Members Roman Posted June 6, 2008 Members Share Posted June 6, 2008 WASHINGTON - Hillary Rodham Clinton met late Thursday with Barack Obama, a day after saying she would end her quest for the Democratic nomination and endorse the Illinois senator. A senior Obama campaign official confirmed to NBC News that Obama delayed his departure from Washington Thursday night to meet with Clinton at her home here. Earlier, Clinton had disavowed efforts by some supporters who have urged Obama to choose her as his running mate. "She is not seeking the vice presidency, and no one speaks for her but her," communications director Howard Wolfson said. "The choice here is Senator Obama's and his alone." Clinton was planning an event in Washington Saturday to thank supporters and urge them to back Obama's candidacy. But as she was bowing out of the race, supporters in Congress and elsewhere were ramping up a campaign to pressure him to put her on the ticket in the No. 2 spot. Bob Johnson, the billionaire founder of Black Entertainment Television and a Clinton supporter, sent a letter to the Congressional Black Caucus Wednesday urging the group to encourage Obama to choose Clinton as his vice presidential pick. He said he was doing so with her blessing. Obama is seeking to become the first black president. Clinton has told other friends and supporters she would be willing to be Obama's running mate. But her immediate task is bringing her own presidential bid to a close. High stakes In an e-mail to supporters, the New York senator said she "will be speaking on Saturday about how together we can rally the party behind Senator Obama. The stakes are too high and the task before us too important to do otherwise." Clinton expressed the same sentiment in a conference call with 40 members of her national finance committee, whom she urged to begin raising money for Obama and for the Democratic National Committee. "She was in good spirits and totally supportive, without qualification, of Senator Obama and his campaign," finance co-chairman Alan Patricof said of the call. It was a shift in tone by the former first lady, who announced 17 months ago that she was "in it to win it." Many of her supporters want her as the vice presidential candidate, in their minds a "dream ticket" that would bring Obama her enthusiastic legions and broaden his appeal to white and working-class voters. But Obama indicated he intends to take his time making a decision. "We're not going to be rushed into it. I don't think Senator Clinton expects a quick decision and I don't even know that she's necessarily interested in that," Obama told NBC in an interview. June 5: A Hardball panel debates whether Sen. Hillary Clinton lost her chance as the potential vice presidential candidate by waiting so long to drop out of the nomination race. Hardball Clinton's move to formally declare that she is backing the Illinois senator came after Democratic congressional colleagues made clear they had no stomach for a protracted intraparty battle. Now that Obama has secured the 2,118 delegates necessary to clinch the nomination, Clinton had little choice but to end her quest, and sooner rather than later. Some of Clinton's closest supporters — the nearly two dozen House Democrats from her home state of New York — switched their endorsements to Obama Thursday. The public announcement from the 23 New York followed two days of private phone calls weighing her options. "She was just as spunky as ever," Rep. Charlie Rangel said of Clinton's mood on the calls, as her friends and supporters urged her to come to a decision "sooner rather than later." Many of the lawmakers said it was important for them, as New Yorkers who are close to Clinton and helped launch her presidential bid, to work together to repair some of the rifts in the party. "We're Democrats. Dammit to hell we fight. When it's over, we come together and go out there to win," said Rangel, the dean of the New York delegation. The New Yorkers, said Rep. Gregory Meeks, have a duty "to lead this transition" to full party support of Obama. Another of Clinton's most prominent supporters, Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, also announced his "wholehearted and enthusiastic support" for Obama Thursday. Exit strategy The move to end her campaign came Tuesday, when Clinton told House Democrats during a private conference call that she would get behind Obama's candidacy and congratulate him for gathering the necessary delegates to be the party's nominee. The only degree of uncertainty was how. Clinton is exploring options to retain her delegates and promote her issues, including a signature call for universal health care. The announcement closed an epic five-month nominating battle pitting the first serious female candidate against the most viable black contender ever. Obama on Tuesday night secured the delegates needed to clinch the Democratic nomination. But Clinton stopped short of acknowledging that milestone, defiantly insisting she was better positioned to defeat McCain in November. "What does Hillary want? What does she want?" Clinton asked, hours after telling supporters she'd be open to joining Obama as his vice presidential running mate. But by Wednesday, other Democrats made it abundantly clear they wanted something too: a swift end to the often bitter nominating contest. Her decision to acquiesce caught many in her campaign by surprise and left them scrambling to finalize the logistics and specifics behind her campaign departure. Chuck Todd of NBC News and The Associated Press contributed to this report Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Roman Posted June 6, 2008 Members Share Posted June 6, 2008 Now, please, look at this! http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/06/06/c...jeb-hensarling/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members EricaKane70 Posted June 7, 2008 Members Share Posted June 7, 2008 I wonder how msnbc is going to cope if Hillary is out of this race for good, they won't know what to talk about. Unless she is obama's vp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GHJunkie4Life Posted June 7, 2008 Members Share Posted June 7, 2008 Lol I'm so angry that I have to work today. I'm going to miss Hilary's big speech...... Not that I'm expecting anything great out of it. I doubt it will approach the quality of an Obama speech nor do I think it will truly genuine. Just more damage control to already way too damaged public image. I'd have paid a million dollars to be a fly on the wall during that meeting between the 2 of them (Obama and Clinton). I hope he basically told her that he's not going to select her for VP but he's not going to reveal his choice until a week or 2 from now...maybe longer. But basically just to keep her out of the limelight and not get her hopes up. Its time to close the door on the Clintons for good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wales2004 Posted June 7, 2008 Members Share Posted June 7, 2008 The person who will suffer the most at MSNBC is going to be CM because she is his favorite topic. I think he has sort of a dislike/fascination thing going with her where he somewhat admires her achievements but doesn't really like her and is stopping himself from saying quite what he really thinks. KO, on the other hand, focuses on what she does that he doesn't like as opposed to her as a person. For all intents and purposes he was through with her the day he did his rant and he now seems to talk about her only because she made herself news as opposed to him having any real interest in her plans. ITA with you regarding the damage control aspect of this. I don't see anything noble or gracious about conceding after some of your own supporters had to press the issue. The meeting between the two of them was probably awkward but necessary. I don't know that he needed to bring the VP spot up at all or that he ever needs to tell her she's not going to be his choice (if she's not). In order to stay on the road to recovery, she needs to work for the party. It's enough that he will probably reach out to his supporters to get her massive debt paid off which he shouldn't have to do at all. He doesn't owe her anything at all. He's been respectful and heaped praise on her all over the place and hopefully next week he can start making speeches that don't mention at her at all. She doesn't have the ability to deliver the millions of votes she got because more than half of those voters are staying with their party. I am skeptical of the numbers the media is throwing around since the question of what if she is not the candidate might have shown up later in the process which means the percentage is not based on total voters but the percentage on exit polls from the point they started asking, i.e., I don't recall that they asked that question earlier on in the primaries. Whatever real leverage or presumed leverage she had was gone when the shake down for VP began. Now she looks bad to some people who may have liked or tolerated her and even worse to those who didn't like her or who grew to dislike her during this protracted race. They put Obama in a position of looking weak if he offers her the position now or even a month or so from now. That was the worst strategic move she could have made and who knows if she can even unify those voters that she helped anger by touting sexism. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ryan Posted June 7, 2008 Members Share Posted June 7, 2008 The first couple of minutes of her speech today she repeated teh same stuff she said earlier in the week.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ryan Posted June 7, 2008 Members Share Posted June 7, 2008 This is a very good speech.....she looks very pretty today. Give the way she is today (and her policies)....I want her as VP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wales2004 Posted June 7, 2008 Members Share Posted June 7, 2008 I don't want her as Obama's VP but if the nominee had been someone else then I might have been able to see it. I don't like the divisive campaign she ran and it's great that she's giving a good speech today but while I sat watching the drama of her even giving a speech I came to the conclusion that this is a bit of drama that shouldn't have even had to happen. She should have acknowledged that he had the delegates on Tuesday. This whole thing has become about her and I personally don't like that. I give her a lot of credit for pursuing her dreams many people don't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members EricaKane70 Posted June 7, 2008 Members Share Posted June 7, 2008 Obama/hillary 2008. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ryan Posted June 7, 2008 Members Share Posted June 7, 2008 Watching Hillary today is reminding me of the Hillary I loved and supported for years. The healing has begun.... Obama/Hillary Team 08! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TC Posted June 7, 2008 Members Share Posted June 7, 2008 I'm almost on board with this. Great, supportive speech by Hillary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ryan Posted June 7, 2008 Members Share Posted June 7, 2008 I really enjoyed her tone, I loved her passion, I loved her honesty. She has every right to praise herself for her historic achievements in this race. MSNBC bitching b/c she "spoke too much about herself," can STFU. Hillary won be back over today, and I will support an Obama/Clinton ticket, and in 2012, should she choose to run, I will vehemently support her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members EricaKane70 Posted June 7, 2008 Members Share Posted June 7, 2008 ITA. I'm so sick of MSNBC bitching and complaining about her, so they do need to STFU. She gave her full support to obama, so what are they complaining about? They just find any little thing to belittle her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TC Posted June 7, 2008 Members Share Posted June 7, 2008 She owes it to all those hardworking supporters to talk about herself. No way around that no matter what the pundits say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wales2004 Posted June 7, 2008 Members Share Posted June 7, 2008 Let me position myself against all of you because IA with MSNBC for the most part. I don't have a problem with her pointing out her achievements but I thought she did that Tuesday in her victory speech so it was rinse and repeat for me. The thing I actually loved about her speech is that she encouraged young people to hope. This is a very emotional moment for people and I can see why. It doesn't negate the crap for me so yes, move forward and yes let her get her opportunity to bridge the gap she created. But for me it's an emphatic NO to her on his ticket. That's my song and I'll sing it louder as this goes on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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