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Where's HRC's Big Speech?
The Reverend Wright flap last month turned out to be a huge opportunity for Barack Obama. Individuals from all over the political spectrum announced their support for Obama and what he said in his speech, saying it was one of the most important speeches on race, ever.
While the far-right-wing pundits and the Clinton camp are still trying to keep the story alive, recent polls are showing that it had little negative effect on his campaign. Obama's speech brought different viewpoints to the forefront, making the country look at herself in the mirror in regards to race relations. As much as we would like to think that our country is blind to race, the stark reality shows it is not.
But America is also not blind to sexism. Hillary has spent a lot of time fighting the sexism in America (Drop Out and Bake Cookies, Iron My Shirts, and I hesitate to bring up her womanizing husband whom she has chosen to have a relationship with for over 30 years, but it does fit in the same narrative).
Hillary can put the misogyny and sexism issues to rest by giving a speech to the country, forcing us to look in the mirror in regards to sexism and gender. It can only help her campaign at this point. So why doesn't she do it? Why not speak out against sexism, and try to bring the country together instead of race-baiting the superdelegates with the Wright story?
Hillary is someone for whom I had a great amount of respect, until her campaign started throwing the kitchen sink (and anything else they could find) at Obama. I would really hope that she could rise above it and show that a strong woman candidate need not get nasty in order to win.
Comments (4)
HRC already dealt with this last month in Ohio:
"enough with the speeches and the big rallies..."
with sniper fire coming in it is difficult to give a big speech so don't pressure her.
April 2, 2008 11:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
This guy is giving the big speeches for Hillary.
The Bill Clinton who met privately with California's superdelegates at last weekend's state convention was a far cry from the congenial former president who afterward publicly urged fellow Democrats to "chill out" over the race between his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Barack Obama.
In fact, before his speech Clinton had one of his famous meltdowns Sunday, blasting away at former presidential contender Bill Richardson for having endorsed Obama, the media and the entire nomination process.
"It was one of the worst political meetings I have ever attended," one superdelegate said.
According to those at the meeting, Clinton - who flew in from Chicago with bags under his eyes - was classic old Bill at first, charming and making small talk with the 15 or so delegates who gathered in a room behind the convention stage.
But as the group moved together for the perfunctory photo, Rachel Binah, a former Richardson delegate who now supports Hillary Clinton, told Bill how "sorry" she was to have heard former Clinton campaign manager James Carville call Richardson a "Judas" for backing Obama.
It was as if someone pulled the pin from a grenade.
"Five times to my face (Richardson) said that he would never do that," a red-faced, finger-pointing Clinton erupted.
The former president then went on a tirade that ran from the media's unfair treatment of Hillary to questions about the fairness of the votes in state caucuses that voted for Obama. It ended with him asking delegates to imagine what the reaction would be if Obama was trailing by just 1 percent and people were telling him to drop out.
"It was very, very intense," said one attendee. "Not at all like the Bill of earlier campaigns."
When he finally wound down, Bill was asked what message he wanted the delegates to take away from the meeting.
At that point, a much calmer Clinton outlined his message of party unity.
"It was kind of strange later when he took the stage and told everyone to 'chill out,' " one delegate told us.
"We couldn't help but think he was also talking to himself."
When delegate Binah - still stunned from her encounter with Clinton - got home to Little River (Mendocino County) later in the day - there was a phone message waiting for her from State Party Chairman Art Torres, telling her the former president wanted him to apologize to her on his behalf for what happened.
Still, word of Clinton's blast shot all the way back to the New Mexico state Capitol, where Richardson spokesman Pahl Shipley reiterated Tuesday that his boss had never "promised or guaranteed" Bill and Hillary his endorsement.
April 2, 2008 12:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hillary's big speech was yesterday: She challenged Obama to a winner-take-all bowling match, told him to get out of the gutter, and she spotted him two frames.
Obama says he is too busy campaigning, which turns out to be the same reason Clinton cannot reveal her tax returns.
April 2, 2008 12:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Am I the only one who thinks Bill called not because he was really sorry, but in retrospect, he thought he (and I do mean "he" because he is running too) may have lost her vote as a superdelegate? Note also the apology was not from Bill but from a proxy, so we really don't know if Bill in fact apologized.
April 2, 2008 12:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
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