ANALYSIS: Why I am taking Hillary's "endorsement" of Obama with a grain of salt!
Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on June 6, 2008 - 5:04am.
Hillary Clinton
Hello Everyone:
Each person will have to come to their own conclusion about this issue and I do not know what Hillary is really thinking right now but I am taking any "endorsement" that she gives to Obama with a grain of salt!
While I am no fan of Gloria Borger, I agree with her that Hillary has to endorse Obama whether she likes it or not because "it's also about her own political future:"
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0806/02/sitroom.03.html
THE SITUATION ROOM
Hillary's Next Move; Bill Clinton Angrier Now?
Aired June 2, 2008 - 18:00 ET
GLORIA BORGER, SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: "I have no doubt that Hillary Clinton will do, as Candy point out in her piece and the staffer was saying, that she will, in due time, when she feels it's the right moment -- she's getting a lot of pressure right now, obviously. She will embrace Barack Obama no matter what -- no matter what she's offered. Because not only is this about the future of the Democratic Party, but it's also about her own political future. And she understands that she can't tear down the village. And she's -- she's just not going to do that..."
Jeffrey Toobin of CNN made this point very clear on Thursday, June 5:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0806/05/sitroom.03.html
THE SITUATION ROOM
Obama Looks to Rally Support and Voters in Northern V.A.; Severe Weather: Tornadoes Touch Down in Midwest U.S.; How Will Clinton Make her Exit?
Aired June 5, 2008 - 18:00 ET
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: "Arguably, Jeff, this is going to be a very important speech, looking ahead to her (Hillary's) future. Obviously, his future is going to be significantly potentially affected. She's got, what, almost 18 million people who voted for her over the course of these many months. But it's going to help set the scene for her future going forward, as well.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: And she has to be known as someone who stood with her party. If she hopes to be president -- as she surely does -- look, Barack Obama may lose and there may be an opening in 2012. But in 2016, Hillary Clinton will be three years younger than John McCain is now. And women live longer than men. So she has a long period...
(LAUGHTER) TOOBIN: ...a long life and a long political career ahead of her. She has an interest in being a good sport and a good soldier. And she knows she has to be a good campaigner for Barack Obama..."
Hillary's "endorsement" of Obama will mean absolutely nothing to me because in my opinion the evidence very clearly shows that she is being forced to do it with a political gun being put to her head. I do not view it as something that she would necessarily have done on her own without being heavily pressured to do it by both the media and by the Democratic leadership who obviously want Obama:
http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/15695
Howard Kurtz documented how the media blasted Hillary for her speech on Tuesday!
Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on June 5, 2008 - 3:26am.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/06/dean-pelosi-rei.html
Dean, Pelosi, Reid set Friday deadline for superdelegates' choices, move to force end to Clinton bid
"With the final primary concluded barely hours before, top Democratic Party leaders in Washington early this morning ratcheted up the pressure to force all remaining uncommitted superdelegates to make their choice of candidate known by Friday -- and thus end the now hopeless, onetime front-running campaign of New York Sen. Hillary Clinton.
The joint statement was obviously pre-planned and timed for issue shortly after Clinton refused to concede the presidential nomination victory to Barack Obama, who's gained sufficient delegates to clinch the party's nomination..."
Suzanne Malveaux of CNN documented how that "Clinton loyalist Charlie Rangel helped negotiate where that end would be:"
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0806/05/acd.01.html
ANDERSON COOPER 360 DEGREES
Barack Obama Meets With Hillary Clinton
Aired June 5, 2008 - 22:00 ET
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "In the lead-up to Hillary Clinton's endorsement of Barack Obama, Clinton's most loyal supporters, her New York delegation, got behind her rival.
REP. CHARLIE RANGEL (D), NEW YORK: Outstanding candidate and, in our collective opinion, he has won the nomination.
MALVEAUX: Thursday's event is part of a highly-orchestrated public effort to make the best of what some saw as a serious Clinton blunder: her decision not to concede the race Tuesday night.
RANGEL: The New York congressional delegation is with her until the end, but we thought the end was the end.
MALVEAUX: Clinton loyalist Charlie Rangel helped negotiate where that end would be. Wednesday, in a series of conference calls with Hillary Clinton, Rangel expressed lawmakers' private frustrations that some were ready to quickly endorse Obama and move on.
Clinton aides tried to convince the delegation to wait until after Clinton herself gave Obama the nod. The compromise? This tortured announcement today.
RANGEL: We come here collectively to endorse the decision that's been made by our fearless leader who comes as a member of the state of New York that makes us so proud..."
Compare all of this to Gen. Clark's endorsement of Hillary back in September of 2007 which was very clearly done of his own free will and which he was very enthusiastic about:
http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/12725
I’m proud to endorse Hillary Clinton
Submitted by Wes Clark on September 15, 2007 - 12:10pm.
http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/12726
I'm not going anywhere -and I'm going to need you with me every step of the way
Submitted by Wes Clark on September 16, 2007 - 3:45pm.
Based on all of this evidence, my conclusion is that Hillary is being forced to "endorse" Obama against her own free will which is why I am definitely taking this "endorsement" with a grain of salt!
Mitch Dworkin
http://www.securingamerica.com/
http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/10756
StopIranWar.com: "War is not the answer"
Submitted by Wes Clark on February 21, 2007 - 11:40am.
http://www.securingamerica.com/ccn/node/7191
Listen to Gen. Wes Clark fight for Dems on Sean Hannity's radio program: An excellent example for all of us to follow and what we all need to be doing to help fight back against extreme right wing Neocon smear propaganda!
I did not appreciate Julie Roginsky saying about Hillary "she needs to make sure that she's not going the Ralph Nader of the 2008 election..."
There is no question in my opinion that Hillary is being forced to endorse Obama today whether she wants to or not which is why I am taking this "endorsement" with a grain of salt:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0806/06/ldt.01.html
LOU DOBBS TONIGHT
Unemployment Rate Rises; Tanking Economy Puts Presidential Candidates on the Spot; Illegal Alien Farm Worker Dies
Aired June 6, 2008 - 19:00 ET
LOU DOBBS, HOST: "Senator Clinton will officially end her bid for the White House tomorrow and formally endorse Senator Obama...
All right, how important is it, Julie, for what she does, how she does it? Important at all?
JULIE ROGINSKY, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Very important. I mean, she needs to make sure that she's not going the Ralph Nader of the 2008 election. She needs to tell all of her supporters they need to get in line behind Barack Obama. They need to put away the fact they're disappointed she's not the nominee, and they need to, you know, do whatever -- she needs to do whatever she can -- Bill Clinton needs to do whatever he can to make sure Barack Obama gets elected. Because the worst thing for her future is if Obama loses and the perception is he lost Clinton supporters stayed home at her behest. I don't think she's going to want to be that person..."
of the primary race against her own free will:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25044937/
'Meet the Press' transcript for June 8, 2008
Ron Allen, Lee Cowan, David Gregory, Andrea Mitchell, Kelly O'Donnell, Chuck Todd
MR. TIM RUSSERT: "Andrea Mitchell, on Tuesday the tone was much different, including the introduction of Senator Clinton. Let's watch.
(Videotape)
MR. TERRY McAULIFFE: Are you ready for the next president of the United States of America?
SEN. CLINTON: This has been a long campaign, and I will be making no decisions tonight.
(End videotape)
MR. RUSSERT: What happened between Tuesday and Saturday?
MS. ANDREA MITCHELL: Charlie Rangel. Pressure from her own biggest supporters. It was Charlie Rangel who first catapulted her into contention for the Senate.
MR. RUSSERT: The Democratic congressman from Harlem.
MS. MITCHELL: The Democratic congressman from Harlem, her biggest supporter, who said, "How can we, as members, deal with this? He is the nominee, you have to accept it." And there was such anger among some of her supporters. They didn't understand her mindset, which was, "I just won South Dakota. I have all of these votes. I have to thank my supporters. I have to pull them along with me." She thought she had time, that she could take a week or longer. She had no intention of giving the speech Saturday until her own Democrats came to her and said, "Enough already. We can't live with this, we have to get off the fence." There was a lot of pressure, and she finally did come to it. And it is a question as to whether people will remember the lack of grace on Tuesday--her own supporters said people don't understand her emotional connection and that she needed time--or the speech on Saturday, which I think was a perfect coming together of everything she needed to do..."
by the Democratic Party leadership and the superdelegates, then Hillary will be right there to pick up the pieces since she will only be suspending her campaign as opposed to ending it!
Two months until August is still a lot of time and the GOP attack machine will be focusing 100% of their attacks now on a highly unvetted Obama who has been given a near free ride by most of the media so far!
If Hillary takes this fight to the convention without something big happening to Obama, then the consequences of that would be is she would be crucified around the clock by the media and by the entire Democratic leadership. Even her own supporters in elected office would not support her out of fear of the next election and/or upsetting Obama, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi!
If Hillary takes this fight to the convention and loses it which is what would more than likely happen, then life in the Senate going forward would probably not be very pleasant for her and even Bill Clinton's legacy could be at stake with many Democrats. Hillary would also be blamed for Obama's loss to McCain by her lack of support for him which many Democrats would probably resent for a long time!
That so many superdelegates came out for Obama so quickly in my opinion shows their lack of spine to do the right thing of backing the more electable candidate in Hillary as opposed to going with Obama who in my opinion is the Democratic "rock star" and "media darling" of the moment!
Hillary got a very raw deal in my opinion. Obama is only where he is right now because of his highly charismatic oratory skills, because of his race, and most of all because nearly all of the mainstream media have been rooting for him and were giving him a near free ride while they were trashing Hillary which of course influences how people will vote. Obama in my opinion is NOT where he is right now based on a serious debate of the issues which is what this primary race really should have been about!