Hillary Calls for Unity: "No Way, No How, No McCain"

by Deb Cupples |  At the Democratic convention last night, Hillary Clinton called for Democrats to unify and support Barack Obama -- just as she had done so impressively back in June (see June video here ).  The first few minutes of last night's speech are below, and it gets better.

Did you hear that in the video?  Hillary said --

- That she is "a proud supporter of Barack Obama"

- "Barack Obama is my candidate. And he must be our president"

- "No way. No how. Now McCain." (CNN)

Hillary also argued that our nation's future depends on electing Obama president.  She also argued that all the public-oriented goals she's been working for are shared by Obama.  She also listed numerous reasons that she supports Obama.  (See other CNN video clips or last night's transcript here).

In short, I don't think anyone's pro-Obama arguments could have been any stronger or better presented than Hillary's were last night (other than Michelle's, but she's married to him).

There is a remote possibility, of course, that Hillary was toting a special mind-control ray-gun but spitefully refused to use it for Obama's benefit -- though I didn't see any conspicuous bulges in her pantsuit.  Admittedly, the ray gun might be as slim as an I-Pod. 

Seriously, though, if Hillary's convention speech failed to persuade some of her supporters, then I suspect that those supporters are simply not persuade-able at this point in time.

Oh well.  Has any presidential candidate in the last 50 years received the vote of every member of his party?

I don't understand why some people are so nasty or condescending toward Hillary holdouts.  It is their right to support or oppose any candidate, for any reason.  It is their right to speculate differently from me or you (or Hillary or the folks at MSNBC...) that one candidate would be less awful than the other.

Incidentally, that's exactly what we're all doing when we bet on a non-incumbent presidential candidate: speculating based on our own differing information (or lack thereof), concerns, feelings, values....  HIstory's great lesson: candidates sounded way different on the campaign trail compared to how they act once in office.

As Forrest Gump's mom said, "...you never know what you're gonna get."

If you've read my campaign coverage, you know that I have serious concerns about Sen. Obama, based on issues, events, acts and omissions.  The causes for my concerns stemmed from active research -- beyond media sound bites.  I never have been one to blindly adopt other people's opinions, however nifty sounding.

Despite my substantive concerns, I have come to support Obama, because I think that a McCain Administration would be worse for us ordinary folks. 

While I'm at-very-best tepid toward Obama, Hillary Clinton was on fire over him last night.

As we head toward the November election, I hope that the contentious segment of emotionally-invested Obama supporters (including bloggers an media outlets) will remember Hillary's repeated support for Obama since June and stop trying to make her an issue.

I also hope that they'll employ diplomacy when dealing with or speaking about Hillary holdouts -- or that they'll just not deal with them at all.

Nobody gains anything when insults or hostility flies.  Nobody.  (Except, maybe, juiced up kids who somehow experience momentary relief from vitriolic venting sessions.)

Furthermore, I hope that the media will stop trying to create dramas where they don't exist.   I bring this up because of a Salon article I read yesterday, which includes this description of a convention occurrence and one media personality's apparently Mars-based description of it:

"'This is where you see the civil war!' burbled Chris Matthews, experiencing near-asphyxiatory pleasure on an outdoor stage in the sweltering Denver heat, while behind him two competing groups, Obama supporters and the PUMA (Party Unity My Ass) backers of Hillary Clinton, chanted 'Obama! Obama!' and 'Hillary! Hillary!' at each other. Matthews looked as though he might wet himself as a camera panned the crowd, and he declared, 'We're at ground zero!'

"Actually, he was about six blocks away from the Pepsi Center, the crowd behind him was probably no more than a hundred strong, and at least one of them was dressed as a toilet (a gesture that seemed to have nothing to do with Clinton or Obama).

"But this is how media fantasy gets made, a miniature tableau of political discord, played out in front of a couple of well-placed television cameras and a television host who finds fetishistic, hyperbolic meaning in everything having to do with the defeated Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and her still-sore supporters."

Similarly, Eric at Media Matters gave a detailed account of many journalists' fact-averse  concocting of stories treating Hillary's mere presence at the convention as anomalous.  Eric correctly points out that neither her presence nor her name on the ballot was out of the norm:

"In years past, Democratic candidates who won lots of primaries and accumulated hundreds of delegates (sorry, Howard Dean and Bill Bradley) have always been allowed to address the convention and very often place their name into nomination. It's the norm. It's expected. It's a formality."

I hope that media folks (and regular folks, too) will finally realize that this election stopped being about Hillary when she publicly endorsed Obama back in June.  She's not campaigning, she's not competing, she's not fighting.

I know, some people are still upset to the point of whining because Hillary said some negative things about Obama during the primaries, which John McCain is now using. 

Oh, well.  That's what candidates do in primaries -- even Obama, who did his share of painting Hillary with unflattering brushes (I've got easy access to numerous linked sources if you want to debate that).

Also remember that Obama's running mate was repeatedly caught on tape saying bad stuff about Obama and good stuff about McCain -- stuff that McCain is now using.  So, anyone hell bent on slamming Hillary for "providing ammo" should also be slamming Biden.

Fact: without a functioning time machine, we cannot go back and make all of Obama's former opponents refrain from criticizing him.

That said, isn't it time to get over all that Hillary-hatred and turn attention to the future?  Yeah, I'm talking to instigators who've reached drama-queen proportions, like Chuck Todd at MSNBC and mind-reading Ron Fournier at the AP.

Let's move on, shall we?

Memeorandum has commentary.

Other Buck Naked Politics Posts:

* FDIC Says More Banks are in Trouble

* Alan Grayson Wins Primary -- to Face Ric Keller

* Progress on White House Subpoenas?
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Comments

[Charles]

Yep, with a mere sixty-some days to the election, it is, indeed, time to move on.

I don't think most people realize how far along we are in the election cycle. What remains is a sprint, with no time for errors and no time for recriminations.