Hillary Clinton Gets It. Her Supporters, Not So Much
Hillary Clinton could not have made a more explicit, impassioned and empowering statement on behalf of the democratic party than the one she made last night in Denver. From her opening statement voicing support of Barack Obama, to her noticeably brief acknowledgment of her husband as a president and not as her husband, to her appeal to voters to act upon their political conscience and not their individual loyalties, Clinton hit it out of the park.
Her supporters, however, are slow to get their gloves in the air.
There are so many components to this Clinton fever that ring honorable and delusional at the same time. For the same reasons that Barack’s nomination is historic and euphoric to many, the same should be reserved for Clinton’s legitimate run for the nomination. Were this another time and following a more competent administration, the respect would be there for her importance to the history of American politics.
But to waver on basic principles in the face of certain global tumult, to adopt a “anybody but Barack” sentiment over an “anybody but the Republicans,” approach has the color of stupid painted broadly about it. It was an aspect Clinton directly spoke to in her address, and effectively captured on the faces of Clinton delegates courtesy of C-SPAN.
Yet today we are bombarded with stories of continuing angst and dislike for Obama, made all the more interesting by the notion that Clinton supporters would rather vote against their ideals than for the remaining candidate that best emobodies them. Even worse, the discussion has not been advanced about the election from its very outset being hers to lose, which she did narrowly, yet effectively.
When given the choice, democrats, informed and uninformed, sided with Barack Obama.
Maybe its the media’s way of making the election sexier than necessary. Perhaps their intuition about Barack Obama’s global charm and the exaggeration of the democratic primary causes this stir in order for extended discussion and closely-knit polls. Unfortunately, too many democrats are willing to feed the monster of controversy and division, at a time where cohesion and unity would be the best medicine.
Hillary Clinton injected that into the party on last night. We can only hope that cells of jealousy and animosity don’t reject the good stuff moving forward.
