Remarkable. Extraordinary. Unprecedented.
Those are the words that come to mind when I think of the primary campaigns of Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. This has been a riveting, hard-fought race from the first caucuses in Iowa to the moment the final polls close tonight in Montana.
The Republican side was interesting in its own way, with a very colorful cast of characters and plenty of interesting issues to work out. I agree with the conventional wisdom that almost despite itself, the Republican party is nominating the candidate with the best chance of winning. Whether the base can really get behind McCain remains to be seen. I was visiting some conservative relatives recently and there was very little enthusiasm for McCain. I sense they will vote for him, but they are not excited.
But the D side is excited. Maybe a little too much so in some cases. I’ve been checking out some of the pro-Clinton blogs lately and boy, talk about some raw nerves. They are not happy with the media, with Obama supporters, and in some cases, with Obama himself. I keep hearing him say nice things about Clinton, but many of these HRC supporters are having none of it. They are, to borrow a word, bitter. I believe that will change.
But overall, this has been an historic primary on the Dem side, and both candidates have run admirable campaigns. Both have stumbled at times, but they both showed real resilience and strength of character. That’s just my take, but I don’t think anyone can disagree that this has been one for the history books.
I’ve felt for some time that Clinton simply was not going to win; that it was a case of too little too late. And I think that’s playing out about as expected. But give her credit for fighting to the last. We can argue about whether it’s good for the party or divisive, but the fact is she ended up coming very close, which is a credit to her. And she almost certainly will concede in the next few days, which gives Obama plenty of time to unite the party.
An African American is going to be the nominee for President from the Democratic party in 2008. And I would say he has at least an even shot of winning the general election in the fall. This is a good day for our country.
Prediction:
South Dakota: Obama 52, Clinton 48
Montana: Obama 58, Clinton 42
(Sorry I missed Puerto Rico — I was traveling and just couldn’t get something written.)
3 comments:
It'll be interesting to see where HRC ends up. I really don't think VP would be the right place, for a host of reasons (not least of which is Mr. Hillary Clinton: the Republican base will be aroused and aghast at the idea that both Clintons will be within the proverbial heartbeat of the Oval Office). But perhaps some high Secretary of Something or Other: certainly she has her skills, and a large amount of support. Hillary fans can't afford to be left out in the cold; some sort of rapprochement offering seems necessary.
I agree that it just does not make sense to have HRC be the VP candidate. But the VP is office that you can offer ahead of time that gets a lot of media attention and could win over die hard Clinton supporters. What if Obama says ahead of time HRC is going to be my Health & Human Services person or Secretary of State in order to win over Hillary supporters? Has anything like that ever been done? That is: promising something other than VP ahead of time)? Do you think it would help?
Do you think Hillary will concede in the next few days?
There has been talk of Obama coming out and saying who he wants in the cabinent. I suppose HRC could be Sec. of HHS, but I wonder if she would want to give us being Senator for that? Which post gives her a better position to run again for pres? I think that's the key issue, because I think that's her goal.
I will probably post some more thoughts on HRC in the blog in the near future.
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