Tuesday, August 12, 2008

From the Desk of Hillary Rodham Clinton...

"These past months have been historic times for our party, and for our country. Millions of Americans young and old, from every walk of life, every race and creed, have come forward and done what so many have claimed they would never do - take an active and real role in their nation's future. I feel truly humbled that so many of those people chose to support my bid for the Democratic Party nomination for President - to them, no words can possibly express my thanks for your time, energy, enthusiasm and support. This experience has further cemented my belief in our system, our party and our process, and I want all of you to know that this is by no means the end of my own journey - I look forward to serving the people of New York as their senator for 8 more years during the administration of President Obama, at which point I can tell you all that I intend to help our party and our nation make history yet again.

The question that our party faces at this time is how best to reflect the stated preference of those millions of Americans who preferred that I be the Decmocratic Party nominee for President. There has been much debate in the media and on the internet about whether I should formally be nominated at our upcoming convention. To those supporters, I say this: Your votes were cast to send a message - and that message has been received, loud and clear. It has been received by myself; it has been received by our party leadership; it has been received by the next President of the United States, Barack Obama; and it has been received by the world at large. You said that WE WANT TO BE HEARD, and I am here today to tell you that with Barack Obama as our next Commander-in-Chief, we will BE heard.

With that mission accomplished, then, I wish to make it perfectly clear that I in no way intend to stand for or accept nomination at our upcoming convention. The people have spoken and made their choice, and as committed Democrats it is our duty, obligation and honour to stand behind that choice, Barack Obama. Our party must unite behind Senator Obama and ensure the future prosperity and international reputation of our nation by putting all of our energies behind winning the White House this November, and giving the common people back their voice in the halls of power."

Of course, Hillary didn't write this. Neither did any of her speech writers, or campaign staffers. *I* wrote it, just now. But this SHOULD have been written, and released, by someone connected with her campaign over a week ago.

The fact that it wasn't should make Democrats very nervous indeed, as they eye polling numbers in places like Florida.

Discuss: Would Hillary knowingly capitalize on the divide within her party to try and get McCain elected, in order to take him on in 4 years? With John Edwards political career in shambles, would she rather take the Democratic mantle as "next-in-line" and run against an incumbent 76 year-old McCain than against a yet-to-be-determined Republican after 8 years of Obama?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Absolutely!

Hilary Clinton and her handlers chose to take the low road in many ways during the primaries and it sealed her fate. As a result, she has come off as the consummate, negative caricature of a politician. And that would be further evidenced by a silence that you illustrate.

With a protectionist, isolationist Democrat such as Obama indicates he will be in the White House, it bodes poorly for Canada and the Western World. That will feed the ambitions of more of the ilk of bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hugo Chavez.

While not totally sold on Mr. McCain either, perhaps a mediocre (that would be an improvement on the Dubya years!) Republican term would stabilize domestic American affairs and not inflame foreign relations or further cause economic woe at home.

I am convinced that the election of 2008 may hinge on whoe the respective parties select for second fiddle on the ticket. If the Democrats manage to have some experience and realism eminate from the VP candidate it would aid their cause. The Republicans would benefit from nominating a younger individual, one who can resonate more passion to the voter.