Barack Obama Elected President!

[Wales2004]

South is technically right. Her campaign is suspended and she can raise money to pay off her debts in that capacity. Obama will probably get some of his donors to help pay it off.

He hasn't said anything that came close to things she's said or implied. Moving on or forward is a lovely sentiment but not everyone does it and certainly not as quickly as others may. The Republicans aren't going to move on simply because the Democrats are singing the Unity song. They'll use some of what HC said when it looked like she and McCain were running against Obama and on the same team. That's what happens in politics.

I don't find HC charismatic at all. McCain has a sort of appeal, to me, l when he's talking about life in general but I don't care for his brand of politics. He doesn't have the gift that Obama has in terms of delivering a speech but the town hall meetings he's pushing would be right up his alley. I hope a woman that has that thing Obama has bursts onto the political scene soon.

[Wales2004]

That was huge for the people I know that were gung ho for her and that's where it ended for them. I think more people got emotionally invested in this than they normally would have gotten before and I don't know anyone personally who has brushed it off as a political move. It doesn't matter whether they liked or speech or not. You can't put a band aid on an open wound and fix it. Now for the sake of winning an election, they have to let it remain the elephant in the room but it'll fester and boil eventually.

[Southofnowhere]

She's not out she can still ask for money and she can still get back into the race anytime she wants!

[Wales2004]

Exactly.

[EricaKane70]

I did say he didn't say as many negative things as hillary has said. When I say move on I'm talking about the democrats, of course the republicans aren't going to move they are still complaining about obama not wearing the pin flag. I expect more rev. wright videos from the republicans also. So obama has his work cut out for him. We will just have to agree to disagree about McCain and Hillary being charismatic. I think any setting where McCain has to speak in a crowd will be bad, he has to use a teleprompter. If hillary isn't vp I think he should look at kathleen sebelius of kansas, she would make a good running mate.

To south, I think it would be political suicide for hillary to even think she can get back in the race, thats why I said she was out. If she has any chance of being obama's vp she must realize this.

[Jess]

I was as big a critic of Hillary towards the end as anyone. However, she was great on Saturday, and she has no intention of getting back into the race. John Edwards suspended his campaign too and I don't think he has any intention of getting back into the race. She can not raise money to pay off her debt if she ends her campaign. The FEC requires her to be a candidate. In order to pay off her debt, she can only suspend. Obama is already asking his large donors, those who have maxed out to him, to help her and give a large gift. If you got to her web page right now, it doesn't say elected Hillary Clinton, it says elect Barack Obama. She is out.

[Wales2004]

It doesn't matter to me whether they each said 50 negative things about each other or she said 30 and he said 20, it's all about what was said or implied. He had to fight against people believing he is unpatriotic and she and her husband contributed to that. I'm sure he'll keep dealing. I don't find either McCain or HC charismatic so sure we can disagree. I think he's okay.

Kathleen Sebelliius seems great and I think she could be one of those persons to make an impact but I don't think she's the one. I think he needs to have a man on the ticket with him. He'll have a better chance outside the Democratic bubble with another man on the ticket.

It's a strategic move that may or may not pay off in a certain way but at least it gets the debt paid off. She's probably not even in the running for VP regardless of her speech. She has to play along regardless of the VP spot for her to retain some political clout because she overplayed her hand last week and lost her leverage.

[2shane8]

People like you scare me. I really hope Obama picks a female running mate and we can move this country towards a future free of sexism.

[EricaKane70]

None that matters now, to me at least, was the point I was trying to make. The party needs to be unified now instead of worrying about what was said days, weeks, and months ago. Obama is the nominee and theres nothing hillary can do about that. It wasn't hillary and bill that contibuted to obama being unpatriotic, it was the republicans with all that pin flag and muslim nonsense. I think the vp needs to be a woman, so again we disagree. If obama deprives a woman from being the first woman vp that will be devastating to him getting the women's vote.imo He already prevented a woman from being president he doesn't need to add salt to the wound. Plus I would think with obama breaking down barriers being the first AA president nom that he would want to do the same thing for women.imo

[Wales2004]

I'm sorry that you find my reality scary but the fact of the matter is the question that was asked about Obama was Is America ready for a black president? I missed the question of Is America ready for a woman president but maybe it was asked and women had an opportunity to do something about that and they didn't. That's a fact. Women have a great deal to say about sexism because there are enough to unite and push the issue. Racism is a lot harder to fight against and that is just the way that it is. The question every day is can Obama win white voters, white working class voters, etc. Those questions were not asked about the other candidates.

The party will do their unification thing to fight their common enemy.

Not about the flag pin and the muslim thing although sticking Obama in an ad with Osama bin laden probably didn't help regardless of her intention. I was referring to statements that they actually made casting McCain in a great light while leaving it open for people to draw their own hopefully negative conclusion about Obama.

I am glad to disagree with you on this. It would be great if he could win with a woman on the ticket. The main thing is that he has somebody with whom he is comfortable and feels he can trust. I don't know that everybody in the country has opened their minds to the point where we'd make it happen.

Here's where I strongly disagree with you. Obama didn't prevent a woman from doing anything.

I don't think a great number of women aren't going to vote for him because of HC. If that were the case they would have put her over the top since they have that ability.

I don't see where Obama has to be responsible for breaking down barriers for a woman. He made history in becoming the first black nominee but he has a long way to go yet. He's still got a huge barrier to overcome.

[2shane8]

I disagree with you so very strongly here. Especially with your statements posing as fact, when they are really opinions.

I think it's dangerous to pit isms against one another, or to say that racism or sexism is worse than the other. But to say that racism is a lot harder to fight against ... I'm not sure. We have seen from this primary in particular that it's considered horrible to be racist in America (as it should be), but just fine to be sexist.

I know that myself and many others were berated for voting for Hillary "just because she is a woman," but it seemed to go without question that African American voters would vote for Obama just because he has one black parent.

Racism and sexism both exist in this country, and it's sad that some Democrats are too afraid to face up to real change by supporting a black man AND a woman on one ticket.

[EricaKane70]

Prevent, defeat call what you want he won the presidential nom over a woman nominee. I don't think it will be devastating to the point where he couldn't win at all, because if that was the case like you pointed out hillary would be the nom instead of obama. But women will be a big factor I think moreso now more than ever in this race. I never said obama didn't have barriers to still overcome, but he jumped over a huge barrier by becoming the first AA presidential nominee. An I would think as an AA he would want to help women bring down that barrier that almost mirrors his own barriers. Should he be responsible? No. But why not bring both barriers down at the same time? Personally I will be offended if he doesn't consider a woman as vp, I think its time for these steotypical barriers to be brought down for everyone. An yes I know that not everyone thinks like that, but I think there more than one person besides myself that can think outside the box.

[Wales2004]

I didn't post my opinions as fact but I don't think I should have to say this is my opinion since it clearly is.

I don't think it's just Democrats that are afraid to face real change by supporting a black man and woman on the same ticket. I think it goes way beyond the Democrats. And the sexist thing isn't just about the media and just about men. It's a lot about women as well. Some women don't want a woman to be president. Is that a shame? Yes. Maybe the right woman will come along and change some of their minds.

I didn't berate any of my friends for supporting HC for any reason. I respect their right to choose whatever candidate works for them. The assumption that black people would vote for Obama came from many people. Some of them thought that black people were mindless and would vote for any black man and some were happy to support someone black for the purpose of change and progress. There were people who wanted to vote for a woman just to have a woman be president as well. I don't care why people voted the way they did but I believe if people are going to put women down for voting for a woman then they shouldn't take issue with people questioning their being black and voting for a black man. It works both ways.

I get where your coming from on the racism vs. sexism thing and thinking it's dangerous to pit one against another. You're right that it's harder to fight against one than another. I will stick to my opinion as long as I know black women who tell me that being black trumps the racial discrimination they face. When the media goes on and on about women and their issues they totally exclude black women as far as I've seen. Black women fit in the black category and that's it. It's all my opinion though.

[Southofnowhere]

The Fox News guys keep saying someone in the GOP has this tape of Mrs.Obama calling Bush whitey.

Hillary's peeps try to find it and couldn't , but are still holding out hope it shows up.

Team Obama says it's CRAP as do most news peeps who also tried to find it.

If the GOP has such a tape would they really wait until fall?

The Bottom line is Hillary is still staying in the race hoping that something huge will BLOW up in Obama's face.

She also need Obama to pay off her debt and she wants VP or the High Court and some say she's going to try and get her healthcare plam rammed through.

She's still holding Obama's feet to the fire , just in a much nicer way.

[Wales2004]

Women are always going to be a big factor since they make up a majority of the voting population. I just don't feel that women are all on the same page when it comes to HC and maybe not even when it comes to having a woman president either. I don't have any female friends that have expressed any concern over it at all.

I don't think Obama needs to worry about bringing anyone along or helping anyone until he can help himself. He needs to make the right political moves and change is a slower process than we would like it to be but it simply is. I think the expectations of him are way too high and if and when he becomes president there will still be a long way to go and a lot of barriers and hurdles to overcome. He's one man and it will take a lot more than his wishes to accomplish real change. There are most definitely more people than you that think outside the box but look how long it took to reach this point. I don't see anything wrong in setting high goals but I do think the road to reach hasn't been a clear path and the balance between the ideal and reality is what it is.