Clinton's Classless Speech
I know I should be celebrating Obama's victory (and I am), but I just can't get over how insanely narcissistic Clinton's speech was. After weeks (months really) of staying in the race despite impossible odds, of promising to get behind the nominee and help unify the party when the race was finally over, Clinton had 30 minutes of free national air time on the night where her opponent clinched more than enough delegates to mathematically eliminate her from the race. And what did she do with that time? She gave a speech that wasn't even the slightest bit conciliatory, a speech in which she didn't even bother to congratulate her opponent or acknowledge his delegate victory. Not only that, but she spent the whole speech touting her own accomplishments, claiming (incorrectly) that she had won more votes than her opponent and that the election results demonstrate that she would be a better, stronger nominee. She even had her campaign spokesman introduce her as "the next President of the United States."
Not to put too fine a point on this, but I have never seen a more narcissistic speech delivered by a major politician. On the same night where her opponent went out of his way to heap praise on her, she barely even mentioned him and implied throughout her speech that he was an inferior candidate. On a night where John McCain cynically claimed that "pundits and party elders have declared that Senator Obama will be my opponent," Clinton went out of her way to reinforce that dangerous and inaccurate talking point and imply that Obama was not a legitimate nominee.
If Clinton really cares about unifying the Democratic party, she has a funny way of showing it. On a night when the party selected its nominee and her opponent extended an olive branch, she made no effort whatsoever to return the favor. She intentionally squandered a rare and precious opportunity to help heal the wounds in the Democratic electorate. It was the least gracious, least respectful, most brazenly self-centered political speech I've ever seen.
I've always thought Andrew Sullivan was a little to hard on Hillary Clinton, but not tonight.
Not to put too fine a point on this, but I have never seen a more narcissistic speech delivered by a major politician. On the same night where her opponent went out of his way to heap praise on her, she barely even mentioned him and implied throughout her speech that he was an inferior candidate. On a night where John McCain cynically claimed that "pundits and party elders have declared that Senator Obama will be my opponent," Clinton went out of her way to reinforce that dangerous and inaccurate talking point and imply that Obama was not a legitimate nominee.
If Clinton really cares about unifying the Democratic party, she has a funny way of showing it. On a night when the party selected its nominee and her opponent extended an olive branch, she made no effort whatsoever to return the favor. She intentionally squandered a rare and precious opportunity to help heal the wounds in the Democratic electorate. It was the least gracious, least respectful, most brazenly self-centered political speech I've ever seen.
I've always thought Andrew Sullivan was a little to hard on Hillary Clinton, but not tonight.
posted by A.L. at 10:19 PM
16 Comments:
And as horrible as that speech was, it was actually the nice version.
The Caucus reports that if she had racked up bigger popular vote totals in Puerto Rico and South Dakota, she had planned to deliver a "more combative" speech than the one she gave.
As hard as it as to admit this, Andrew Sullivan was right about the Clintons all along. Her speech was narcissism personified.
agree with your sharp perceptions, of course. and I'm glad to see most of the blogosphere and even CNN talking heads do too.
if she is going to concede, the only way, after that painful display, for her to actually begin to help unify the party will be for her to find some opportunity in the next two weeks to perform a do-over--not in front of a Hillary crowd, but on the stage with the nominee at an Obama rally.
but I'm literally not sure she will even concede within the next few weeks. this VP waltz is idiotic and damaging, and if she presses it she's going to swiftly lose any possible goodwill that would otherwise be due her.
After that awful speech, Keith Olbermann pointed out that she was holding the event in the sub-basement of some college in NYC where no cell phones or Blackberries could possibly work. They also made sure that there were no TV's so as to make sure that her waiting supporters would not know that she actually had LOST the nomination, even though she "Won! Won! Won!" South Dakota by the time she delivered her speech.
Depending on your point of view, that's either DESPERATE or BRILLIANT.
After all this time, after everything that happened from February to April, when no one thought she would win, but that only caused her to ratchet up her attacks; after the Indiana and NC primaries, when even the TV pundits started saying 'this thing is over' and yet she said it was full speed ahead; when the Rules & Bylaws committee made their decision which put Obama in clear position to win by today, and yet her campaign was releasing statements contesting the ruling - could anyone really doubt that she was taking it to convention? I get that people want to celebrate Obama's victory but Clinton made it clear a long time ago that she wasn't going to allow that. And I never thought for a second that today was going to change anything from Clinton's perspective. I didn't even watch her speech because I knew there would be nothing concilliatory about it. She's taking this to Denver. And I think she's going to be making this a nasty couple-a months. (And we're going to keep hearing the nauseating assertions that we should give her credit for her 'resilience.' ugh. For some people, grace is harder than 'resilience'. I'd rather be able to give to credit for grace.) Nothing short of her going through the equivalent of Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus is going to change her attitude.
(Of course I hope I'm wrong but that's a hope against hope.)
The sooner Hillary has faded to total irrelevance, the better. She's extremely untrustworthy.
There is a new generation of strong -- honest -- women ready to take the stage. The Democratic party will be stronger when Hillary is gone.
The most outrageous moment last night was when one of the talking heads on CNN was discussing Hillary's speech and why she didn't strike a more conciliatory tone towards Obama. While explaining why this was she quoted an e-mail she received from someone in the Clinton campaign saying 'she (Hillary) wanted this to be her night'. When I heard that I almost fell out of bed.
The night of Obama's victory, not to mention (and Obama certainly didn't) the fact that he became the first African American candidate to capture the nomination for one of the major parties, and this was supposed to be 'her night'?????
That takes some balls.
Later on the same talking heads where throwing out that Bill Clinton might be looking for a role as a campaign advisor for Obama. I'd have to imagine this 'leak' came from someone involved with the Clinton campaign.
I have to agree that more and more it's looking like Sullivan was right. Its all about them.
A.L.
I won't argue with your assessment of HC as narcissistic. Obviously she is. What worries me is that you Obama supporters sound too much like Bush supporters, the way you get angry and lash out at your enemies EVEN WHEN YOU WIN. I thought this 'sore winner' phenomenon was just a righwingnut trait. You won, man! You can take a one-day break from pounding on all the evil enemies out there. Obama's your candidate, not your boyfriend -- you should care if he wins the election, you shouldn't care if HC made him feel sad on his big special night.
anonymous,
enough with the hackneyed meme that Obama voters are a touchy cult following.
No one here is concerned that Hillary made Obama sad. She obviously didn't, from the looks and sound of his speech. What she did do is fail, once again, to take a golden opportunity to demonstrate that she will be a trustworthy advocate in Obama's fight for the Presidency, and her advocacy would be important, given the size and current temper of her following. We want for her to get on board. We're hoping she does. We're lamenting what appears to be the fact, based on last night's performance, that she never will.
No one is pounding on an enemy here. We're just trying to figure out whether she is one or isn't, because despite what you may think, the vast vast vast majority of Obama supporters started this campaign very positively disposed towards HRC, very open to the possibility that she might be the party's nominee, and very suspicious of the enmity that the Andrew Sullivans out there expressed about here.
What you're reading here is not a left-wing version of right-wing vituperation. It's the sad and reluctant admission that her earliest and most strident detractors might just well have been right all along. It is measure of A.L.'s patience that it has taken him until yesterday to countenance that possibility.
brooks hansen,
I think you're missing my point. HRC is a walking disaster; we know that. But Obama's big theme has been party unity and being above the fray. If his supporters are not following that creed, then he has no leadership ability. So what everyone in the Obama camp should have done was ignore her tantrum. She lost and she's mad about it. Where's the surprise? To take the opportunity to pile on the pathetic wretch shows that, once again, its all about competitive prestige and not social engineering. A.L. should be using his talent to expose Old Man McCain and the neo-con smirkmeisters. How does it help the social cause to crib Limbaugh's talking points about what a self-defeating failure HRC is? Let her fade away into nothingness like all insane people do. Pat her on the head and tell her how right she is. Put a smile on her tear-stained cheeks. Where's the harm?
I just read Andrew Sullivan's article on Clinton. What is it with your Obamians? "deprive her opponent of a night.. of gratification." If you really care so much about giving Obama a night of gratification, then get backstage passes to his next speech and... well you know what to do from there. Seriously, she just officially lost that same day -- how quick do you expect her to turn around? Do you really believe that on October 31, Hillary is still going to be shouting in the press that Obama stole the nomination from her? Of course you don't think that. The only possible reason for all this uproar over HRC's loser-speech is that you're upset that Obama missed out on his moment of "gratification," which is a subtle way of saying that it's your job to make sure Obama gets his daily personal graitification, or in layman's terms: You Be His Bitch.
P.S. I don't mean that as a compliment, so don't take it as one!
Mr. A.L. --
Whose side are you on?
I have been an Obama supporter for a few weeks now. I have always liked him. He deserves better supporters than he has. Those that insist on kicking his opponent when she is down and OUT OF THE RACE are not helping his cause. Clinton has been gracious. She has praised Obama and made it plain she will help all she can toward a Democratic victory in the fall. I feel called upon to scream -SHUT the HELL UP about Hillary unless you can find something positive to say, and start working for a victory against McCain. The wisest thing you can do to help our candidate to become President is to build up Hillary Clinton and her supporters. We need them. They are NOT the enemy!!!!
You certainly don't make those of us who have joined the Obama cause recently feel very welcome when you bad mouth those we admire.
We either come together or we lose.
terrell, that's just it... HRC is not out of the race. That is the very point of this post. As far as we can tell, Clinton is going to continue to try to contest Obama's nomination, to the clear detriment of Obama's candidacy and to the Democratic party's chances of getting their candidate elected.
Also, I'd like to thank you for referring to "Obama's supporters" rather than "Obamatons", "cultists," and the various other slurs used by Clinton's supporters, and remind you that political debate on the Internet should never be taken personally.
Yes, Steven, there are idiot Clinton supporters as there are childish, stupid, goofball, Obama supporters. They are the exception.
She is out of the race. She congratulated Barack Obama, she left no doubt that she knew he is the nominee. She saved her official endorsement for a better time. Give me a break. Why do you have to join the right wing in interpreting her words in the absolutely worst way?
She seemed very gracious to me. Listen to her again in a day or two when she makes the official endorsement speech. It will be eloquent. It will get a lot of attention for Barack Obama. Were it not for the childish responses of some who are too het up on the Obama team and the ever-sensationalist press, her timing would be very smart. As it turns out some Obama supporters, with their useless, mindless, carping, have lessened the impact that her endorsement will have.
I have great admiration for Hillary Clinton. She will be a great asset to the campaign this fall -- as she was today in praising Obama's support of Israel. She does not deserve the hateful words that have been spewed by some of my fellow supporters of Obama who will NOT accept his lead in soothing the wounds of a long and VERY close campaign.
She could have drawn attention to Barack Obama by acknowledging his victory along with the rest of the Democratic party. Delaying her endorsement until Saturday does not give Obama any advantages. It does, however, allow her surrogates to continue telling the world about how she and her supporters patiently await Obama's selection of Clinton as VP, and it allows her to keep raising money for her campaign debt that could be used to defeat McCain... but these are advantageous to Clinton, not to Obama or the DNC.
If you see more selfless motives behind her actions, you should tell as many Obama supporters as possible about them, and I invite you to start with me. But she hasn't been particularly gracious to Obama before now, so I'm not prepared to assume that her attitude will change without some evidence.
You are probably a great guy. And if you are ever in Rome, Georgia I'll buy your lunch and enjoy a conversation. But...
What an incredible bunch of bullheaded childishness. Listen again to her speech. Listen to her words before the Jewish group yesterday. Listen. If you read evil or selfishness into her words then it is you who have the problem.
Like John Edwards who kept control of his delegates so that he could maximize his influence for the causes he supports, she wants to have the influence she deserves to wield by virtue of 17 million votes. If you think Clinton is in politics only for selfishness, you are a part of a big group of folks who have no understanding of her. It is not selfish to want to make a positive difference. In particular she wants to advance the cause of feminism -- the hopes and dreams of those of us inspired by the candidacy of a strong and principled woman. Obama's is not the only inspiring, and breakthrough candidacy this year.
Forgive me again but it seems to me that you have a hearing problem. You are so incredibly prejudiced against Hillary Clinton that you cannot hear and credit her words. And you continue to rile this Clinton admirer unnecessarily. Obama is the winner. If you cannot get over your hatred for Hillary Clinton, you are no help to our nominee.
What motivates you to beat this dead horse? Will you be satisfied with anything short of an apology from Hillary Clinton for daring to oppose your messiah?
I didn't mean to ramble and rant. I have loved Obama from the gitgo. I believe he will make a great president if we can elect him. I reprinted his magnificent announcement speech verbatum on my blog way back last year. I have thought that he would make a great nominee in a few years, but this year I felt Edwards or Clinton would make a stronger nominee.
I'm begging you and others like you to remember that this has been a family fight. Now we've got to get together to fight off the Republicans. It is very imaginable that we could be watching President McCain appoint a new Alito to the bench this time next year.
I think the internet, and 24 hour "news" (sensationalist) stations help to blow tiny things into big things. This is my last comment on this ridiculous matter. Obama is my candidate (and has been for several weeks). But some of his supporters make me crazy and I believe are hurting our chances in November. It is not Hillary Clinton who is extending the campaign, it is those like you who will not allow Hillary to speak without reading evil into her words.
To paraphrase Gandhi's words to Stanley Jones: "I love your Obama. It's just that so many of you Obamians are so unlike your Obama."
There, now I feel better.
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home