Obama is nominee, but Bill Clinton’s speech crucial
Dante Chinni
Posted: 08.27.2008 / 8:56 PM PDT
Denver – Unity is in the air here – or at least the appearance of unity.
A deal was struck between the Obama and Clinton camps on the delegates here so everyone could save face. At about 7 p.m. the floor roll call vote was interrupted and, in a made for TV moment, Barack Obama was declared the Democratic nominee by acclamation. The O’Jays “Love Train” poured out over the speakers.
Was it for real? Did Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s speech Tuesday night circle the wagons? While it was hailed by many in the media as a triumph, some in our Patchwork Nation communities have mixed feelings.
Down in Baton Rouge, La., political science Prof. Robert Goidel, one of our bloggers in the community with a large African-American population (”Minority Central”), thought Senator Clinton did all she could for the ticket.
“Can there be any doubt now that she would have been a compelling nominee?” Professor Goidel wrote in his blog. “But she is not the nominee, and she asks her supporters the question they must all answer. ‘Were you in this campaign just for me?’
“The healing of a convention, the uniting of the Democratic Party, happens in this moment,” Goidel continued. “Could she have possibly left any doubts (or any doubters) on the table? Could she have possibly done anything more?”
Michael O’Brien, a recent graduate of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor (our “Campus and Careers” community), said he thought that yes, Clinton could have done more.
“Between my roommate and me, we didn’t think the speech was especially conciliatory,” Mr. O’Brien wrote in an e-mail. “If you really paid attention, she didn’t talk much about Obama. She had a few zingers on [John] McCain, but it didn’t dominate her speech. It was mostly Hillary’s time. And to toot The Hill’s horn.”
James Rickman, one of our bloggers in Los Alamos, N.M. (a wealthy “Monied ‘Burb” in Patchwork Nation’s community types), liked the speech, calling it “masterful.” But he also believed many delegates looked less persuaded.
“As the cameras panned the convention floor after what was supposed to have been a big night of unity for the Democrats, I remain unconvinced that a sea change has occurred amongst the party faithful and that there has been a conversion on the proverbial Road to Damascus for the Obama-persecuting Clintonites,” Rickman wrote in his blog.
But, Wednesday night, many people on the floor here anyway actually felt the worst was over.
Sean Stimmel, a 20-year-old delegate from Los Alamos, said Monday was tense and Tuesday may have been the hardest night of all. “Our delegation is split about 50/50 and a lot of Hillary supporters were tearing up,” Stimmel said. “But today felt different. We were riding down the elevator this morning and (New Mexico Lieutenant Governor) Diane Denish, who was a big Hillary supporter, saw a woman get on with a big ‘Hillary supporter for Obama’ button. She asked, ‘Where can I get one of those.’ ”
If the healing had really begun, former President Clinton’s task Wednesay was to move things along. That wasn’t necessarily an easy task for him - some media reports said Bill Clinton was less than enthusiastic about Senator Obama.
At a Monitor lunch Wednesday in Denver, however, former Clinton adviser James Carville said that anyone with questions about the former president’s support should wait until after Mr. Clinton’s speech Wednesday night.
Carville must have seen the speech before hand, because it didn’t betray any hard feelings. The speech spent its three pages and 20 minutes explaining why Clinton supported Obama and why every Democrat needed to vote for him. It filled in the holes in his wife’s speech saying Obama was ready for the job. And it was an enormous hit in the hall.
But the party will still have work ahead after Denver, Carville said. Party unification is a process: The Democrats don’t need to be done with it tomorrow night but they need to be on the way, he argued. They may now be.
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August 27th, 2008 at 9:47 pm PDT
shouldn’t that read: “whazzzup dawg” ?
August 27th, 2008 at 10:05 pm PDT
American democrats have done a mistake selecting Barack Obama. They will definitely feel in future, if it is not now. Do they want compromise with Arabs indirectly or compromise with the terrorists. Not selecting Hillary Clinton is very bad. Any way, you, Americans are going to feel. It is my opinion.
August 27th, 2008 at 10:07 pm PDT
John: you’re hilarious! LOL!
Delusional, but HILARIOUS!!!
August 27th, 2008 at 10:09 pm PDT
John,
It was unsettling for you because you the one who is actually clueless, American wants change and hope. You would rather wallow in fear and ignorance.
August 27th, 2008 at 10:10 pm PDT
The peoples democratic republic of usa is gonna take all my money, make change, and do what? wazzup dawg, indeed?
August 27th, 2008 at 10:16 pm PDT
At one time in my life, I was a “Pre-Reagan” republican (definitely not a Reagan Republican) - maybe I still am. Eventually, I realized that both the Dems and Rep parties are so corrupt that I just cannot vote for either one.
When Obama started on his path, I waited to hear just two committments: a) I will protect the rights of the individual, b) I will do everything I can to eliminate the trade deficit (not just oil imports).
Neither of the major parties will say this, in fact, they are moving further away, which is why I am sadly only able to vote for a 3rd party anymore. I urge others to consider voting similarly - just to send the message of “not impressed” home.
The addition of Joe Biden to the ticket is almost a nail in the coffin for Obama. John Kerry would have been a much better choice. Biden is clearly only there to help capture a specific missing demographic, and to show once again that the dem party machine is solidly in control - voters be ***.
I can hardly wait to see what foolish decision McCain makes with his VP pick. It is hard to believe that our laws have become so corrupt that only 2 parties can really field a viable candidate.
August 27th, 2008 at 10:21 pm PDT
One of the main Republican talking points during this election is that Obama does not have the experience to lead. Which might be a relevant question…except they themselves answered that question when George W. Bush ran for the office. W had no foreign policy experience, except keeping the skies of Texas clear of invaders during the VietNam war, but the Republicans said it did not matter. George was a governor and that was enough.
So, why are we still hearing the argument from the Republicans that Obama does not have the experience to lead? Maybe because they realize now that their candidate back in 2000 did not have the experience and it showed.
August 27th, 2008 at 10:24 pm PDT
“Dums?” “Moonbats?” Nice elitist language for a guy that doesn’t seem to know what a shift key is. (Hint: it’s a button near your left pinkie that should be used for the first letter of every sentence and proper noun.)
August 27th, 2008 at 10:55 pm PDT
Has anybody noticed the Communist Star featured around the Democratic Convention Center?
August 27th, 2008 at 11:41 pm PDT
I can’t wait to see the white-*** Republican Convention next week. They’ll probably stick a couple of plants in the crowd to woo the cameras and make them look even remotely diverse. Let’s face it: the Republicans are a dying breed. And good riddance, for they would have elected Hitler if given the chance. ******* fascist right-wingers.
August 27th, 2008 at 11:53 pm PDT
It amazes and saddens me what has happened to the Republican party. They were supposed to be about small government, states rights, individual liberty, and economic freedom. That hasn’t been the case since maybe the early 60’s. Now they are about Big Brother, Big Business, War, and catering to religious fundamentalists and (let’s face it) undereducated *******. The team spirit mentality makes it even worse. The GOP could make the WORST decisions in 50 years, alienate the world, grow government by leaps and bounds, trade freedom for fear and “security theater”, spit on the constitution, and ship a million jobs overseas to line their pockets, and STILL their marketing machine gets these people to vote for them, AGAINST the voters’ own self interest. All they have to do is bash what’s new and different. Define progress as scary. And shout all kinds of garbage that nobody will research beyond face value.
I can only blame our schools. Nobody who spends time reading books and learning things could possibly in a million years vote for McCain.
It’s not Progressives and Conservatives. It’s people who are for progress and people who are afraid of progress.
The same types of people who were cheering on McCarthy during the Red Scare are running our country again. Don’t we EVER learn?!?