You'd think Barack Obama won the nomination by a landslide, the way the pundits are acting. All I've heard this morning is, "Why won't Hillary Clinton concede?!" Well, maybe because he only won by an incredibly small margin (somewhere between 0.1 and 0.2 % of the votes), and almost 18 million people voted for her -- that's more than The scuttlebutt du jour is, "But will she endorse him?" Ridiculous. The New York Times sharpens its claws with "Clinton Discusses What She Wants, But Not What She Will Do." Ridiculous. Hillary Clinton has said time and again that she would fully support Obama as the candidate and that she would do everything she could could to get a Democrat back in the White House. So please, America, before you let the media (once again) make Hillary Clinton into some kind of monster, please read her message below, which she sent to her supporters, and which I'm sure the media is aware.
Dear Sue,Emphasis mine, words hers. The foreign press seems to be thinking with a little more clear head this morning:
I wanted you to be one of the first to know: on Saturday, I will hold an event in Washington D.C. to thank everyone who has supported my campaign. Over the course of the last 16 months, I have been privileged and touched to witness the incredible dedication and sacrifice of so many people working for our campaign. Every minute you put into helping us win, every dollar you gave to keep up the fight meant more to me than I can ever possibly tell you.
On Saturday, I will extend my congratulations to Senator Obama and my support for his candidacy. This has been a long and hard-fought campaign, but as I have always said, my differences with Senator Obama are small compared to the differences we have with Senator McCain and the Republicans.
I have said throughout the campaign that I would strongly support Senator Obama if he were the Democratic Party's nominee, and I intend to deliver on that promise.
When I decided to run for president, I knew exactly why I was getting into this race: to work hard every day for the millions of Americans who need a voice in the White House.
I made you -- and everyone who supported me -- a promise: to stand up for our shared values and to never back down. I'm going to keep that promise today, tomorrow, and for the rest of my life.
I will be speaking on Saturday about how together we can rally the party behind Senator Obama. The stakes are too high and the task before us too important to do otherwise.
I know as I continue my lifelong work for a stronger America and a better world, I will turn to you for the support, the strength, and the commitment that you have shown me in the past 16 months. And I will always keep faith with the issues and causes that are important to you.
In the past few days, you have shown that support once again with hundreds of thousands of messages to the campaign, and again, I am touched by your thoughtfulness and kindness.
I can never possibly express my gratitude, so let me say simply, thank you.
Sincerely,
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Clinton to endorse Barack Obama as Democratic candidate on Saturday, Telegraph UK
Clinton to endorse Obama this weekend, Belfast Telegraph
Clinton to leave race and endorse Obama, International Herald Tribune
Okay?
13 comments:
This all makes me so very depressed.
The hateful vitriol in this nation knows no bounds, does it?
None of this is productive - as I know that you know.
However, it does increase webhits, sell papers, increase viewers etc to keep the babble up.
So very sad.
And not productive.
We have lost so much dignity as a nation through things like this.
Deep sigh. And you know my take on the whole thing.
add this to your mccain watch. this is just plain hilarious, and makes absolutely no sense. so nonsensical, in fact, that i find myself repeating it over and over again in my head to figure out WTF this guy meant!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DqR7zis99I
Hillary = bone
Press = dog
Well said, dcup.
Great that you mention the International Herald Tribune, which is a pretty trustful, unbiased newspaper. I highly recommend this paper over the US crap (on/off line).
People tend to read what they like to / want to / expect to read with not much learning and auto-analytics going on as a result.
Nice to see you back, Fred!
I'm never quite far!
Here is another quality source, from the US!, although they tend to give their own opinion, which is why they open up the debate with a comment section. The Economist.
Here is the resume:
Barack Obama secured the support of enough superdelegates to claim victory in the Democratic primaries, making him almost certain to become the first black presidential nominee of a big American party. At a rally Mr Obama described his candidacy as an “historic journey”. He also praised his opponent in the primaries, Hillary Clinton. She stopped short of conceding defeat, but plans an event to show party unity.
Followed by the article:
http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11502141&fsrc=nwl
This is all so hard. I can barely imagine what it must be like for Hillary to be kicked back down to the bottom of the mountain again...first Bill...now the senate...she deserves so much more.
Why is it so hard for our nation to acknowledge and value 'gold' when it is in our hands?
Let's see, when did Ted Kennedy concede in 1980? Oh, yeah, that's right, NEVER! Nobody vilified him, as far as I can recall. I mean, I hate to say it here, folks, but, yes, Hillary's getting a bum-rap.
There were so many things about the way this primary contest ended that just seemed "not right": Cutting the Michigan and Florida delegation in half. Clinton's overwhelming victory in South Dakota -- at the same moment that the pundits were proclaiming Obama the winner of the nomination, even as the polls were still open. There was a time when the media felt enough responsibility to the American people to wait until the polls closed before announcing a winner.
I'm glad to hear that Clinton and Obama are meeting and talking about bringing their two camps together.
The face of the Democratic Party has changed. We're a diverse group with diverse values and concerns. Maybe the Democratic leadership is finally "getting" that.
It is indeed a very marginal victory for Obama - he will need all the help Hillary can give him. The fact she won South Dakota is particularly concerning as I believe he was "supposed" to win both of those last two primaries. I'm glad she has endorsed him, whole-heartedly, and hope they can work out a good agreement for the upcoming campaign.
Hi Mauigirl -- glad you're back (but sorry that must mean your vacation's ended!).
hillary has handled this with a lot of class, as i knew she would. now, let's get behind the democrats and do some good in washington!
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