Letters to the Editor
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@natesmith124
I read it.
Clinton's don't take responsibility, they take credit.
It's sad to see all the talk about a candidate's sex, color, religion, ethnicity, and race.
What happened to being blind to all of this? MLK would be sick.
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Hillary supporters, some questions
To the angry Hillary supporters who say they will never vote for Obama, how is anyone (regardless of who they support) supposed to respond to that? The best that I can say is, good luck to you and peace out, because we've got to move forward from this.
Hillary lost the primary. Fairly. The simple truth is that while millions of people wanted Hillary to be the nominee, more people wanted Obama. She lost the pledged delegates, by most counts she actually lost the popular vote, and she lost the super delegates that she admitted were crucial to winning the nomination, and that she was convinced would support her. That's the way democracies work, even in a close race, someone has to lose. And even Joan admits, in this piece, that she doesn't think sexism is responsible for Hillary loosing.
So what is it that you want? I know I probably sound glib, but seriously, do you want the results of the primaries and caucuses thrown out and Hillary named the nominee? Doesn't that seem a tad disingenuous considering how many Hillary supporters seem to feel that their voices are not being heard?
If I understand correctly, you want Hillary to be the VP, but will be offended if any other woman is offered the spot? Why would nominating a different, but qualified woman be offensive to you?
Many Hillary supporters continue to insist without apparent irony that racism has not been an issue in this campaign, that Obama "played the race card" and that Hillary lost because Obama slandered her. They refuse to try to understand why so many people of all different races found some of Hillary's, Bill's, Ferraro's and Mark Penn's comments so alarming and offensive, even without any spin from the media or from the Obama camp. But if you refuse to even accept that racism was an issue, then isn't it hypocritical to criticize the Obama supporters that don't see the same levels of sexism that you do?
I am really really trying to move this discussion forward. I know that there are women who will not vote for Obama, just like there are whites, Latinos, Asians, Jews, Catholics, and even blacks who will not vote for him either. For those of you who are willing to begin to put aside your anger, can we start by having an honest dialogue where we both start to question our pre-conception? Or is it too late for that?
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@Christopher Michael Neill
"Sure, buddy, wait a minute" to a reporter would probably sound just as condescending as "Sure, sweetie, wait a minute". "Buddy" is not generally considered a professional way of referencing people. In fact, it is one of those words that indicates dismissal or even hostility. The fact that he proceeded to ignore the female reporter instead of dealing with her question made it clear that "Sweetie" was simply a way of dismissing her. You can defend it until the cows come home, but it was an insult no matter how you look at it.
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Hillary Clinton has done a deep disservice to us all
The reasons that Sen. Clinton lost her campaign for the presidency are many but underlying all of them is the root cause: hubris. Sen. Clinton's egotism and self-regard prevented her from recruiting a staff of tested professionals who would contribute their critical wisdom rather than their loyalty to her cause. She was unable to correctly assess the strengths of Sen. Obama because she underestimated his talents, his drive, his experience, and his skills. She mistakenly believed he was a lightweight and this disrespectful miscalculation resulted in her defeat.
During the campaign, Sen. Clinton's pride prevented her from stating clearly and convincingly that she had made a serious error in voting for the insane war on Iraq. This lack of moral courage on her part lost her the support of most thinking Democrats and Independants.
Hubris also prevented Sen. Clinton from curbing the excessive bloviating of her erratic husband which ended up dealing a death blow to her chances to win a significant part of the votes of her most loyal followers, African Americans. If she had apologized early on for his dismissive statements in South Carolina, she would have won at least 20 percent of the black vote, a margin of millions of votes that would have made all the difference in several key primaries and caucuses.
Clinton's profound ignorance of the methods and meaning of modern online communities and fund-raising techniques also doomed her candidacy from its earliest days and cut her off from an important potential source of passionate support, young women.
Ultimately, hubris was the cause of the most fatal of her campaign's many errors: Clinton assumed that the prize was hers for the taking, that she would not have to work hard to achieve victory, that she could badger, cajole, and bludgeon her way to the nomination against weak opposition. She thought that being her husband's wife was enough to guarantee her the win.
The preening, self-serving speech Hillary Clinton delivered Tuesday night was an alarming display of all of the worst instincts of her candidacy and her character. Her ego was at full throttle in that woeful spectacle, singing in a horrid parody of a Whitman poem, the wonderfulness of "I."
By not withdrawing from the race on Tuesday night, Sen. Clinton was deeply disrespectful to Sen. Obama. She was certainly attempting to soil his victory, to place an asterisk next to his name and offer a not-so-subtle message to her followers that they should consider his win illegitimate. This was an outrageous act of betrayal to the cause of the Democratic party.
Her staff of egomanical men (Wolfson, Penn, McCauliffe)did Sen. Clinton a terrible disservice by not helping her to understand that her campaign was at an end. That final blunder incited her most loyal followers in the Democratic party to confront her yesterday and demand that she formally and publically call off her quest. It takes a gargantuan ego to imagine that you could contend for the vice presidency without first resigning from the presidential campaign.
Sen. Obama's speech on Tuesday night offered a remarkable contrast to Sen. Clinton's. Where hers was focussed on her own ego and salving her bruised pride, his was focussed on the needs of the nation and the future. His extended comments about her campaign were magnimous beyond necessity, reflecting the true respect he feels for her effort and her career. Obama proved himself the bigger spirit this week, fully ready to address the great work ahead, while Clinton came off as self-pitying and slightly delusional. If we needed any further explanation of why Obama won and Clinton lost, these two speeches gave us excellent material for analysis.
Now, the responsibility for reaching out falls to Sen. Clinton. She has wounded the party and insulted our standard bearer, Sen. Obama.
I am a 57 year old woman who is proud to support Barack Obama. Hillary Clinton does not speak for me nor does she control my vote. Her deeply flawed campaign does not represent my ideas, my life, nor my world view.