All,
The following messages were sent by me earlier today to friends and colleagues who asked me my take on the latest political debacle involving Billary, Inc. and the Obama campaign for the Presidency. If Obama doesn't want to be eternally held hostage by the divisive and destructive antics of the ruthless Billary, Inc. political machine he had better stand up to her NOW, reject her idiotic demands, assert his complete independence from her brazen bullshit, and then get on with the far more important task of winning the presidential fight against John McCain. Please read the letters and articles below.
Kofi
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/05/us/politics/04cnd-campaign.html?_r=1&nl=pol&oref=slogin&emc=pola1&pagewanted=all
Check out this article! Read the dirty details for yourselves. The vicious, ruthless, and virulently racist triangulation tactics of the Billary, Inc. machine--the dirtiest political mob in this country outside of the notorious Karl Rove and the Republican Party Dirty Tricks Division--is holding Obama and the entire Democratic Party HOSTAGE to their madness. If this madness is not completely stopped by Obama and especially the Democratic Party leadership of the DNC (e.g. Dean, Pelosi, Reid, etc.) not only will Obama lose in November but the Democratic Party will be destroyed (I know, I know some of you might think that would be a good thing but I assure you that none of us will have the dubious luxury of watching it disintegrate if the Republicans get back in office for a third term--and with a currently completely inept and clueless American Left we'll all be too busy DROWNING)...Don't believe me?--WATCH AND SEE...
Kofi
June 5, 2008
Top Democrats Press for Unity After Obama Secures Victory
By MICHAEL LUO
New York Times
With Senator Barack Obama crossing the threshold of delegates needed to win the Democratic presidential nomination, party leaders began to move on Wednesday to bring the lengthy primary battle to a close and unite the party, even as questions swirled about Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s next move.
In the morning, a group of top Democratic leaders asked all of the party’s uncommitted superdelegates, the officials and party leaders who get automatic convention seats, to make their preferences known by Friday.
While the group of leaders — including the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Howard Dean; the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi; the Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid; and Gov. Joe Manchin of West Virginia — did not formally endorse Mr. Obama or urge Mrs. Clinton to exit the race, they said in a joint statement: “Democrats must now turn our full attention to the general election.” They added that the party needed to “stand united and begin our march toward reversing the eight years of failed Bush/McCain policies that have weakened our country.”
Other party leaders began to coalesce behind Mr. Obama, including Representative Rahm Emanuel, of Illinois, a former aide in the Clinton White House but also a close friend of Mr. Obama.
“Look, I’ve known him for years, and I said that as the election came to an end, I would make my endorsement, come from underneath the desk — and I did that,” Mr. Emanuel said. “The fact is, he is the nominee.”
But Mrs. Clinton’s top aides continued to sidestep questions on Wednesday morning about when she would suspend her campaign, even as some of her supporters began ratcheting up pressure on Mr. Obama to take her on as his running mate.
Robert L. Johnson, a prominent Clinton backer and the founder of Black Entertainment Television, said Wednesday on the CNN program “American Morning” that he planned to enlist members of the Congressional Black Caucus to push Mr. Obama to accept Mrs. Clinton as his vice presidential nominee. He said Mrs. Clinton had not directed his efforts, but was aware of them.
Mr. Johnson argued that an Obama-Clinton ticket would have the best chance of winning in the general election and would help unify the Democratic Party.
Lanny Davis, who was an aide in the Clinton White House, said he was circulating a petition asking Mr. Obama to pick Mrs. Clinton as his running mate. Mr. Davis said he was acting on his own.
On a conference call with members of the New York Congressional delegation on Tuesday, Mrs. Clinton was asked whether she would be open to joining a ticket headed by Mr. Obama. She replied, according to some who were on the call, that if he offered the vice presidential nod, she would accept, and would do whatever she could to help Democrats win the White House.
Terry McAuliffe, the Clinton campaign chairman, however, insisted Wednesday morning on CNN that there had been “absolutely zero discussions” about whether she would accept a vice presidential nomination. Mr. McAuliffe said that Mrs. Clinton, whose speech on Tuesday night in New York was more defiant than conciliatory, wanted to talk things over with her supporters on Wednesday.
“There is plenty of time,” Mr. McAuliffe said, continuing to argue that Mrs. Clinton had won the most popular votes, a notion disputed by the Obama campaign.
Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton spoke by telephone just after midnight Wednesday. He congratulated her and renewed his offer to “sit down when it makes sense for you,” according to a spokesman for Mr. Obama, Robert Gibbs. Mrs. Clinton responded positively, Mr. Gibbs said, but he added there were no immediate plans to meet on Wednesday.
The focus now is on the delicate dance between Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton, a relationship that has been rife with complex tensions throughout the primary battle, which was riven by accusations of racism and sexism.
Both candidates addressed the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the most prominent pro-Israel lobbying group in Washington, on Wednesday morning. Mr. Obama took the stage first, and immediately offered warm words for Mrs. Clinton, saying, “She has made history alongside me over the last sixteen months.”
A short while later, Mrs. Clinton came to the podium and plunged straight into her speech, ignoring speculation about her political intentions. She digressed, however, to offer this assurance to her audience: “I know Senator Obama will be a good friend to Israel.”
Mr. Obama has struggled to combat the wariness about him that has been harbored by some Jewish voters, a wariness evidently fueled by e-mail messages spreading false rumors about his background and positions. In his speech, he promised to be uncompromising in his defense of Israel’s security. He also revived the contentious issue of how much to engage foreign adversaries, especially Iran, which promises to be a central dispute in his general election battle with Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee.
“Contrary to the claims of some, I have no interest in sitting down with our adversaries just for the sake of talking,” Mr. Obama said. “But as President of the United States, I would be willing to lead tough and principled diplomacy with the appropriate Iranian leader at a time and place of my choosing — if, and only if, it can advance the interests of the United States.”
Mr. McCain has attacked Mr. Obama for his response at a debate last year, in which he said he would be willing to sit down with the leaders of some America’s most ardent foes, including Iran, “without preconditions.”
But Mr. Obama said that a change in course was needed in the country’s diplomatic approach, and that Mr. McCain “refuses to understand or acknowledge the failure of the policy he would continue.”
For her part, Mrs. Clinton seemed to take pains to avoid bringing up issues where she and Mr. Obama have differed, including the question of when to meet with certain adversaries; during the primary campaign she, too, criticized Mr. Obama’s stance.
It was a last-minute rush of commitments by Democratic superdelegates, as well as the results from the final two primaries in Montana and South Dakota on Tuesday, that raised Mr. Obama’s total above the 2,118-delegate threshold needed to secure the nomination at the party’s convention in August. The victory for Mr. Obama, the son of a black Kenyan father and a white Kansan mother, broke racial barriers and represented a remarkable rise for a man who just four years ago was serving in the Illinois State Senate.
But to the end, the primaries reflected the party’s continuing divisions, as Mrs. Clinton won the South Dakota contest while Mr. Obama won in Montana.
The competition between Mr. McCain and Mr. Obama has been sharpening for weeks, but the close of the Democratic primary race formally raised the curtain on a five-month general election contest.
At a town-hall-style meeting in Baton Rouge on Wednesday, Mr. McCain announced that he had invited Mr. Obama to join him in a series of 10 such meetings between now and the Democratic convention in late August.
“I think Americans are tired about the ways presidential campaigns have been run in the past — all the gimmicks, the phony sound bits and photo-ops,” Mr. McCain said. “Campaigns always seemed to be more about the candidates’ interest than the public.”
Mr. McCain even proposed a date for the first event: June 12 in New York City.
Mr. Obama had earlier indicated that he might be open to such a proposal, though it is clearly to the McCain campaign’s advantage to push the concept. Mr. McCain will almost certainly be widely outspent by Mr. Obama, whose fund-raising has far outstripped his opponent’s, and joint appearances where the candidates would get equal attention could help offset the disparity.
Mr. McCain even joked about the financial aspect, suggesting that the candidates share the same airplane to the forums: “Given our expenses,” he said, “I know my campaign would agree to it.”
David Plouffe, the Obama campaign manager, later issued a statement saying the town-hall proposal was “appealing, and one that would allow a great conversation to take place about the need to change the direction of this country.”
But he said that his side would recommend a “less structured and lengthier” format, “one that more closely resembles the historic debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas.”
Nevertheless, Mr. Plouffe said he looked forward to continuing the discussion over the matter with the McCain campaign.
Jeff Zeleny contributed reporting.
N,
Regardless of the present or future superdelegate tally and despite the fact that Barack is the DP nominee the Clintons are creating a major problem for Obama that he and the Democratic Party leadership in general is going to have to address and eliminate. The ruthless and insulting manuevering that Billary, Inc. is currently involved in with the truly slimy likes of Lanny Davis and that opportunist cretin from BET Robert Johnson as well as others in and out of her personal camp is seriously undermining and even sabotaging Obama's campaign for the Presidency. The mere fact that she's trying to hold him and the rest of the Party hostage to the absurd and ruinous idea of a Vice Presidential spot on the ticket is a clear signal that there is no real Party unity at this point even though a nominee has already been chosen!
This is not only unprecedented in modern Democratic Party history (the closest historical comparison I could make is the 1980 debacle incolving Jimmy Carter vs, Edward Kennedy at the DP convention that year but even that wasn't as poisonous and destructive as what the Clintons are trying to pull). Something needs to be done NOW to stop this express train of division because if not and the Clintons get the VP spot all is lost politically against McCain and I for one would never support such a move under any circumstances!
Please respond when you get a chance...
Kofi
http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2008/05/heilemann_what_hillary_wants_a.html
All,
I think the following analysis by John Heilemann from May 30 is right on target and provides the clearest and most reliable insight into precisely why and how Billary is going to try to undermine and sabotage Obama--and if she fails at that--she will simply run again for the Presidency at her earliest opportunity. Either way she's using her present support in the Democratic Party and in the primary elections as a bullying wedge to try to marginalize, dismiss, and restrict Obama's titular role as present (and future) leader of the Democratic Party. Billary, Inc. are sheer Machiavellians when it comes to politics which means that their first, last, and final "loyalties" are ALWAYS to themselves no matter what and that ALL OTHERS--supporters, opponents, friends, acolytes, and enemies alike are perceived and treated as nothing but mere cannon fodder for their self serving mercenary ventures into Politics. Billary, Inc. only runs to win and they don't give a damn as Heilemann brilliantly points out in this article who or what they have to hurt or destroy in order to achieve their goal--which in their manipulative and pathologically meglomaniacal minds always means that they are right and everyone else who disagrees with them are wrong PERIOD/ALL THE TIME/because they say so, etc.
That this fundamental attitude and value system makes them routinely dangerous and destructive goes without saying...
They are and will continue to be Obama's political enemy simply because he stands in the way of what they want, demand, and insist that they are entitled to and it will be to Barack's ultimate political peril and demise if he allows Billary, Inc. to dictate his political direction in any way...
Kofi
Heilemann: What Hillary Wants, and Why She’s Jesse Jackson ’88
May 30, 2008
There’s been a lot of talk over the past few months about whether the 2008 presidential campaign just might turn out to be 1988 all over again. The comparison has been driven by the fact that Republicans plainly intend to try to cast Barack Obama as a black Mike Dukakis — as too liberal, too inexperienced, too weak, and, crucially, insufficiently patriotic to occupy the White House. But a different analogy occurred to me the other day, one perhaps less comprehensively apt but so delightfully ironic that it would be a crime not to point it out. As anyone politically sentient in 1988 will vividly recall, the endgame of the Democratic primaries that year revolved around a challenger seen by his fans as a historic figure and his foes as a potential party-wrecker, and what concessions he might insist upon in order to fade quietly into the background. The inescapable question of the hour was, “What does Jesse Jackson want?”
Hillary Clinton, of course, is no Jesse Jackson (but neither, pace Bill Clinton’s comments on the eve of the South Carolina primary, is Obama). But the question posed by her behavior in the home stretch of this year’s nominating contest is precisely the same: “What does Hillary want?”
Whenever this query is put to me — which only takes place, oh, on the order of 100 times a day — my response is simple: She wants to be president. Duh. And if it ain’t gonna happen this year, then her central objective is to make it as likely as possible in 2012. As I’ve written many times, Hillary believes with every fiber of her being that Obama is going to lose this year. (And so does her husband.) So her aim is to put herself in the best position possible to stand up on November 5 and say, if perhaps a tad more subtly than this, “I told you so.”
From these core facts — and based on everything my reporting these past few months tells me, facts is what they are — flow plausible answers to a raft of more granular questions about Clinton’s motives and what she plans to do in the days ahead. For the purposes of brevity, let’s stick to the top five.
1. Is she going to quit sometime soon or fight on to the convention?
The former. Indeed, my guess is that she might very well be out of the race by the end of next week. For Hillary to be the Democratic nominee in 2012, she must limit the extent to which she’s seen as having caused Obama’s (in her mind, inevitable) loss this fall. And setting off on a scorched-earth march to Denver runs in diametric opposition to that goal. True, she keeps saying that she’s going all the way; true, she continues to press for the seating in full of the Florida and Michigan delegations. But Clinton has other things she might want from Obama, from a prominent speaking slot in Denver to help paying off her campaign debt. The more delegates she has in the end, the stronger her bargaining position.
2. Does she want to be offered the VP slot?
No, she does not. If it’s offered, she has to take it, because turning it down would be a signal to her supporters that she doesn’t support Obama (see above). And if she’s on the ticket and Obama goes down (again, as she’s convinced he will), she is then complicit in the loss, and her prospects in 2012 are damaged. Does Hillary want be the next John Edwards? The question answers itself.
3. So what’s with all the leaks that Bill wants her on the ticket?
He probably does. The idea of Hillary as veep must sound like a sweet deal to him: It would be history-making, it would cement the Clintons’ status as one of America’s great political dynasties, and in the second-fiddle job his wife would pose no danger of overshadowing him. But contrary to the notion that the Clintons are always in perfect sync on matters political — that they scheme together, choose a path to follow, then go charging down it together — there are many cases where their thinking diverges. And this is one of them.
4. Will she work hard for Obama or undermine him in the fall?
Implicit in all this analysis is that Hillary Clinton is a cold-eyed rationalist, and despite the occasional shard of evidence to the contrary, this is true. She’s aware that even as she’s become a much larger figure in the course of this race in one segment of the party, her reputation has taken a beating in another. She thinks it’s unfair, but she knows it’s the reality, and also that whether Obama wins or loses, it’s difficult to imagine a promising future for herself without repairing her standing among those who regard her poorly. I suspect there won’t be many louder Obama cheerleaders this autumn — or more insincere ones.
5. If Obama wins, what will she do next?
One rumor going around New York is that she’ll run for governor — an eventuality only marginally more likely than my pursuing that office. HRC cares not a whit about state government. She loves Washington, thinks of it as home, and of Albany as hell (smart gal!). Consider further that becoming governor would require taking on the incumbent, David Paterson, who has indicated no intention to be a temporary fill-in. Hillary challenging another African-American in a Democratic primary? Fat chance.
No, in all likelihood, Clinton will head back to the Senate and take her place as arguably the most powerful member of that body. There are those who say the hard feelings of this race will cripple her with her colleagues. What a crock. Having campaigned in all 50 states and won millions of votes in the process, Clinton will surely be the most sought-after fund-raiser in all of Democratic politics besides the putative President Obama. She will take the lead in the upper chamber on passing health-care reform, which will not only give her a shot at a place in history but a chance to make up for epic failure back in 1993–94. And, with the incumbent Obama sure to be the standard-bearer in 2012, she will set her sights on 2016, when, after all, she’ll be just 68 — three years younger than John McCain is now, for anyone who happens to be counting. —John Heilemann
Finally, I agree 100% with every single syllable of the following post about Billary, Inc. that appeared in the comments section after an article in today's Washington Post (see article below the quote).
Kofi
"Every time I am convinced that these despicable, mendacious frauds could not possibly sink any lower, they prove me wrong. Barack's gracious outreach was in jarring contrast to her self absorbed, delusional hypocrisy...The Clintons are an utter disgrace and if they succeed in getting McCain elected they will go down in history as the most vile, reprehensible couple ever to stain the political landscape."
Posted by: Shiva | June 4, 2008 4:49 AM
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/06/obama_presumptive_nominee.html
Washingtonpost.com's Politics Blog
Obama Is the Presumptive Dem. Nominee
After 152 days of voting and more than 18 months of campaigning, Barack Obama has clinched the Democratic presidential nomination.
"Tonight I can stand here and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for President of the United States," Obama declared in a speech to a raucous crowd at the Xcel Center in St. Paul, Minn.
Obama went on to praise his Democratic opponents as "the most talented, qualified field of individuals ever to run for this office" and saved special plaudits for Hillary Rodham Clinton.
He referred to Clinton as "a leader who inspires millions of Americans with her strength, her courage and her commitment to the causes that brought us here tonight."
Obama was just getting started. "Our party and our country are better off because of her, and I am a better candidate for having the honor to compete with Hillary Rodham Clinton," he said.
Obama also made a direct appeal to those who may be unhappy about the tenor and the results of the Democratic primary campaign. "At the end of the day we aren't the reason you came out and waited in lines that stretched block after block to make your voice heard," said Obama. "You didn't do that because of me or Senator Clinton or anyone else."
Despite the seeming conclusiveness of the delegate math, Clinton was clearly not in the mood to concede tonight. In a speech to a cheering crowd at Baruch University in New York, she congratulated Obama for the "extraordinary race" he ran, although she did not acknowledge the fact that he had effectively won the nomination. "I will be making no decisions tonight," she said.
Clinton repeatedly touted her popular vote strength, noting that she had received nearly 18 million total votes. "Even when the pundits and the naysayers proclaimed week after week that this race was over, you kept on voting," she said to roars from the assembled crowd. She said her campaign won the swing states "necessary to get to 270 electoral votes."
The speech was widely seen as attempt by Clinton to keep her political leverage as she sorts out what she wants (and what she can reasonably hope to get) in her political future.
What do you think she wants? And will she get it?
June 4, 2008
The following messages were sent by me earlier today to friends and colleagues who asked me my take on the latest political debacle involving Billary, Inc. and the Obama campaign for the Presidency. If Obama doesn't want to be eternally held hostage by the divisive and destructive antics of the ruthless Billary, Inc. political machine he had better stand up to her NOW, reject her idiotic demands, assert his complete independence from her brazen bullshit, and then get on with the far more important task of winning the presidential fight against John McCain. Please read the letters and articles below.
Kofi
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/05/us/politics/04cnd-campaign.html?_r=1&nl=pol&oref=slogin&emc=pola1&pagewanted=all
Check out this article! Read the dirty details for yourselves. The vicious, ruthless, and virulently racist triangulation tactics of the Billary, Inc. machine--the dirtiest political mob in this country outside of the notorious Karl Rove and the Republican Party Dirty Tricks Division--is holding Obama and the entire Democratic Party HOSTAGE to their madness. If this madness is not completely stopped by Obama and especially the Democratic Party leadership of the DNC (e.g. Dean, Pelosi, Reid, etc.) not only will Obama lose in November but the Democratic Party will be destroyed (I know, I know some of you might think that would be a good thing but I assure you that none of us will have the dubious luxury of watching it disintegrate if the Republicans get back in office for a third term--and with a currently completely inept and clueless American Left we'll all be too busy DROWNING)...Don't believe me?--WATCH AND SEE...
Kofi
June 5, 2008
Top Democrats Press for Unity After Obama Secures Victory
By MICHAEL LUO
New York Times
With Senator Barack Obama crossing the threshold of delegates needed to win the Democratic presidential nomination, party leaders began to move on Wednesday to bring the lengthy primary battle to a close and unite the party, even as questions swirled about Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s next move.
In the morning, a group of top Democratic leaders asked all of the party’s uncommitted superdelegates, the officials and party leaders who get automatic convention seats, to make their preferences known by Friday.
While the group of leaders — including the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Howard Dean; the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi; the Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid; and Gov. Joe Manchin of West Virginia — did not formally endorse Mr. Obama or urge Mrs. Clinton to exit the race, they said in a joint statement: “Democrats must now turn our full attention to the general election.” They added that the party needed to “stand united and begin our march toward reversing the eight years of failed Bush/McCain policies that have weakened our country.”
Other party leaders began to coalesce behind Mr. Obama, including Representative Rahm Emanuel, of Illinois, a former aide in the Clinton White House but also a close friend of Mr. Obama.
“Look, I’ve known him for years, and I said that as the election came to an end, I would make my endorsement, come from underneath the desk — and I did that,” Mr. Emanuel said. “The fact is, he is the nominee.”
But Mrs. Clinton’s top aides continued to sidestep questions on Wednesday morning about when she would suspend her campaign, even as some of her supporters began ratcheting up pressure on Mr. Obama to take her on as his running mate.
Robert L. Johnson, a prominent Clinton backer and the founder of Black Entertainment Television, said Wednesday on the CNN program “American Morning” that he planned to enlist members of the Congressional Black Caucus to push Mr. Obama to accept Mrs. Clinton as his vice presidential nominee. He said Mrs. Clinton had not directed his efforts, but was aware of them.
Mr. Johnson argued that an Obama-Clinton ticket would have the best chance of winning in the general election and would help unify the Democratic Party.
Lanny Davis, who was an aide in the Clinton White House, said he was circulating a petition asking Mr. Obama to pick Mrs. Clinton as his running mate. Mr. Davis said he was acting on his own.
On a conference call with members of the New York Congressional delegation on Tuesday, Mrs. Clinton was asked whether she would be open to joining a ticket headed by Mr. Obama. She replied, according to some who were on the call, that if he offered the vice presidential nod, she would accept, and would do whatever she could to help Democrats win the White House.
Terry McAuliffe, the Clinton campaign chairman, however, insisted Wednesday morning on CNN that there had been “absolutely zero discussions” about whether she would accept a vice presidential nomination. Mr. McAuliffe said that Mrs. Clinton, whose speech on Tuesday night in New York was more defiant than conciliatory, wanted to talk things over with her supporters on Wednesday.
“There is plenty of time,” Mr. McAuliffe said, continuing to argue that Mrs. Clinton had won the most popular votes, a notion disputed by the Obama campaign.
Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton spoke by telephone just after midnight Wednesday. He congratulated her and renewed his offer to “sit down when it makes sense for you,” according to a spokesman for Mr. Obama, Robert Gibbs. Mrs. Clinton responded positively, Mr. Gibbs said, but he added there were no immediate plans to meet on Wednesday.
The focus now is on the delicate dance between Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton, a relationship that has been rife with complex tensions throughout the primary battle, which was riven by accusations of racism and sexism.
Both candidates addressed the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the most prominent pro-Israel lobbying group in Washington, on Wednesday morning. Mr. Obama took the stage first, and immediately offered warm words for Mrs. Clinton, saying, “She has made history alongside me over the last sixteen months.”
A short while later, Mrs. Clinton came to the podium and plunged straight into her speech, ignoring speculation about her political intentions. She digressed, however, to offer this assurance to her audience: “I know Senator Obama will be a good friend to Israel.”
Mr. Obama has struggled to combat the wariness about him that has been harbored by some Jewish voters, a wariness evidently fueled by e-mail messages spreading false rumors about his background and positions. In his speech, he promised to be uncompromising in his defense of Israel’s security. He also revived the contentious issue of how much to engage foreign adversaries, especially Iran, which promises to be a central dispute in his general election battle with Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee.
“Contrary to the claims of some, I have no interest in sitting down with our adversaries just for the sake of talking,” Mr. Obama said. “But as President of the United States, I would be willing to lead tough and principled diplomacy with the appropriate Iranian leader at a time and place of my choosing — if, and only if, it can advance the interests of the United States.”
Mr. McCain has attacked Mr. Obama for his response at a debate last year, in which he said he would be willing to sit down with the leaders of some America’s most ardent foes, including Iran, “without preconditions.”
But Mr. Obama said that a change in course was needed in the country’s diplomatic approach, and that Mr. McCain “refuses to understand or acknowledge the failure of the policy he would continue.”
For her part, Mrs. Clinton seemed to take pains to avoid bringing up issues where she and Mr. Obama have differed, including the question of when to meet with certain adversaries; during the primary campaign she, too, criticized Mr. Obama’s stance.
It was a last-minute rush of commitments by Democratic superdelegates, as well as the results from the final two primaries in Montana and South Dakota on Tuesday, that raised Mr. Obama’s total above the 2,118-delegate threshold needed to secure the nomination at the party’s convention in August. The victory for Mr. Obama, the son of a black Kenyan father and a white Kansan mother, broke racial barriers and represented a remarkable rise for a man who just four years ago was serving in the Illinois State Senate.
But to the end, the primaries reflected the party’s continuing divisions, as Mrs. Clinton won the South Dakota contest while Mr. Obama won in Montana.
The competition between Mr. McCain and Mr. Obama has been sharpening for weeks, but the close of the Democratic primary race formally raised the curtain on a five-month general election contest.
At a town-hall-style meeting in Baton Rouge on Wednesday, Mr. McCain announced that he had invited Mr. Obama to join him in a series of 10 such meetings between now and the Democratic convention in late August.
“I think Americans are tired about the ways presidential campaigns have been run in the past — all the gimmicks, the phony sound bits and photo-ops,” Mr. McCain said. “Campaigns always seemed to be more about the candidates’ interest than the public.”
Mr. McCain even proposed a date for the first event: June 12 in New York City.
Mr. Obama had earlier indicated that he might be open to such a proposal, though it is clearly to the McCain campaign’s advantage to push the concept. Mr. McCain will almost certainly be widely outspent by Mr. Obama, whose fund-raising has far outstripped his opponent’s, and joint appearances where the candidates would get equal attention could help offset the disparity.
Mr. McCain even joked about the financial aspect, suggesting that the candidates share the same airplane to the forums: “Given our expenses,” he said, “I know my campaign would agree to it.”
David Plouffe, the Obama campaign manager, later issued a statement saying the town-hall proposal was “appealing, and one that would allow a great conversation to take place about the need to change the direction of this country.”
But he said that his side would recommend a “less structured and lengthier” format, “one that more closely resembles the historic debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas.”
Nevertheless, Mr. Plouffe said he looked forward to continuing the discussion over the matter with the McCain campaign.
Jeff Zeleny contributed reporting.
N,
Regardless of the present or future superdelegate tally and despite the fact that Barack is the DP nominee the Clintons are creating a major problem for Obama that he and the Democratic Party leadership in general is going to have to address and eliminate. The ruthless and insulting manuevering that Billary, Inc. is currently involved in with the truly slimy likes of Lanny Davis and that opportunist cretin from BET Robert Johnson as well as others in and out of her personal camp is seriously undermining and even sabotaging Obama's campaign for the Presidency. The mere fact that she's trying to hold him and the rest of the Party hostage to the absurd and ruinous idea of a Vice Presidential spot on the ticket is a clear signal that there is no real Party unity at this point even though a nominee has already been chosen!
This is not only unprecedented in modern Democratic Party history (the closest historical comparison I could make is the 1980 debacle incolving Jimmy Carter vs, Edward Kennedy at the DP convention that year but even that wasn't as poisonous and destructive as what the Clintons are trying to pull). Something needs to be done NOW to stop this express train of division because if not and the Clintons get the VP spot all is lost politically against McCain and I for one would never support such a move under any circumstances!
Please respond when you get a chance...
Kofi
http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2008/05/heilemann_what_hillary_wants_a.html
All,
I think the following analysis by John Heilemann from May 30 is right on target and provides the clearest and most reliable insight into precisely why and how Billary is going to try to undermine and sabotage Obama--and if she fails at that--she will simply run again for the Presidency at her earliest opportunity. Either way she's using her present support in the Democratic Party and in the primary elections as a bullying wedge to try to marginalize, dismiss, and restrict Obama's titular role as present (and future) leader of the Democratic Party. Billary, Inc. are sheer Machiavellians when it comes to politics which means that their first, last, and final "loyalties" are ALWAYS to themselves no matter what and that ALL OTHERS--supporters, opponents, friends, acolytes, and enemies alike are perceived and treated as nothing but mere cannon fodder for their self serving mercenary ventures into Politics. Billary, Inc. only runs to win and they don't give a damn as Heilemann brilliantly points out in this article who or what they have to hurt or destroy in order to achieve their goal--which in their manipulative and pathologically meglomaniacal minds always means that they are right and everyone else who disagrees with them are wrong PERIOD/ALL THE TIME/because they say so, etc.
That this fundamental attitude and value system makes them routinely dangerous and destructive goes without saying...
They are and will continue to be Obama's political enemy simply because he stands in the way of what they want, demand, and insist that they are entitled to and it will be to Barack's ultimate political peril and demise if he allows Billary, Inc. to dictate his political direction in any way...
Kofi
Heilemann: What Hillary Wants, and Why She’s Jesse Jackson ’88
May 30, 2008
There’s been a lot of talk over the past few months about whether the 2008 presidential campaign just might turn out to be 1988 all over again. The comparison has been driven by the fact that Republicans plainly intend to try to cast Barack Obama as a black Mike Dukakis — as too liberal, too inexperienced, too weak, and, crucially, insufficiently patriotic to occupy the White House. But a different analogy occurred to me the other day, one perhaps less comprehensively apt but so delightfully ironic that it would be a crime not to point it out. As anyone politically sentient in 1988 will vividly recall, the endgame of the Democratic primaries that year revolved around a challenger seen by his fans as a historic figure and his foes as a potential party-wrecker, and what concessions he might insist upon in order to fade quietly into the background. The inescapable question of the hour was, “What does Jesse Jackson want?”
Hillary Clinton, of course, is no Jesse Jackson (but neither, pace Bill Clinton’s comments on the eve of the South Carolina primary, is Obama). But the question posed by her behavior in the home stretch of this year’s nominating contest is precisely the same: “What does Hillary want?”
Whenever this query is put to me — which only takes place, oh, on the order of 100 times a day — my response is simple: She wants to be president. Duh. And if it ain’t gonna happen this year, then her central objective is to make it as likely as possible in 2012. As I’ve written many times, Hillary believes with every fiber of her being that Obama is going to lose this year. (And so does her husband.) So her aim is to put herself in the best position possible to stand up on November 5 and say, if perhaps a tad more subtly than this, “I told you so.”
From these core facts — and based on everything my reporting these past few months tells me, facts is what they are — flow plausible answers to a raft of more granular questions about Clinton’s motives and what she plans to do in the days ahead. For the purposes of brevity, let’s stick to the top five.
1. Is she going to quit sometime soon or fight on to the convention?
The former. Indeed, my guess is that she might very well be out of the race by the end of next week. For Hillary to be the Democratic nominee in 2012, she must limit the extent to which she’s seen as having caused Obama’s (in her mind, inevitable) loss this fall. And setting off on a scorched-earth march to Denver runs in diametric opposition to that goal. True, she keeps saying that she’s going all the way; true, she continues to press for the seating in full of the Florida and Michigan delegations. But Clinton has other things she might want from Obama, from a prominent speaking slot in Denver to help paying off her campaign debt. The more delegates she has in the end, the stronger her bargaining position.
2. Does she want to be offered the VP slot?
No, she does not. If it’s offered, she has to take it, because turning it down would be a signal to her supporters that she doesn’t support Obama (see above). And if she’s on the ticket and Obama goes down (again, as she’s convinced he will), she is then complicit in the loss, and her prospects in 2012 are damaged. Does Hillary want be the next John Edwards? The question answers itself.
3. So what’s with all the leaks that Bill wants her on the ticket?
He probably does. The idea of Hillary as veep must sound like a sweet deal to him: It would be history-making, it would cement the Clintons’ status as one of America’s great political dynasties, and in the second-fiddle job his wife would pose no danger of overshadowing him. But contrary to the notion that the Clintons are always in perfect sync on matters political — that they scheme together, choose a path to follow, then go charging down it together — there are many cases where their thinking diverges. And this is one of them.
4. Will she work hard for Obama or undermine him in the fall?
Implicit in all this analysis is that Hillary Clinton is a cold-eyed rationalist, and despite the occasional shard of evidence to the contrary, this is true. She’s aware that even as she’s become a much larger figure in the course of this race in one segment of the party, her reputation has taken a beating in another. She thinks it’s unfair, but she knows it’s the reality, and also that whether Obama wins or loses, it’s difficult to imagine a promising future for herself without repairing her standing among those who regard her poorly. I suspect there won’t be many louder Obama cheerleaders this autumn — or more insincere ones.
5. If Obama wins, what will she do next?
One rumor going around New York is that she’ll run for governor — an eventuality only marginally more likely than my pursuing that office. HRC cares not a whit about state government. She loves Washington, thinks of it as home, and of Albany as hell (smart gal!). Consider further that becoming governor would require taking on the incumbent, David Paterson, who has indicated no intention to be a temporary fill-in. Hillary challenging another African-American in a Democratic primary? Fat chance.
No, in all likelihood, Clinton will head back to the Senate and take her place as arguably the most powerful member of that body. There are those who say the hard feelings of this race will cripple her with her colleagues. What a crock. Having campaigned in all 50 states and won millions of votes in the process, Clinton will surely be the most sought-after fund-raiser in all of Democratic politics besides the putative President Obama. She will take the lead in the upper chamber on passing health-care reform, which will not only give her a shot at a place in history but a chance to make up for epic failure back in 1993–94. And, with the incumbent Obama sure to be the standard-bearer in 2012, she will set her sights on 2016, when, after all, she’ll be just 68 — three years younger than John McCain is now, for anyone who happens to be counting. —John Heilemann
Finally, I agree 100% with every single syllable of the following post about Billary, Inc. that appeared in the comments section after an article in today's Washington Post (see article below the quote).
Kofi
"Every time I am convinced that these despicable, mendacious frauds could not possibly sink any lower, they prove me wrong. Barack's gracious outreach was in jarring contrast to her self absorbed, delusional hypocrisy...The Clintons are an utter disgrace and if they succeed in getting McCain elected they will go down in history as the most vile, reprehensible couple ever to stain the political landscape."
Posted by: Shiva | June 4, 2008 4:49 AM
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/06/obama_presumptive_nominee.html
Washingtonpost.com's Politics Blog
Obama Is the Presumptive Dem. Nominee
After 152 days of voting and more than 18 months of campaigning, Barack Obama has clinched the Democratic presidential nomination.
"Tonight I can stand here and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for President of the United States," Obama declared in a speech to a raucous crowd at the Xcel Center in St. Paul, Minn.
Obama went on to praise his Democratic opponents as "the most talented, qualified field of individuals ever to run for this office" and saved special plaudits for Hillary Rodham Clinton.
He referred to Clinton as "a leader who inspires millions of Americans with her strength, her courage and her commitment to the causes that brought us here tonight."
Obama was just getting started. "Our party and our country are better off because of her, and I am a better candidate for having the honor to compete with Hillary Rodham Clinton," he said.
Obama also made a direct appeal to those who may be unhappy about the tenor and the results of the Democratic primary campaign. "At the end of the day we aren't the reason you came out and waited in lines that stretched block after block to make your voice heard," said Obama. "You didn't do that because of me or Senator Clinton or anyone else."
Despite the seeming conclusiveness of the delegate math, Clinton was clearly not in the mood to concede tonight. In a speech to a cheering crowd at Baruch University in New York, she congratulated Obama for the "extraordinary race" he ran, although she did not acknowledge the fact that he had effectively won the nomination. "I will be making no decisions tonight," she said.
Clinton repeatedly touted her popular vote strength, noting that she had received nearly 18 million total votes. "Even when the pundits and the naysayers proclaimed week after week that this race was over, you kept on voting," she said to roars from the assembled crowd. She said her campaign won the swing states "necessary to get to 270 electoral votes."
The speech was widely seen as attempt by Clinton to keep her political leverage as she sorts out what she wants (and what she can reasonably hope to get) in her political future.
What do you think she wants? And will she get it?
June 4, 2008
OP-ED COLUMNIST
She’s Still Here!
By MAUREEN DOWD
New York Times
He thought a little thing like winning would stop her?
Oh, Bambi.
Whoever said that after denial comes acceptance hadn’t met the Clintons.
If Hillary could not have an acceptance speech, she wasn’t going to have acceptance.
“It’s never going to end,” sighed one Democrat who has been advising Hillary. “We’re just moving to a new phase.”
Barry has been trying to shake off Hillary and pivot for quite a long time now, but she has managed to keep her teeth in his ankle and raise serious doubts about his potency. Getting dragged across the finish line Tuesday night by Democrats who had had enough of the rapacious Clintons, who had decided, if it came to it, that they would rather lose with Obama than win with Hillary, the Illinois senator tried to celebrate at the St. Paul arena where Republicans will anoint John McCain in September.
But even as Obama was trying to savor, Hillary was refusing to sever. Ignoring the attempts of Obama and his surrogates to graciously say how “extraordinary” she was as they showed her the exit, she and a self-pitying Bill continued to pull focus. Outside Baruch College, where she was to speak, her fierce feminist supporters screamed “Denver! Denver! Denver!”
Even as Obama got ready to come out on stage for his victory party, the Clinton campaign announced that it had won a Wyoming superdelegate and Terry McAuliffe introduced her at Baruch as “the next president of the United States.” She gave a brief nod to Obama without conceding that he was the nominee before rushing through a variation on her stump speech. She clung to her fuzzy math about winning the popular vote, and in one last fudge she said: “Thanks so much to South Dakota. You had the last word” — even though the Montana polls still had 25 minutes to go.
“What does Hillary want?” she mused, in her most self-aware moment in some time. “I will be making no decisions tonight,” she concluded, asking fans to go to her Web site to share their thoughts.
And, even though Democrats were no longer listening, Hillary’s camp radiated the message that Obama was a sucker who had played by the rules on Florida and Michigan, and then reached an appeasing compromise, and that such a weak sister could never handle Putin or I’m-A-Dinner-Jacket.
As he was reaching the magic number of delegates, she was devilishly stealing the spotlight. First, her camp vociferously denied an Associated Press report that she would concede and then, in a conference call with the New York delegation, she gave a green light to supporters to push for her to be on the ticket.
Clintonologists know that Hillary is up to something, but they aren’t sure what. Theory No. 1 is that it’s the Cassandra “I told you so” gambit: She believes intensely that he’s too black, too weak and too elitist — with all his salmon and organic tea and steamed broccoli — to beat her pal John McCain. But she has to pretend she’ll do “whatever it takes,” even accept the vice presidency, a job she’s already had and doesn’t want again, so that nobody will blame her when he loses on Nov. 4. Then she can power on to 2012.
Theory No. 2 is that it’s a “Bad stuff happens” maneuver, exemplified in her gaffe about the R.F.K. assassination, that she figures that at least if she moves a few blocks from Embassy Row to the Naval Observatory, she’ll be a heartbeat away from the job she’s always wanted.
Either way, by broadcasting that she’s open to being Obama’s running mate, she puts public pressure on him similar to the sort of pressure Walter Mondale was under from rampaging feminists when he put Geraldine Ferraro on the ticket. Mondale ended up seeming henpecked, as Obama would seem if he caved to the women who say they will write in Hillary’s name or vote for anti-choice McCain before they’d vote for Obama.
For months, Hillary has been trying to emasculate Obama with the sort of words and themes she has chosen, stirring up feminist anger by promoting the idea that the men were unfairly taking it away from the women, and covering up her own campaign mistakes with cries of sexism. Even his ability to finally clinch the historic nomination did not stop her in that pursuit. She did not bat her eyelashes at him and proclaim him Rhett Butler instead of Ashley Wilkes.
She just urged her supporters to keep the dream alive, and talked privately about what she would settle for. She has told some Democrats recently that she wanted Obama to agree to allow a roll call vote, like days of yore, so that the delegates of states she won would cast the first ballot for her at the convention. She said she wanted that for her daughter.
Obama supporters are worried that it’s a trick and she’ll somehow snatch away the nomination. Just as Hillary supporters have hardened toward him, many of Obama’s donors and fans have hardened against the Clintons, saying it would be disillusioning to see them on a ticket that’s supposed to be about fresh politics.
“It would be,” said one influential Democrat, “like finding out there’s no tooth fairy.”
Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company
She’s Still Here!
By MAUREEN DOWD
New York Times
He thought a little thing like winning would stop her?
Oh, Bambi.
Whoever said that after denial comes acceptance hadn’t met the Clintons.
If Hillary could not have an acceptance speech, she wasn’t going to have acceptance.
“It’s never going to end,” sighed one Democrat who has been advising Hillary. “We’re just moving to a new phase.”
Barry has been trying to shake off Hillary and pivot for quite a long time now, but she has managed to keep her teeth in his ankle and raise serious doubts about his potency. Getting dragged across the finish line Tuesday night by Democrats who had had enough of the rapacious Clintons, who had decided, if it came to it, that they would rather lose with Obama than win with Hillary, the Illinois senator tried to celebrate at the St. Paul arena where Republicans will anoint John McCain in September.
But even as Obama was trying to savor, Hillary was refusing to sever. Ignoring the attempts of Obama and his surrogates to graciously say how “extraordinary” she was as they showed her the exit, she and a self-pitying Bill continued to pull focus. Outside Baruch College, where she was to speak, her fierce feminist supporters screamed “Denver! Denver! Denver!”
Even as Obama got ready to come out on stage for his victory party, the Clinton campaign announced that it had won a Wyoming superdelegate and Terry McAuliffe introduced her at Baruch as “the next president of the United States.” She gave a brief nod to Obama without conceding that he was the nominee before rushing through a variation on her stump speech. She clung to her fuzzy math about winning the popular vote, and in one last fudge she said: “Thanks so much to South Dakota. You had the last word” — even though the Montana polls still had 25 minutes to go.
“What does Hillary want?” she mused, in her most self-aware moment in some time. “I will be making no decisions tonight,” she concluded, asking fans to go to her Web site to share their thoughts.
And, even though Democrats were no longer listening, Hillary’s camp radiated the message that Obama was a sucker who had played by the rules on Florida and Michigan, and then reached an appeasing compromise, and that such a weak sister could never handle Putin or I’m-A-Dinner-Jacket.
As he was reaching the magic number of delegates, she was devilishly stealing the spotlight. First, her camp vociferously denied an Associated Press report that she would concede and then, in a conference call with the New York delegation, she gave a green light to supporters to push for her to be on the ticket.
Clintonologists know that Hillary is up to something, but they aren’t sure what. Theory No. 1 is that it’s the Cassandra “I told you so” gambit: She believes intensely that he’s too black, too weak and too elitist — with all his salmon and organic tea and steamed broccoli — to beat her pal John McCain. But she has to pretend she’ll do “whatever it takes,” even accept the vice presidency, a job she’s already had and doesn’t want again, so that nobody will blame her when he loses on Nov. 4. Then she can power on to 2012.
Theory No. 2 is that it’s a “Bad stuff happens” maneuver, exemplified in her gaffe about the R.F.K. assassination, that she figures that at least if she moves a few blocks from Embassy Row to the Naval Observatory, she’ll be a heartbeat away from the job she’s always wanted.
Either way, by broadcasting that she’s open to being Obama’s running mate, she puts public pressure on him similar to the sort of pressure Walter Mondale was under from rampaging feminists when he put Geraldine Ferraro on the ticket. Mondale ended up seeming henpecked, as Obama would seem if he caved to the women who say they will write in Hillary’s name or vote for anti-choice McCain before they’d vote for Obama.
For months, Hillary has been trying to emasculate Obama with the sort of words and themes she has chosen, stirring up feminist anger by promoting the idea that the men were unfairly taking it away from the women, and covering up her own campaign mistakes with cries of sexism. Even his ability to finally clinch the historic nomination did not stop her in that pursuit. She did not bat her eyelashes at him and proclaim him Rhett Butler instead of Ashley Wilkes.
She just urged her supporters to keep the dream alive, and talked privately about what she would settle for. She has told some Democrats recently that she wanted Obama to agree to allow a roll call vote, like days of yore, so that the delegates of states she won would cast the first ballot for her at the convention. She said she wanted that for her daughter.
Obama supporters are worried that it’s a trick and she’ll somehow snatch away the nomination. Just as Hillary supporters have hardened toward him, many of Obama’s donors and fans have hardened against the Clintons, saying it would be disillusioning to see them on a ticket that’s supposed to be about fresh politics.
“It would be,” said one influential Democrat, “like finding out there’s no tooth fairy.”
Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company
