Irregular Times Diaries: Unfit Discussion
In a time of the spring, old paths are obscured and new growth begins.
Irregular Times Diaries: Unfit DiscussionIn a time of the spring, old paths are obscured and new growth begins.
If Hillary Clinton loses the New Hampshire primary this coming Tuesday, it’s a sign that her campaign is serious trouble. A failure to come in first in New Hampshire could even put Clinton’s adopted home state of delegate-rich New York into play on Super Tuesday February 5th. If Hillary Clinton has to defend home turf, it will make it all the more difficult to her to win in other states.
It seems that Hillary Clinton’s vote in favor of George W. Bush’s plan to start a war in Iraq is finally coming back to haunt her. The strategy of the Clinton for President campaign of trying to establish her as invincible before any primaries or caucuses, as if the actual Democratic voters didn’t matter, was apparently also not a great way to endear her to the Democratic rank and file.
On top of Hillary Clinton’s stumble in Iowa, there’s news that the mood among New Hampshire Democrats is turning decidedly against her presidential campaign. At the New Hampshire Democratic Party’s 100 Club Dinner yesterday, Democrats booed when Hillary Clinton tried to attack Barack Obama and John Edwards. When Barack Obama took to the stage, however, the Democratic crowd erupted into enthusiastic applause, chanting his name and his trademark, Fired Up Ready To Go.
At another moment during Hillary Clinton’s speech, a Time Magazine reporter who attended writes, the Democratic audience let out “a noise that sounded like a thousand people collectively groaning”.
Things are not looking good for Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire. That doesn’t mean the election is over for her, but it does mean that all the hype for most of 2007 about her invincible status was nothing but the babbling of Washington D.C. insiders ignorant of the mood of actual Democratic voters across the country.
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January 6th, 2008 at 10:24 pm
So let me get this straight. Hillary’s supporters listened politely to Obama’s speech. Obama’s supporters acted like an unruly mob, booing Hillary. Therefore, this is a good thing for Obama and a bad thing for Hillary.
Here’s the full text of what she said:
It was also reported that Obama’s placard-waving fans were told to “stick around because the bar will be open later.” Oh, dear, could they have drunk a little courage beforehand?
If you want to see the video yourself, Hillary starts at about 1:40:00
http://www.c-spanarchives.org/library/index.php?main_page=product_video_info&products_id=203272-1&tID=5
January 6th, 2008 at 10:46 pm
Ooh. Interesting comment, Iroquois. Thanks for the additional information.
January 7th, 2008 at 6:35 am
I, too, was disturbed by the interruptions of Senator Clinton’s comments by Obama supporters. At best it was uncivil and at worst it demonstrated a churlishness, or immature response. It was as if, having won his 18 delegates in Iowa, Obama had become sacrosanct, and criticism of him, audacious. If Obama is going to become the front-runner, he had better be prepared to defend his positions from hard-nose journalists’ scrutiny, just as Hillary has, and not hide behind the sophomoric booing of his youthful supporters. More importantly, his staff had better prepare his youthful supporters for that reality.
Actually, it will be quite interesting to see how non-partisan Obama could stay if he got the Democratic nomination and had to battle a member of the — Gasp! — OTHER party for the White House.
January 7th, 2008 at 9:43 pm
Obama’s youthful supporters were getting up and leaving right in the middle of Obama’s speeches. The staff didn’t think that looked very good, hence the open bar.
January 7th, 2008 at 10:48 pm
Hmmm, interesting. Obama’s young supporters were even bored by his speeches.
Look Obama does give inspirational speeches. But that’s really not enough for me. I need to know if he can lead, not just inspire. I need to hear a concrete agenda, and how it will be achieved. I think it might be a good idea if Obama was to tell us who he’d appoint as Secy of State or Ambassador to UN if he is elected. He can fill some of his experience gaps with experienced cabinet members.
Frankly, I am unabashedly biased in favor of having a woman president at long last. It REALLY distresses me that in a country where women are the majority, no woman has even been VP yet.
Well time will tell. A lot will happen on SuperTuesday. And no doubt between now and then. Hopefully Obama’s supporters will give Hillary the same respect as Hillary’s and Edwards’ supporters give Obama.
January 8th, 2008 at 12:07 am
I don’t think stump speeches are all that. I saw Bill Clinton’s stump speech when he was in town running for re-election–I suppose it was a good speech but I don’t remember what he said now–oh yes, he made some Freudian slip with some bedroom innuendo, and the crowd caught it and snickered, but he corrected himself and went on with the speech. He made some anti-tobacco statements which received only cool applause. It was almost as if he was using the speech in a politically secure state to test ideas before adding them to the canned speech. Anyhow, the thrill is in seeing the candidate and being there in the moment.
I don’t trust inspiration or any of that transformational leadership stuff. It’s based on manipulation. Hitler gave great inspirational speeches. I wonder if he talked about Hope.
Obama does have true genius though, but does he have horse sense or is he naive about international issues? Okay, he didn’t vote for Iraq, but he wasn’t in a position to make a decision about that. I don’t think many politicians could have afforded to stand out from the crowd back then–public emotion was running pretty high and the politician who tried to stand in front of that steamroller would have been crucified. The statements he’s making about Pakistan these days don’t seem to be very nuanced or give any indication he has a feel for that subject. Oh, he’d learn fast all right, probably after some mistakes, hopefully minor ones. Hillary is right to go after him on experience.
And Hillary’s Achilles heel is Bubba. I think the country breathed a sigh of relief when we didn’t have to listen to all that unappetizing stuff about his personal activities any more, even if the country was being run very competently. Does anyone really believe he won’t do again what he did in the governor’s mansion and the white house? She can’t leave the guy and still have a political life, which is in her blood and in her destiny, and she needs his political contacts to succeed, but what does it cost her personally to live intimately year after year with someone who is fundamentally disloyal?
Did you see the way Chelsea was looking at her mother during the debate? I love my mother dearly of course, but I have never looked at her like that. Yes, that’s something to add to the collective national experience.