Hillary bows to the inevitable
James Forsyth 8:52am
"Senator Clinton will be hosting an event in Washington, DC to thank her supporters and express her support for Senator Obama and party unity. This event will be held on Saturday to accommodate more of Senator Clinton's supporters who want to attend."
This terse statement from the Clinton campaign indicates that the Clintons have accepted what became crystal clear on Tuesday night: the Democratic primary race is finally over. I doubt that I’ll see in my lifetime another campaign that twists and turns as much as this one did. That it went on so long is reflective of both the strengths and weaknesses of the two candidates.
Hillary’s tenacity, her ability to keep going was quite remarkable. Ever since she came third in Iowa a whole bunch of contests have been sudden death for her. Losses in New Hampshire, California, Ohio or Pennsylvania would have probably forced her from the race. Every time she had to win to stay in it, she did
Attention will now turn to the VP slot. Her decision to host the event in Washington rather than New York demonstrates that she is a national politician above all else.
Clinton, though, would be a disastrous VP choice for Obama and even the speculation about a ‘unity ticket’ could be harmful to him. If this talk continues in the media and Obama doesn’t pick her, then her supporters will feel snubbed again; making the task of unifying the party even harder.
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Faceless Bureaucrat
June 5th, 2008 10:29am Report this commentAgree - the last person you would want standing behind you and only 'a fishbone away from the Presidency' would be HC.
Max Kaye
June 5th, 2008 11:11am Report this commentPossibly the most ungracious concession statement ever?
BLJ
June 5th, 2008 11:42am Report this commentRepublicans are preparing to save Hillary Clinton's doomed bid for the Democratic nomination and answer the question of why she has refused to concede a losing race, with the release today of a shocking video tape featuring Michelle Obama going off on a racist rant, but others maintain the rumor is nothing more than a hoax.
The tape allegedly shows Obama's wife, sitting on a panel with Louis Farrakhan, making racist remarks about white Americans and using the term "whitey" during a speech at the then Jeremiah Wright-helmed Trinity United Church of Christ.
The rumor originated from Larry Johnson's No Quarter blog, which claims to have been under hack attack since it first reported the existence of the tape. Johnson says he has five separate reliable sources who have confirmed that the video exists.
"I learned over the weekend why the Republicans who have seen the tape of Michelle Obama ranting about "whitey" describe it as "STUNNING," wrote Johnson. "I have not seen it but I have heard from five separate sources who have spoken directly with people who have seen the tape. It features Michelle Obama and Louis Farrakhan. They are sitting on a panel at Jeremiah Wright’s Church when Michelle makes her intemperate remarks."
During an appearance on Fox News yesterday, Democratic strategist Bob Beckel speculated "that there might be a very big shoe dropping on Michelle Obama tomorrow," but he refused to provide details.
http://www.redlasso.com/ClipPlayer.aspx?id=2e8999e1-19a0-475f-a10c-59d6c9336866
Beckel said he had "heard it from enough sources that it worried me" and that "if something happens to Barack Obama, if some rumor comes out," that Hillary could still take the nomination.
If the tape is indeed real then it would explain why Hillary has refused to concede the nomination despite the writing having been on the wall for weeks if not months now.
However, Obama supporters and other bloggers are crying foul and strongly assert that the tape rumor is nothing more than a crude hoax.
Dismissing the tape as a deliberate attempt to destroy Obama's candidacy with "hatred and vitriol," San Francisco Chronicle blogger "Desperado" writes, "Personally, I think if such a tape existed, with the desperation of the Clinton camp, we would have seen it by now."
"First of all, there is no tape. This rumor has been going around for weeks with no evidence yet. It is either the "October Surprise" that the Republicans plan to spring on Obama, or the reason Hillary Clinton is hanging around, depending on which version of the lie one believes."
Hillary's obsession with staying in a race which she obviously had no chance of winning and her disturbing invocation of the assassination of RFK as a reason for not conceding has led many to speculate that a scandal or something worse will befall Obama before he can have a chance to go head to head with Republican nominee John McCain.
Whether that scandal involves his wife caught on tape in an alleged racist rant remains to be seen but we should know the answer to the question within the next 48 hours.
Kevyn Bodman
June 5th, 2008 3:06pm Report this commentIt is very unlikely that there is such a tape, not least because Mrs. Obama knows whether such an event took place or not.If it had she'd already have told her husband, and he'd be a very worried man today.
I am reminded of a remarkably stupid report by a TV journalist when DNA test results from Monica Lewinsky's dress were due.
The 'journalist' said something like 'President Clinton is waiting to know if he left semen stains on the dress.'
I think he already knew, even before the test results, didn't he?
And Mrs. Obama already knows whether or not the ALLEGED rant ever took place.
And what was Farrakhan doing at a church? And is Mrs Obama so ill-informed and so lacking in judgement that she would stay on a platform if Farrakhan and Wright were ranting?
Ganpat Ram
June 5th, 2008 5:06pm Report this commentWhat stands between Obama and the prsidency in 2008 is Ja guy called John McCain.
In 2012, a gal named Hillary Clinton.
THOMAS W LYNCH JR
June 5th, 2008 9:09pm Report this commentIf he picks her as VP, he'd better also get an official taster.
Ganpat Ram
June 6th, 2008 7:17pm Report this commentHillary came within a hair's breadth of beating Obama.
She knocked him right out of the ring in a whole bunch of key swing states.
In the last three contests, she won two, including one she took by a 37 percent margin.
Not bad for an unpopular politician.
She has enormous support especially in the White working class. This is ironic because at the start of the race all the wiseacres said the working class would never accept the idea of a woman president. It was instead the middle class whites and the Blacks who proved misogynic Hillary-haters. Strange world !
2012 will be very different from 2008. People will be utterly disgusted with Obama, if he wins. He won't be able to get out of Iraq without plunging that country into bloody chaos and shaming america. He won't be able to raise spending in bad times without sending the economy further down. His smart talk will cut no ice.
People will be desperate to shake off McCain.
They will be desperate for any serious alternative and Hillary will be ideally placed with her proven tenacity and enormous demonstrated country-wide support.
All she has to do is keep cool in the face of the hurricane of imbecilic abuse today, take care not to back Obama mnore than is absolutely necessary to keep her place in the party, quietly build up connections and plan for 2012.
Above all, she should not make the fatal mistake of becoming an Obama sycophant. That would come back to haunt her when the country starts to hate Obama as they soon will.
Keep calm, Hillary. Only four more years !
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