Barack Obama Elected President!

[Roman]

Hillary Dangerfield Gets No Respect

Posted 5/27/2008 8:12 AM CDT

Bill Clinton gave a speech in South Dakota on Sunday in which he continued to promote the theory of a media conspiracy against Hillary, and suggested the Democratic Party should nominate his wife "unless we want to lose the election." If that weren’t enough, Bill added that he has "never seen a candidate treated so disrespectfully just for running."

I’m not certain because I wasn’t there, but there must have been a short man in a white suit standing by Bill’s side, pointing to the sky and shouting "the planes boss, the planes". Clearly, Bill has taken up residence on Fantasy Island.

First to the idea of a media conspiracy against Hillary. Would that be the same media that made Hillary the frontrunner before a single vote was cast? The same media that gave the Democratic Primary field the name Hillary and the Seven Dwarfs in the weeks and months before Obama’s upset win in Iowa? That media, Bill? The way I remember it, it was the Mainstream Media that had all but coronated Hillary Clinton since the day she announced her candidacy.

Now to the notion that only Hillary can beat John McCain in the general election. On this point I suspect Bill may have a dyslexia problem as he reads the general election polls. As I interpret the data from RealClearPolitics, in the cumulative results from 7 different pollsters, Obama leads McCain in 4 polls, they are running even in 2, and McCain leads Obama in only one.

On the issue of R-E-S-P-E-C-T, I would contend that the Clintons received undeserved respect for too long in the days following Super Tuesday. Obviously, Hillary and her staff had no plan or strategy for that time. They assumed that the race would be over and they could turn their focus to the general election. And everybody knows the old saying about ASS-U-ME-D.

Hillary was not prepared for a long struggle and did not have the organization in place after Super Tuesday, causing her to lose 11 straight contests. That lack of being able to assess the field and plan accordingly does not speak well of someone who wants to run an effective general election campaign against John McCain, or someone who wants to run the country for that matter.

What has proven to be true is that the support for Hillary was 10 miles wide and 1/4 inch deep. Democrats supported her because they thought she could win. What they saw when Obama starting gaining momentum was a candidate that could win whose last name was not Clinton and did not carry all the baggage that goes along with that name.

It had nothing to do with respect. In my opinion, it was and is, all about CFS (Clinton Fatigue Syndrome). This is an illness not only within the Democratic Party, but one that has spread to the country as a whole.

[DevotedToAMC]

Because he is the offspring of the one she mentioned (Robert Kennedy) so it comes to him the most since he has the father/son bond to the person who she spoke about in her remark.

If Ted is affected by them, that is his right. However, I am sure he has far more pressing issues on his mind right now with the tumor that he is not worried over what she said.

[Roman]

Wow.

Ok.

[Ryan]

And you won't see Hillary Clinton get 2,025 delegates after next week's primaries......ever. Not without MI and FL seated, and not with.

[Wales2004]

I think I posted before that the rest of the Kennedy family would probably say it didn't bother them either. What purpose would it serve for any of them to come out and make a big deal out of it?

It's wrong to make the supposition that just because none of these individuals including Obama is going to stand up and make something out of this that none of them might have been the least bit bothered. If it bothered Obama's wife, for instance, then it bothered him since she'd let him know she was bothered. He's not in a position to make a big deal out of it. But his supporters could very well put it on their list of problems with HC such as:

Her husband dubbed him the "black candidate," reduced his victory in SC to being just like Jesse Jackson, referred to his candidacy as fairytale, accused him of playing the race card on him, infers that he is part of a mass conspiracy against her, and other wonderful things.

She invoked the fear of Osama bin laden, twisted the knife on JW, ran the "bitter" remarks in the ground, inferred that he was unpatriotic, pointed out that hard working, white people vote for her, and infers that he is not electable among other things.

[Ryan]

Exactly. IMO she was never aiming to be VP or even aiming to have Obama be her VP, given the way she beat him down and attacked him over the months. If she was going to follow ANY Republican, she should follow Ronald Regan's motto "Thou shall not attack another Republican," or in this case, a Democrat.

Exactly. They both could have handled the race better up to this point. I now see what the critics of HRC have been saying for years....she's divisive, she's polarizing. If this nomination race hasn't been a prime example of that, I don't know what is.

[Roman]

And this is the same divisive figure who everyone is supposed to forget all the ills she andher campaign did, push BO to the side, shanghai he nom, and we are all supposed to vote for her.

[Roman]

by Mark Silva

Chuck Todd, the NBC News political director, suggests a few things about Hillary Clinton's unrelenting candidacy, including this: The senator from New York could have done herself more good, in the long run, if she still hopes someday to become president, by suspending her candidacy some time ago.

"She is not making any friends with Obama-nation,'' Todd said today on MSNBC's Morning Joe. "And the fact is, if she ever wants to be president, she has to make friends with Obama-nation.''

That's Obama-nation, not, you know...

"She is having a harder and harder time, I think, making the case for why staying in, rather than suspending her candidacy, would be better,'' Todd said. "You wonder (if Clinton hopes to rekindle her presidential campaign a few years down the road) "if she's going to regret having continued this campaign full bore.''

Campaigning the way she has, Todd suggests, has led to problems such as "that sort of flub on Friday,'' when Clinton likened the race to that of 1968, the year that Bobby Kennedy was assassinated while campaigning in California in June. She was speaking of the duration of the campaign, she insisted later, not the assassination.

Why then, if this year's contest is truly over, Boston columnist Mike Barnicle asked, have all the remaining superdelegates not rallied around Barack Obama?

"Because Clinton hasn't dropped out,'' Todd replied. "They always want to go up to President Clinton, to Sen. Clinton, and say, 'I was with you,' until the end. "hey always want to be able to tell President Clinton, 'I was with you.'''

"The weasel effect,'' Barnicle suggested.

"You said weasel,'' Todd said, "I didn't.''

[Wales2004]

Today's big story is Obama got the concentration camp wrong. He said Auchwitz instead of Buchenwald. His people later released a statement to correct his error and the RNC can now spend time studying the ramifications of this error. I'm not sure how this will affect his political future but it's sure to make people think.

Chuck Todd might consider sticking to numbers lest he become the next co-star of The Conspiracy. Unlike CM and KO, he doesn't have his own show on which he can mention it and feign shock.

[Roman]

Was this a big deal?

[Wales2004]

It's a slow political news day so it remains to be seen but it seems not because it's a location error as opposed to an error in his actual story.

[Roman]

From CNN:

Remember all those wrestling "death matches," during which they talked about guys tearing their opponents' heads off in the ring? We all knew wrestling is fake, but the promotion was awesome, because it always sucked us in.

Lest anyone think the race for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination is going to end peacefully in June, forget about it.

Sen. Hillary Clinton will do anything and everything to win, and the idea that Sen. Barack Obama should give in to her demands to seat the Michigan and Florida delegates is ludicrous. When you're ahead, you don't concede any ground. If the roles were reversed, she would do the same.

This race, regardless of what anyone says, is still airtight. Obama has the lead among superdelegates and has garnered a majority of pledged delegates, but they always can change their allegiance, per Democratic Party rules, and don't think for a second that the Clinton camp doesn't understand that.

Her comments to The Associated Press that she may take this to the convention in August shouldn't be dismissed. I don't think Clinton cares about the party. Last week, CNN's Suzanne Malveaux said a Clinton source told her that their focus is Clinton first and the party second.

The only way Obama can truly focus on the next step is if he does everything to get to 2,026 delegates. If he gets there first, he wins. But Clinton will go to the mat to prevent that from happening.

Everyone talks about her running in 2012 if Obama wins the Democratic nomination but loses the general election, or 2016 if he wins two terms. But nothing is guaranteed. She's 60 years old. This is her best shot at winning, and she'll leave it all on the table to try to get the nomination.

In the past few days, her surrogates, and even Clinton herself, have ramped up the talk about sexism. There is little doubt that she is trying to stir the ire of her female base and push them to demand that she either be the nominee or be given the vice president slot. But it's really about the former rather than the latter.

In Florida on Wednesday, she invoked slavery and the epic civil rights battle against Jim Crow in her quest to count the vote in Florida as-is.

Forget the fact that she once said the states wouldn't matter because they broke the rules.

Forget the fact that many of her supporters on the Democratic National Committee's rules committee supported the stripping of delegates in Michigan and Florida.

Ask Roland Martin

Take part in an America Votes 2008 special presentation with Roland Martin on CNNRadio and CNN.com Live, at noon ET Wednesday. Send your questions to Martin by clicking here, or call us during the show at 877-266-4189. And forget the fact that her chief supporter in Michigan, Gov. Jennifer Granholm, a Democrat, signed the bill into law that allowed the state to move up its primary.

Clinton and her supporters now discount all of that and act as if they were always champions of the "disenfranchised" voters in Florida and Michigan. But they weren't. And the record is clear. Only when it became apparent that she needed the states' delegates to close the gap with Obama did she change her tune. She said one thing in Iowa and New Hampshire and now is saying something else.

The Clintonites don't want any compromises in Michigan and Florida. They want the results to stay the same, even though Obama's name wasn't on the ballot in Michigan and all candidates signed an agreement not to campaign in those two states.

But The Wall Street Journal and other media outlets say the Clinton camp doesn't care. Her biggest backer, former President Clinton, is telling her to stay in it until the end, hoping to persuade superdelegates to switch and give her the nomination.

The DNC rules committee will meet May 31. Expect a bloodbath. Trust me; there will be nothing nice about that meeting.

The Obama camp better not let its guard down. The Clinton camp is gearing up for a protracted battle. Folks, this is for all the marbles, and feelings -- and party -- be damned.

Only one thing is certain: If this battle goes to Denver, the Democrats might as well dump those inauguration tickets on eBay, because supporters of Sen. John McCain will need them.

Roland S. Martin is a nationally award-winning journalist and CNN contributor. Martin is studying to receive his master's degree in Christian communications at Louisiana Baptist University. You can read more of his columns at http://www.rolandsmartin.com/.

[Ryan]

From the AP:

The era of big Clintons is soon over

By CALVIN WOODWARD Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - There's been a Clinton running for the White House or living in it for approximately forever.

Bill, it could be said, was born to run. Running became Hillary's destiny, too.

One quarter of Americans have never known life without a Clinton trying for or having the presidency. Millions have gone from diapers to diplomas in the time of the Clintons.

When Hillary Rodham Clinton finally exits the 2008 Democratic presidential race, she will end a decades-long, power-couple streak of unique political energy, savvy ideas, colossal policy flops and raw ambition dressed in pants suits and briefs, not boxers.

"Every day is an adventure," Bill said cheerfully at the start of it all. And how.

By now, the Clintons have been assigned mystical qualities of perseverance. The notion that the adventure is over is almost beyond comprehension.

"I never quit," she says. "I never give up."

Even in defeat, Hillary Clinton has made history as the first woman favored for a major party presidential nomination - the first with a real shot at the presidency.

She's gotten more than 17 million votes in her own right this year, enticingly close to the number won by Barack Obama, who is making history, too, because he's black.

With her cachet, not to mention her job in the Senate, Clinton won't drift far from the nation's consciousness. (Nor is Bill likely to get out of the country's face.)

"Whatever else you might say about them, they have contributed to substantive dialogue and policy," says Mary Matalin, a Clinton-era Republican strategist. "Hats off to them substantively.

"They're really kind of giants in this world."

In the 2012 and 2016 presidential campaign years, Hillary Clinton, now 60, will still be younger than the Republican candidate, John McCain, is now. Meantime, she could become a powerhouse senator in the manner of the stricken Edward M. Kennedy. Or a Supreme Court justice. Or Obama's running mate.

Soon, though, there will be no Clinton running for president or about to. Imagine that.

---

Clinton I:

Dial back to Bill Clinton's two terms and a few big achievements and various smaller ones stand out: unsurpassed economic growth, a balanced budget, welfare reform, free trade, a Middle East peace agreement, gun control, more money for police on the street, the first Cabinet without white men in the majority.

Here was a man who could wear people out talking about the fine points of policy while owning up to his choice of underwear.

Another legacy was the transcendent His and Hers failure: universal health care. The complex, secretively drawn plan to achieve that goal was sent to and killed by a Democratic Congress, no less.

And there were the scandals, His and Hers.

They are known, in brief, as: Monica Lewinsky, Paula Jones, Gennifer Flowers, Whitewater, the White House travel office firings, White House coffees and Lincoln bedroom stays for donors, FBI background files on Republicans, missing documents and the presidential pardon of a fugitive friend.

The episodes involving women were his. Most of the others were theirs or hers.

---

Scene from a 'funeral':

In January 2001, shortly before George W. Bush was sworn in, some of the Clintons' fiercest critics from the right gathered in a Washington hotel to feast on filet mignon, salmon and sour grapes.

"It's our way of celebrating the fumigation of Washington," said L. Brent Bozell III, host of the "funeral" for the Clinton years.

"I've never seen a back I've found more attractive," said Robert Bork, the scuttled Supreme Court nominee, meaning Bill Clinton's back when he left town.

Bozell amended the 23rd Psalm to say of Mrs. Clinton: "Her socialist agenda got runneth over." And the Rev. Jerry Falwell gave the invocation, thanking God "a new wind is blowing."

They seemed to be forgetting someone.

Hillary Clinton came blowing into the Senate chamber, the newly minted junior senator from New York.

---

Clinton II:

She was diligent from the start, attentive to constituent needs and a hard worker on the Armed Services Committee. She promised to be "pretty New York-centric," and was.

But everything she did was colored by the expectation of a presidential run

The most polarizing woman in politics turned into a workhorse and formed surprising alliances with Republicans.

She edged toward the center and attempted to accomplish in little pieces what she could not pull off as a whole in her years as first lady.

Clinton joined Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, an architect of her husband's impeachment, in a law improving health coverage for members of the National Reserve and Guard serving in Iraq.

She pushed for tighter regulation of prescription drugs for children and help for recovery workers whose health was impaired by laboring at the site of the 2001 World Trade Center terrorist attack.

And she voted to authorize the Iraq invasion, which she would never live down after she cruised to re-election in 2006.

No monumental law bears her name.

But in the campaign, universal health care returned to her agenda. This time, she said, she would learn from her experience and do it right - more openly and less intrusively on parts of the health care system that work.

Clinton was the one to beat out of the gate. Everyone knew her, for one thing.

"Ninety-nine percent of the country feels they have a relationship with her," said Mike McCurry, former press secretary to President Clinton.

And there was Bill, still in everyone's face. He stumped for his wife as if possessed. Hillary Clinton flashed him that bright smile on stage through thick and thin.

For some voters, that was one Clinton - or two - too many.

"We've had enough of the Clintons," said Haydon Grubbs, 77, of Shalimar, Fla. "New direction, right?"

Grubbs, a Republican who voted in the past for the "He Clinton," backed Obama this time.

The "She Clinton" found her own voice.

But, like her husband, she seemed the strongest when her back was against the wall.

As the odds of beating Obama sank into the nearly impossible, she campaigned as if there were some previously undiscovered "third way" to win, just as Bill Clinton had sought a third way to govern between the old politics of left and right.

On Friday, she cited the 1968 Democratic primaries as a reason why she should stay in the race. She mentioned the assassination of Robert Kennedy in June of that year, then apologized for bringing it up.

---

Together, Bill and Hillary Clinton have pulled it out of the fire over and over, going back to 1976, when he bounced back from losing a congressional race two years earlier. He won election as Arkansas attorney general.

Two years after that, at 32, he became the nation's youngest governor.

Then, defeat in 1980 when he sought a second term. It would be his final election loss, but hardly the last dip in the Clintons' seemingly endless cycle of failure and renewal.

By the mid-1980s, when he was back in office in Little Rock, Clinton's name was floating as a Democratic presidential prospect.

He took a pass in 1988. But that year marked one benchmark in the rollout of the Clinton era.

He delivered a speech at the Democratic convention laying out a new orthodoxy that he would bring to the presidential race himself four years later, his activist wife at his side.

The Clintons' national conversation had begun.

The speech went on for so long that some people wondered if it would ever end.

In a way, it never did. Not until now.

(This version CORRECTS SUBS 28th graf to correct to 23rd Psalm)

[DevotedToAMC]

That is what I am saying. NEither one will get the amount with just the remaining pledged delegates

[Roman]

He'll receive the rest of the SDs and then he'll go past the mark.