As a proud supporter of Hillary Clinton, I am nevertheless distressed by the negative turn her campaign may be taking. After the unpleasantness in South Carolina (for which I wrote she received a "stinging rebuke" from voters) I felt vindicated when I heard her positive, warm performance in the Los Angeles debate just a few days later. The Hillary Clinton I admired was restored.
But in the past week, ichor has started to ooze out quietly from Hillary headquarters once again. First there was that non-story about "plagiarism." Then another non-story cropped up about a remark by Michelle Obama taken out of context. Now a NY Times article reports that Mark Penn (and others) are pushing Hillary to adopt a "scorched earth" policy. That would be a travesty.
Hillary Clinton is a figure of inspiration and hope for millions of Americans--not only for women, but also for the gay and lesbian community. In California and New York (the only states where exit pollsters asked the question) self-identified gays and lesbians voted for Hillary 2 to 1. In Washington D.C., her highest level of support came from the Dupont Circle precincts. Despite all the ugliness that has been thrown at her over the years, we still believe in her.
To Hillary, I would say: now is the time to keep your faith with us. You are no stranger to times when the chips were down. Surely you know that it is in these times that one reveals one's true colors. In a beautiful message to LGBT Americans, you declared, "America deserves a President who appeals to the best in each of us, not the worst." If you are who I think you are, then I believe if you follow your own advice you will be the next President of the United States.
Of course, one can never be certain of these things. Hillary might not win, after all. And some will say my faith is already far misplaced. But of one thing I am certain: if Hillary surrenders to fear and negativity, she will lose far more than just the nomination of her party.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Her True Colors
Posted by Dr. Strangelove at 1:10 PM
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6 comments:
Barack Obama has called out the black community for its homophobia on a number of occasions. Clinton doesn't dare. Consider this in his address on MLK day in the Ebenezer baptist church in GA: "And yet, if we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that none of our hands is entirely clean. If we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll acknowledge that our own community has not always been true to King’s vision of a beloved community.
We have scorned our gay brothers and sisters instead of embracing them. The scourge of anti-Semitism has, at times, revealed itself in our community. For too long, some of us have seen immigrants as competitors for jobs instead of companions in the fight for opportunity."
I am not sure she's the best friend the LGBT community ever had. I'm not sure her support is so deserved. I also think she won't take on gays in the military, both because her husband failed and because, as a woman, she feels politicaly bound to be uber-supportive of the military.
I agree that Obama's support for the gay community is underrated in many quarters. I think gays and lesbians would do pretty well with either of them.
In the debates recently, Clinton was booed when she want negative (especially when she brought up the non-story about Obama "plagerising" speaches by his national campaign co-chair).
Every time Clinton has gone negative against Obama it has backfired. She should not have done it in South Carolina. Instead she should have ignored Obama and run against the Republicans (especially McCain and Romney). Now she's in a position where she's almost forced to go negative.
RE: Scorched Earth. The Clintons have already started down that path. Bill Clinton is such a huge potential asset for the Demcoratic Party that it is a shame that Hillary used him to be her attack dog so agressively. Had she used him to be a more positive spokesman, he would be free to campaign for a nominee other than Hillary should such an event take place. But they (intentionally in my opinion) painted Bill into a corner. Effectively saying to the party, "If you don't nominate my wife, you won't get my help in November."
"Every time Clinton has gone negative against Obama it has backfired."
Yup. That about sums it up.
By the way, the Republicans would do well to observe how ineffective negative campaign tactics have been against Obama. Of course they won't.
They'll be calling him "Barack HUSSEIN Obama" and "mistakenly" calling him "Osama" all through October. They'll also spend much of the summer talking about his recreational drug use in his teens. They may even try to make hey out of the "plagiarism."
But consider this. That speach thing was the worst thing the Clinton's could find on Obama. Unless there is a really bad skeleton in his closet that Hillary's people just missed (I doubt that) or that they found but their scrupples wouldn't let them use (I doubt that too), the Republican attack machine will have to work with pretty sparse material.
At last! Hillary has finally run the "red phone" ad (now airing in Texas). Who will voters trust to make the hard decisions during a national crisis? It is the final test for the electorate: will they vote on hope or fear?
I have said for a long time that I believe voters are still scared and want a strong leader--and whatever else they think about Hillary, they still recognize her strength. If Obama wins against the "red phone" ad then I am much more comfortable with him as our nominee--because McCain's entire candidacy is basically one long "red phone" ad. But if even liberals are persuaded by it, then I am deeply concerned. Hillary has finally asked the question. She may not like the answer, but we all need to know.
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