I have a problem with Hillary
I have a problem with Hillary.
That’s sure to increase my SEO, but that’s not the point of the sentence. The point of the sentence is to say that I have a problem with Hilary Clinton. And her fanatical supporters.
I don’t blame Hillary for strife in the Democratic Party. I won’t blame Hillary if the Obama loses to McCain in the general election, or if there isn’t a Democratic majority in the House/Senate. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t have a problem with Hillary.
My problem with Hillary is that she took the primary process too far. Yes, she has every right to fight for every vote that she can possibly get. But it became obvious to just about everyone in the country that she could not win the required number of delegates to secure the nomination. And she didn’t bow out peacefully at that point. She waited until after all the primaries were over and then quickly threw in the proverbial towel. If nothing else, she and her handlers knew that Puerto Rico, South Dakota, and Montana would not give her enough pledged delegates, nor would a victory in those states likely be enough to sway uncommitted super-delegates to lay their allegience at her feet.
When should she have dropped out? I don’t have a proper answer for that because this has been a most unique primary season. Just when everyone thought Hillary would be knocked out of the way by the Obama machine [New Hampshire, Texas, etc.], she managed to fight back and win key victories that kept her alive. She was a viable candidate for a long time. But there was a point, and I wish I could name it specifically, where she stopped being a viable candidate and started being that visiting family member that;s over stayed their welcome.
But what annoys me most are the Hillary Democrats who say they’re going to vote for McCain instead of Obama. That’s just being a sore loser. I know there were Obama Democrats who said they would do the same thing if Hillary got the nod, and i would use the same words to describe them. I will, though, blame Hillary Democrats who vote for McCain if Obama doesn’t win the general election; I do place some of the blame on them for the strife in the Democratic Party.
Its not that I can’t understand where they are coming from; I can. I can understand that their candidate didn’t get the nomination, I really can. Jesse Jackson wasn’t the Democratic candidate in 1988; neither was Jerry Brown in 1992. Both were candidates I supported and wanted to represent the Democratic ticket. Did I rally against Dukakis and Clinton simply because they captured more people’s hearts, votes, and delegates? Nope.1
I can understand the frustration of giving their all [and their money] to a candidate that they believe in, and then not being able to follow that person through to the general election. I can feel the pain of all the Clinton-ites who cry foul at the flawed Democratic delegate system, and the screwed up nature of the Florida and Michigan primaries. But rules are rules, and its completely unfair to ask that the rules be bent for you and only you because if they’re bent then you’ll win. I tried that many times when I was a kid, and my dad explained to me in no uncertain terms that we all have to play on an level playing field and I shouldn’t be given preferential treatment because my brother was older. Or in this case, because her husband was President, she’s the first viable major party female candidate, and she was the presumptive nominee before the nomination process actually began and Americans in states throughout the land actually had to vote instead of answering pollsters questions.
I can agree wholeheartedly with those who say that it was the Republican controlled legislatures in Michigan and Florida who moved their primaries up to dates not allowed by DNC rules. It was Republican controlled legislatures that did that. But it was also state party leaders who didn’t agree to any proposed solutions, and it was Hillary Clinton who choose to campaign in those states violating DNC rules and agreements made between all the Democratic hopefuls. So I have little sympathy or compassion for Hillary when her campaign says that the results of Florida and Michigan should stand as they are. Obama didn’t campaign in either of those states and his name wasn’t even on the ballot in Florida. How can that be a fair election? He followed the DNC rules and the agreements he entered in to; she did not.
But by claiming to be a Democrat and actively campaigning against the Democratic nominee and for the Republican nominee simply because your candidate didn’t get the nomination… I just don’t have words for that. Its childish, its immature, and its not in the best interests of the country, the Democratic Party, or the American political landscape. If they rally believed in what Hillary laid out in her stump speeches, they’d work with the Obama campaign and the DNC to see if there can be some parity and compromise between the two campaigns. I don’t think the gut shot reaction should be to abandon their party’s candidate and side with their political opposite. I find it hard to believe that those particular Hillary Democrats have more idealistically in common with John McCain and the Republican platform than they do with Barack Obama.
