Wednesday, August 27, 2008
This just in... speech didn't heal!
For Clinton's supporters, it was difficult to accept her speech as the public finale of her campaign, because this moment once held such tremendous potential. Shelby Leary, a delegate from West Virginia, stood to watch a video tribute to Clinton's success as a trailblazer and then chanted "Hillary" for 30 seconds with the rest of the crowd. Anne Price, from Washington state, wore a dozen Clinton buttons and wiped tears from her eyes.Reading these quotes just reinforces my relief that she's out. The Clintonistas are certainly a narcissistic lot, even by today's standards. It will be nice to close the book on them, at least as far as presidential politics are concerned.
It seemed a particularly resonant moment Tuesday night, which marked both Women's Equality Day and the 88th anniversary of women's suffrage.
"There's no way this night couldn't be emotional," Leary said. "A lot of us loved campaigning for her, and it's hard to watch it end. But after something like this, you have to have an emotional end for people to come to terms with things."
Clinton said Tuesday night that it is Obama's convention. But many of her supporters came here exclusively to honor her. One group traveled from New York and built an impromptu museum commemorating Clinton's historic campaign. Another lighted thousands of candles in a park to symbolize her widespread support.
"A lot of people came here just because they wanted to celebrate Hillary," said Elizabeth Fiechter, a New York City lawyer who helped organize the parade. "We get criticism because there's this idea that the election should move on and just leave her behind. We're not going down that quietly."
"It just makes me upset because Hillary would have been the perfect woman to do this job," said Katherine Vincent, from Colorado. "I'm a Democrat first, but it's just difficult to get over."
"I hate Obama so much that I'm going to devote as much time to McCain as I did to Hillary," said Adita Blanco, a Democrat from Edward, Okla., who has never voted for a Republican. "Obama has nothing. He has no experience. The Democratic Party doesn't care about us. You couldn't treat [Clinton] any worse."
Perhaps the best example of the persistent divide in the Democratic Party came after Clinton's speech Tuesday night. The lights went down in the Pepsi Center, and some influential Democrats left downtown for good. They planned to head for the airport and fly home, long before Obama accepts the nomination in a speech at Invesco Field on Thursday night.
9 Comments:
By 
Dawnfire82, at
Wed Aug 27, 02:29:00 PM:
"It will be nice to close the book on them, at least as far as presidential politics are concerned."
2012...
By Eowyn, at
Wed Aug 27, 02:32:00 PM:
When politics gets this personal, I always find it a little creepy. Lighting candles? That's something you do for victims (so I guess that's not really far from the liberal norm, eh?) or religious ceremonies, not because your guy/gal lost the primaries. I find it interesting that you don't often get this kind of reaction on the right-- do you? I can't recall anything similar. Has anyone heard of anything on a big scale? I'd be interested in blogging a compare/contrast of liberal and conservative "grieving".
By Eowyn, at
Wed Aug 27, 02:33:00 PM:
P.S. Sorry if that qualifies as a thread-jack. The idea for a comp/cont popped into my head as I was writing.
By Anthony, at
Wed Aug 27, 02:42:00 PM:
There's a real feeling of immaturity in the Clintonistas' reactions, much as a child might whine "not fair" after losing a game, even though it was played by the rules.
I see much less of this from the hard Right, which has pretty much reconciled itself to voting for McCain.
By D.E. Cloutier, at
Wed Aug 27, 03:19:00 PM:
You may want to read up on "fair use," CV.
By 
, at
Wed Aug 27, 03:27:00 PM:
"It will be nice to close the book on them, at least as far as presidential politics are concerned."
Cvillain, that's a book that doesn't close, not until they are deep in their graves. Maybe not even then.
By Anthony, at
Wed Aug 27, 03:29:00 PM:
Stakes. You'll need a stakes and garlic.
By , at
Wed Aug 27, 04:26:00 PM:
Hillary Clinton had more popular votes. Hillary Clinton would have made a great President, however, it just was not meant to be. Obama is too far left, lacks experience and has demonstrated poor judgement. He will not get my vote. I support McCain.
By GreenmanTim, at
Wed Aug 27, 10:05:00 PM:
Whenever I hear quotes in the media from or about upset Hillary supporters needing closure and feeling mistreated by their party, they are invariably female. Are there no upset male Hillary supporters? Or is this just code for "women"?
