In 2008, this was my lament. It seemed we Democrats had an abundance of riches. In June 2008, I kind of wished they both could be President.
To be sure, I was disappointed, as Hillary was my first choice. It was nothing against Obama, but I had known her a lot longer-since 1992. Her husband had broken a long spell where Democrats couldn't compete at the Presidential level.
I sometimes hear Bernie supporters attacking Bill, saying he betrayed what the Democratic party is all about. I think this is a big misconception. He saved a party that was in bad shape. The Dems had lost 5 of 6 elections previously and 4 of those losses the GOP got 41 or more states and over 400 electoral votes.
I had loved Hillary since her first interview with Dianne Sawyer. The media got all over her for saying she wasn't Tammy Wynette, but I loved the line. I showed that Hillary didn't like eating the shit the media expected her to.
This would come to characterize the media's tendency to just nitpick everything she says and does-the latest was complaining that she shouted at her victory speech on Tuesday night. When has the media every lambasted Bernie for shouting?
Or Donald Trump who is her likely general election opponent? The irony is she is going to beat two shouters.
Even though she was my first choice in 2008 and I was disappointed by her loss in June of that year, I could see that Obama was very qualified even though it seemed as if his main claim to fame coming in was an admittedly great speech in the 2004 Dem convention. He gave some more great speeches-at the Jackson-Jefferson Dinner of late 2007, and his race speech regarding Jeremiah Wright in 2008.
But as qualified as both were and as both would be historical Presidents-the first black man or the first white woman-I wished both could be, though of course that was impossible.
That she was a white woman and he a black man always gave the two of them a certain symmetry. If you had a black woman against a white man there would be none. To say 'who was the more oppressed' had no straightforward answer.
Indeed, some, like Melissa Harris-Perry have scoffed that Hillary's election would be a big historic deal because-well why isn't clear.
Because in her mind Hillary is a privileged white woman? But white women too have always faced sexism as should be obvious. In fact, historically black men got the vote before them. True there was Jim Crow but legally speaking at least, there was a 55 year time lag. And Shirley Chisholm argued in 1969 that she found more prejudice as a woman than a black person in Congress. That explains a lot of why while most black leaders in 2008 ended up leaving Hillary for Obama, she never did till the end.
http://gos.sbc.edu/c/chisholm.html
That's a pretty stark statement. Indeed, Obama himself recently stated that he did agree that Hillary was the victim-and in some ways he was the beneficiary-of significant sexism. That doesn't deny that he has faced lots of racism.
So anyway, in 2008 I had wished they both could be President. And then a lot of Hillary supporters were hoping she would at least be Vice President. I doubted that Obama would do that.
As it turns out Obama had himself seriously considered her for VP. In his mind she was one of the finalists alongside Joe Biden. Ultimately his staff-many of who at the time nursed something of a Hillary grudge-talked him out of it.
However, he was determined to give her something, and he refused to let them talk him out of Secretary of State.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0033V4SDI?keywords=game%20change&qid=1458291086&ref_=sr_1_1&s=digital-text&sr=1-1
As the above linked book argues, despite their often very sharp 2008 campaign, Hillary-Obama is a love story.
In 2012, the lingering bad feelings-not between the two of them but with Bill-ended when the former POTUS was enlisted to help Obama with the re-elect.
http://www.amazon.com/Double-Down-Game-Change-2012-ebook/dp/B00C5R7EE6/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
Even though she was his SOS rather than VP, that is effectively what she ended up being as the person to carry on and finish the Obama legacy. Obama gave her his clear blessing in that 60 Minutes Interview after his re-election.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9uDUnywMu0
Hillary's position in 2016 is most similar to George Bush Sr. in 1988 and Al Gore in 2000. Gore made the fateful choice to distance himself from a popular sitting President as much as possible. He wanted to be a populist outsider. A VP running for effectively the Administration's third term can't be an outsider.
Hillary has to say the least not made this mistake. She has hugged him. But he has hugged her right back. And the Obama Coalition has come out very strong for her.
And the OC will be treated to plenty of direct campaigning for her from Obama himself who is planning to be anything but a wallflower this year.
He already has signaled to donors it's time to unify with Hillary.
http://lastmenandovermen.blogspot.com/2016/03/potus-to-donors-time-to-get-behind.html
He will be defending his own record and campaigning with her in force.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-is-increasingly-involved-in-the-2016-presidential-campaign/2016/03/17/0f76e0cc-eb13-11e5-b0fd-073d5930a7b7_story.html
So how more fitting a conclusion to the Obama-Hillary story for them to be on the campaign trail together?
To be sure, I was disappointed, as Hillary was my first choice. It was nothing against Obama, but I had known her a lot longer-since 1992. Her husband had broken a long spell where Democrats couldn't compete at the Presidential level.
I sometimes hear Bernie supporters attacking Bill, saying he betrayed what the Democratic party is all about. I think this is a big misconception. He saved a party that was in bad shape. The Dems had lost 5 of 6 elections previously and 4 of those losses the GOP got 41 or more states and over 400 electoral votes.
I had loved Hillary since her first interview with Dianne Sawyer. The media got all over her for saying she wasn't Tammy Wynette, but I loved the line. I showed that Hillary didn't like eating the shit the media expected her to.
This would come to characterize the media's tendency to just nitpick everything she says and does-the latest was complaining that she shouted at her victory speech on Tuesday night. When has the media every lambasted Bernie for shouting?
Or Donald Trump who is her likely general election opponent? The irony is she is going to beat two shouters.
Even though she was my first choice in 2008 and I was disappointed by her loss in June of that year, I could see that Obama was very qualified even though it seemed as if his main claim to fame coming in was an admittedly great speech in the 2004 Dem convention. He gave some more great speeches-at the Jackson-Jefferson Dinner of late 2007, and his race speech regarding Jeremiah Wright in 2008.
But as qualified as both were and as both would be historical Presidents-the first black man or the first white woman-I wished both could be, though of course that was impossible.
That she was a white woman and he a black man always gave the two of them a certain symmetry. If you had a black woman against a white man there would be none. To say 'who was the more oppressed' had no straightforward answer.
Indeed, some, like Melissa Harris-Perry have scoffed that Hillary's election would be a big historic deal because-well why isn't clear.
Because in her mind Hillary is a privileged white woman? But white women too have always faced sexism as should be obvious. In fact, historically black men got the vote before them. True there was Jim Crow but legally speaking at least, there was a 55 year time lag. And Shirley Chisholm argued in 1969 that she found more prejudice as a woman than a black person in Congress. That explains a lot of why while most black leaders in 2008 ended up leaving Hillary for Obama, she never did till the end.
http://gos.sbc.edu/c/chisholm.html
That's a pretty stark statement. Indeed, Obama himself recently stated that he did agree that Hillary was the victim-and in some ways he was the beneficiary-of significant sexism. That doesn't deny that he has faced lots of racism.
So anyway, in 2008 I had wished they both could be President. And then a lot of Hillary supporters were hoping she would at least be Vice President. I doubted that Obama would do that.
As it turns out Obama had himself seriously considered her for VP. In his mind she was one of the finalists alongside Joe Biden. Ultimately his staff-many of who at the time nursed something of a Hillary grudge-talked him out of it.
However, he was determined to give her something, and he refused to let them talk him out of Secretary of State.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0033V4SDI?keywords=game%20change&qid=1458291086&ref_=sr_1_1&s=digital-text&sr=1-1
As the above linked book argues, despite their often very sharp 2008 campaign, Hillary-Obama is a love story.
In 2012, the lingering bad feelings-not between the two of them but with Bill-ended when the former POTUS was enlisted to help Obama with the re-elect.
http://www.amazon.com/Double-Down-Game-Change-2012-ebook/dp/B00C5R7EE6/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
Even though she was his SOS rather than VP, that is effectively what she ended up being as the person to carry on and finish the Obama legacy. Obama gave her his clear blessing in that 60 Minutes Interview after his re-election.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9uDUnywMu0
Hillary's position in 2016 is most similar to George Bush Sr. in 1988 and Al Gore in 2000. Gore made the fateful choice to distance himself from a popular sitting President as much as possible. He wanted to be a populist outsider. A VP running for effectively the Administration's third term can't be an outsider.
Hillary has to say the least not made this mistake. She has hugged him. But he has hugged her right back. And the Obama Coalition has come out very strong for her.
And the OC will be treated to plenty of direct campaigning for her from Obama himself who is planning to be anything but a wallflower this year.
He already has signaled to donors it's time to unify with Hillary.
http://lastmenandovermen.blogspot.com/2016/03/potus-to-donors-time-to-get-behind.html
He will be defending his own record and campaigning with her in force.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-is-increasingly-involved-in-the-2016-presidential-campaign/2016/03/17/0f76e0cc-eb13-11e5-b0fd-073d5930a7b7_story.html
So how more fitting a conclusion to the Obama-Hillary story for them to be on the campaign trail together?
No comments:
Post a Comment