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Barack Obama  |
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Rob Kailey is a working schmuck with no ties or affiliations to any governmental or political organizations, save those of sympathy.
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Fri May 30, 2008 at 12:37:34 PM MST
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Great article on the HuffPo about WomenCount, a PAC dedicated to "supporting progressive ideas for women," a group that's going to demonstrate in favor of counting all of the Michigan and Florida delegates, outside the hotel where the DNC committee will be deciding those state's fate:
"You're not going to write that we're a bunch of hysterical women trying to create havoc, are you?"
The tone is part weary, part sarcastic, and a little bit plaintive. The words themselves -- spoken by one organizer of this weekend's planned demonstration outside the hotel where the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee is set to (maybe) decide the fate of Michigan and Florida's much-disputed delegates -- reflect the widespread sense of persecution that is currently felt among some prominent Democratic activists and fundraisers.
Largely female and supportive of Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, these political actors look upon a contest they view as essentially tied and are dumbfounded by the vitriol being directed not only Clinton's way, but at their own efforts to "count every vote" in all the Democratic primaries.
It's fair to say that these women believe they're doing the right thing. They don't believe they're gaming the system to hand Hillary Clinton the nomination - although that's what it looks like to the rest of us. (In fact, my opinion is that that's exactly what it would be: party bigwigs handing the nomination to the candidate that lost the election.)
The point here is that these Clinton supporters - and the ones that we know - are sincere in their beliefs. They're not shallow, superficial, inauthentic, devious, ruthless, hysterical, or faux anything. They have an argument they believe to have merit. |
| Jay Stevens :: Idle Clinton-related thoughts |
| Is it possible that, if the DNC rules committee denies FL and MI their delegates, the party will lose the Clinton supporters? I do know that, If the DNC does give MI and FL to Clinton, all h*ll will break loose from Obama ranks. I guarantee it. That's why we should expect a compromise, seating half the delegates, which will still mean an Obama nomination. If Clinton fights that, it's likely she'll bleed support.
Whatever. Look for an Obama victory here in Montana to kick off the rush of superdelegates to Obama and nail down the nomination for the Illinois Senator.
In related news, Dahlia Lithwick takes issue with the meme that, if Clinton loses this election, it'll mean another generation at least before we'll have another chance at a woman president:
A suggestion: Women will put themselves through this because most of us will have been more inspired by the Clinton run than scared off by it. They'll put themselves through it because-for the first time in history-they'll know what it looks like when a woman almost scores the presidency, and it looks amazing. And some of them will also put themselves through it because having been well and truly sickened by the "iron my shirts" moments, they'll do what women did in 1992 after watching Anita Hill endure outrageous nuts-and-sluts treatment at the hands of an all-male Senate judiciary committee. They'll swarm government.
If Hillary Clinton has taught the women of America anything this year, it's never to say never. Which is why it would be lamentable if the only lesson we take from her candidacy were that nothing like it will ever happen again.
That's all fine and good, but Lithwick's argument ignores the irrational power of DC establishment "conventional wisdom."
Remember, after Jesse Jackson's loss in the 1988 Democratic primary, conventional wisdom said you couldn't win with an African American candidate. It took 20 years before we saw another viable African-American politician even enter the fray.
It's the Clinton campaign, after all, that's banging the conventional wisdom drum of "eggheads and African Americans," because the DC establishment says you can't win without a base of "hard working Americans." Conventional wisdom doesn't fret about the complexities of age and geography that mars the meme; it goes along and compares Obama to George McGovern, a failed presidential run that happened over 30 years ago.
Conventional wisdom directs the flow of funding and the support of local, state, and national party bosses. Yes, sure, it's completely ridiculous to believe that Clinton lost this race because she's a woman - ignoring the context of her political career - but the DC establishment is slave to many a ridiculous notion.
That's not to say that Clinton should win because of this. Instead, after 2008, we should actively fight the notion that a woman can't win a national election. We should also be encouraging more women to run for office. And more women in leadership positions. And more women to blog... |
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