As I Get On A Plane, Clinton Supporters Mobilize (VIDEO)

What?

I'm sorry but anyone involved in that has just lost all of my respect and sympathy. 

If this isn't about loving Hillary then what? Why is it important for you to take this stand if it isn't about her. I have been wondering this for months now. I have gotten the argument from my friends about standing up for women. Well if that is the case then we should really be trying to elect Senator Obama. I know we want to be heard but you voted and made your choice known. Isn't it time to face that the ship has passed and you are now just being bad sports? What will you accomplish by doing this besides giving the GOP material for new ads and stoking bad feelings.

It would bother the hell out of me if my daughter behaved this way. I tell her What my Grandma passed on to me if you want respect show some. If you act a fool nobody hears you even if you are right. Grace and class are the things people take notice of. As an African American woman I know what its like for people to question whether you belong or if you are enough like them. I don't yell and scream about it because in the grand scheme of things who cares? There are people who never even got the chance to have those questions asked of them. It is not about me but about the task at hand.

To the question of what else Hillary should be doing, have you seen Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee and even Rudi lately? They are all making news rounds supporting McCain. Why isn't she drawing clear lines in the sand about her positions vs John McCain's. Where is her ad in support of the Democratic ticket since I have seen the ones shooting it down. Again, if not Hillary then What?

Michelle

Denise as one of those very pro Obama folks I have to say that I will not blame Clinton if Obama loses in November. I just think we are running this double standard of having her look like she is to be afforded some special treatment because she is a woman. I take great offense to that. I was not a Hillary supporter and did feel a little guilty for it. As my bias was and still is Bill. But that is a story for another day. Look, we say we want a seat at the table but the pouting a foot stomping would not be accepted from a male canidate and it should not be accepted from her. Either you want equal treatment or you don't. It can't be both. Look, she evokes very strong feelings in some and my irritation comes because we cannot aford this now. As a single mom making a decent income I have had to limit my kids' activities because I just cannot afford what I could a few years ago. We have got to get serious about this. I get a headache just thinking about my heating and gas bills for the winter. I am thinking even the $2 movie will soon be a luxry I cannot afford. So I am a little rabid becase now this affects my kids and my neices and nephews. The people that get me more than just a little bent out of shape. I cannot afford McCain can you? If you can then vote independent or stay home but for those like me, if you are not working with me then aren't you working against me? Or did I miss something.

Michelle

...a long press release about how Sen. Clinton has said she does not approve the McCain ad -- "My name is Hillary Clinton and I did not approve this message." Marsh also quotes The HuffPo story's widely-circulated quote by Clinton, "There is no doubt in anyone's mind that this is Barack Obama's convention."

I wonder -- is there anything Michelle Obama or Teddy Kennedy could say tonight that would change the minds of some Sen. Clinton supporters? Or is this a mainstream media-driven party rift that doesn't live in voters' hearts? And how can we tell?

Lisa Stone
BlogHer Co-founder
Surfette

It always astounds me to hear "informed" and/or "undecided" Democratic voters talk about Obama not having convinced them--convinced them of what, I wonder? If through 54 primaries and caucuses and 20+ debates and/forums, you don't know where Obama stands on the issues of importance to women and our families, then I'd humbly suggest that maybe that says more about you than it does Obama. If you've managed to go through the last eight years on Republican mismanagement and abuse and aren't firmly convinced that another four years of that will horribly impact our future and our children's futures, then...well, I don't even know what to tell you.

Honestly, I don't think Clinton's done enough. Last week, the NY Times had a story that quoted Hillary Clinton supporters in Florida, saying she was being too tepid in her support of Obama. I agree with Erin that I'd like to see Clinton forcefully reject these "protests" and say explicitly that a vote for McCain is a vote against her, a vote against the Clinton legacy and a vote that endangers the future of our families. It's good to see her out there stumping for Obama, but the reality is that she hasn't been nearly as aggressive in attacking McCain as she was in attacking Obama. She (and her husband) can change that starting this week....and some of her early statements are a good start.

That said, I think the number of overzealous Clinton supporters are far fewer in numbers than the media hype suggests--one only needs to reflect on the PUMA convention from a few weeks back to see that. Unfortunately, one of the unintended consequences of this fervor of Clinton enthusiasts may be that the roll call vote doesn't happen--or happens in an abbreviated form--at the request of the Clinton campaign.

Which we haven't talked about much: how far to the center or right the entire Democratic Party, if you can call anything that, has moved.  The Clintons were a big part of that - they aren't deemed progressive in the way other legislators are and for sure the way many in the netroots think of the distinction between progressive, liberal and moderate.

So - I would ask - to what extent to the voters who continue to hold out as far as switching to Obama represent that group that kind of came of age politically in the 1990s, with the Clintons, who were never particularly liberal to begin with?  And to what extent is Obama really quite left of all that? 

Think about it - we as a country were coming off of 8 years of Reagan and then four of Bush Sr.  That's a very moderate, centrist to right of center agenda that was being followed - certainly compared to what we've had with the current Bush.  

And those folks who were enamored and reaching maturity as political junkies at that time - let's say they were the ones with the families and the health insurance and college education and job woes - now, here they are nearing the brink of what should ahve been retirement and stability, and they don't have that - but they had it good under Clinton.

Gritting teeth - it must really suck for them.

ON THE OTHER HAND - I can't see how they could decide that voting for McCain would be better than OBama EXCEPT that McCain WAS seen as a moderate maverick in 2000, when Bill Clinton was heading out.

So - with this context - perhaps that's a part of what keeps people grasping and also what contributes to that group that's grasping as being much more int he middle and further from Obama in the first place.

Jill
Writes Like She Talks