of right wing radio abuse.

One area I disagree on is that I do believe the McCain people will swift boat Obama with his Rev. Wright material in ads before the election and that many people will buy into it AGAIN.

Did you see Obama on the Today show interview this week...Ann Curry (sp?) asked questions like: Which would you choose Rolling Stones or Beatles. "Rolling Stones," he answered and more. He
is an interesting and elegant man not afraid to give a challenging, thought-provoking speech like his "race" speech.

loo, political watchdog