One Utah

From day one, Hillary has presented a problem for progressive voters but we could support her. Her support of Bush and his failed policies always stank to high heaven of political convenience not principle. She is a good speaker and fundamentally she has the skills and smarts to be a a good president. As the primary has gone on longer and longer, her campaign and her supporters have demonstrated an incredible lack of ethics, a willingness to damage the Democratic party in the name of getting her name on the ballot.

It seems that not a day goes by without some additional evidence from the Hillary Clinton and her supporters that something has gone terribly wrong with the Clinton campaign. It began with increasingly vicious attacks on Barack Obama that said point blank that John McCain was better qualified to be president. Keith Olbermann wisely called that kind of strategy a suicide pact not an electoral strategy.

Richardson’s endorsement of Obama should’ve been a loud and clear message to the Clinton campaign. They didn’t hear it. Richardson served in the Clinton Administration, was a friend and confidant of the Clintons. Richardson is also one of the leading Latino politicians in America, a progressive and effective governor. By endorsing Obama, he was sending a clear and powerful message - Hillary, stop this now. You can’t win, we need to unite now against McCain, Obama is ahead. Get out, let the party unite and take on the Republicans. It’s a message Hillary can’t and won’t hear. I get that. It’s difficult to look at her personal history and not see in her a person who wants redemption. Her husband presided over the longest period of peace time economic growth in US history. For 8 long years she was the target of every smear campaign the well funded crazies on the right could invent. It’s difficult to fathom the vitriol and venom directed at her. All that history is making it really hard for her to hear the message.

Over a Street Prophets, Pastor Dan has been following the ins and outs much more closely than I have. A few days ago, he wrote:

. . . now we’ve got three candidates and three choices: move forward, stay the same, move backward. Problem is, I’m not sure who’s who anymore. Because it sure as hell wasn’t John McCain stoking the flames of racialism or trying to kneecap the most talented black politician in a generation. Nor was it McCain comparing the strongest single institution in the fight for black civil rights to the Klan.

At the very best, Clinton comes out of this with a nomination and an electorate split straight down racial lines. She will have utterly no credibility if she tries to implement any kind of social justice program, even if she makes it into office. And for that small margin, she risks setting the conversation back at least to the time of Reagan.

I’m under no illusions about Obama’s abilities in this area, either. As President, he would be forced to dart and weave on the subject, and there will be so much else to look at on his agenda. Any accomplishments he might make will be as fragile as glass. He will disappoint progressives, there’s no doubt about that. And that’s before we start looking at the substance of his economic, military or foreign policy proposals, or factor in the endless hostile shenanigans of the GOP. They love playing defense. It’s what they’re good at.

But my personal ethics won’t allow me to vote for somebody I think will hurt the cause of racial justice. Even though I’ve been committed to that cause my entire life, the reality of the situation is just starting to sink in now. I think it’s because I never expected that I’d have to choose between Democrat and a Democrat on this score.

You may vote for whomever you choose come November. Street Prophets does not and will not make endorsements. But I can tell you that my list of candidates I will not vote for just got longer by one, and I couldn’t be less thrilled about it.

I would describe those as grieving words, as mournful. Pastor Dan is not celebrating. It seems we’re watching major Democratic leader implode in slow motion on the national stage. In another post, PD responded to a comment of Hillarys’ by writing:

How screwed up is this? It’s so screwed up that, as Steve Benen points out, both John McCain and Mike Huckabee have defended Obama while Hillary goes after him. And per Booman, she’s got some nerve, considering her own connections.

I’m with Booman: this is not the lowest of the low roads, but it has the potential to open the door to all kinds of destructive racial narratives. That takes beyond the fate of the Democratic party to the health of our society itself.

For the good of the party and the nation, Democratic leaders, including Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and Howard Dean, need to call this contest over. Scorched earth is not an acceptable political strategy.

At Americablog, they have been documenting the atrocities in posts that have an increasingly bitter tone:

Every time I think I don’t want to write another post about the failed candidacy of Hillary Clinton, some new outrage arises. Last week, Hillary’s big donors were trying to buy a new election in Michigan. This week, they’re trying to extort Speaker Pelosi.

Keep in mind that Hillary’s campaign finished February in the red. You’d think that would be a major concern for her funders . . . That’s a problem for a candidate whose inevitability was built, in part, on her fundraising ability.

But, what are Hillary’s top fundraisers doing? They sent a clearly menacing letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi with veiled references to how much dough they give to Democrats. Greg Sargent has a copy of the letter at TPM Elections:

We have been strong supporters of the DCCC. We therefore urge you to clarify your position on super-delegates and reflect in your comments a more open view to the optional independent actions of each of the delegates at the National Convention in August. We appreciate your activities in support of the Democratic Party and your leadership role in the Party and hope you will be responsive to some of your major enthusiastic supporters.

What does that language mean? It isn’t limited to superdelegates, that’s for sure. The letter says “each of the delegates.” That is significant. Keep in mind that the super rich contributors are upset with Pelosi for saying last week:

“If the votes of the superdelegates overturn what’s happened in the elections, it would be harmful to the Democratic party”

Now, of course, Pelosi is right. That would be harmful to the Democratic Party. But, Hillary and her rich supporters care about Hillary, not the Democratic Party. And, this isn’t just about superdelegates. Clinton’s donors are directing Pelosi to go public and endorse Hillary’s comments from a few days ago, when Hillary said that the elected delegates, the ones YOU voted for already, don’t have to support Obama even though YOU voted for him. In their world, those delegates can just vote for Hillary anyway. That’s what this letter is about. It’s about extorting Pelosi to hand Hillary the election by stealing Obama’s delegates. It’s about Hillary doing something that a month ago she promised she wasn’t going to do - try to steal Obama’s delegates. (To be clear, I don’t think there is any way Clinton could win over any of Obama’s delegates. I have no doubt his delegates will stick with him. But, the Clinton campaign has reached the point of desperation that they are willing to try. Actually, Clinton should be more worried about her delegates ditching her for the candidate who is going to win the nomination — and be the next President.)

What Hillary is quite literally doing is threatening to destroy the party if she isn’t handed the nomination.

This is crazy. The leaders of the Democratic Party need to end this disaster now.

The Clinton strategy is becoming increasingly clear - do anything you need to do to win the nomination. Problem is her attacks against Obama aren’t helping her, they’re helping McCain. They’re hurting the party.

DKos sums it up best:

The Obama campaign responds:

“This letter is inappropriate and we hope the Clinton campaign will reject the insinuation contained in it. Regardless of the outcome of the nomination fight, Senator Obama will continue to urge his supporters to assist Speaker Pelosi in her efforts to maintain and build a working majority in the House of Representatives,” said Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton.

One side is looking to build a consensus and win on the strength of voters, the other side is looking to divide and harm the party. It’s easy to see which is which.

Hillary needs to move carefully and quickly to repair rifts in the party. She needs to stop the really nasty campaigning and realize that she needs the progressives and she needs Obama. But if she keeps up the nasty attacks, the payback will be a bitch.

This entry was posted Wednesday, March 26th, 2008 at 9:14 pm and is filed under 2008 Election, Hillary Clinton. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.