Illinois Sen. Barack Obama staggered across the primary finish line Tuesday, winning Montana, losing South Dakota, yet still managing to clinch the Democratic nomination.
After several weeks of ignoring the campaign trail and leveraging his early lead to persuade super-delegates to throw their support to him, Obama ceded the popular vote to Hillary Clinton and proclaimed his victory at a rally with his supporters in St. Paul, Minn. Tuesday night.
Meanwhile, at Baruch College in New York City, Hillary Clinton ceded nothing to her political rival, maintaining only that she wouldn't make any decisions so soon after the final primary elections. Network pundits were making the implication that this was a political maneuver by the Clintons to hold her supporters hostage in exchange for a place on Obama's ticket.
Frankly, given the fact that there are many Democrats out there who have not bought into Barack Obama, remaining aloof is the smart move on Hillary Clinton's part. While Obama may have crossed the delegate threshold, Clinton clearly has the popular vote in her corner and given the dogfight that took place in Florida over a very similar scenario in 2000, the Democratic party must walk a fine line in how it handles the nomination at the risk of appearing hypocritical on a national stage. Remember, these are only pledged delegates. Until the Democratic National Committee meets in Denver in August, Clinton may continue to sway opinion based on her impressive showing with rank-and-file Democrats and work it to her political advantage -- no matter what that may be.
So what does all this mean to conservatives?
From the standpoint that the Democratic fight continues, the real winner of tonight's primary election may wind up being John McCain once again. After all, the longer Democrats continue to jostle for the top of the ticket, the more time McCain has to formulate his general election battle plan. With all the fodder the primary campaign has provided, McCain should be in good shape for upcoming debates. Plus, whenever the nomination hasn't been settled by the time the Democratic National Convention rolls around, historically Democrats have lost in the fall. McCain had to be wondering how the final stages of the nomination fight will play out as Clinton's supporters shouted over and over, "Denver! Denver! Denver!"
One of the biggest problems coming from the network news channels is the misleading information they're disseminating in terms of vote totals. All across the red-and-blue board it appears as though McCain is doing poorly when the totals are tallied, yet everyone seems to forget that McCain sealed his victory very early in the process and as a consequence many Republican and independent voters stayed home on primary day in states where McCain's presumptive nomination was a foregone conclusion. As misleading as this is, it might play into McCain's favor come election day, when McCain supporters have a reason to go to the polls.
To his credit, Obama did reach out to the Clintons in his speech following his clinch of the nomination:
"I have not only competed against them as rivals, I learned from them as friends ... Sen. Hillary Clinton has made history in this campaign. His supporters many of them with their arms folded gave a half-hearted cheer. I congratulate her on her victory in South Dakota and on the race she has run throughout this contest. I am a better candidate for having had the honor to compete with Hillary Rodham Clinton."Elsewhere in his speech, Obama talked about winning the battle for universal health care and how important Clinton will be to realizing that goal. This and the preceding comments can only be seen as a veiled appeal to Clinton and her supporters to end the indecision and unify the party.
Predictably, Obama used his moment of triumph to turn his rhetoric against McCain, preaching change yet using the same tired and misleading accusations he's used during his campaign, including the "100 years in Iraq" lie and the "four more years of George Bush" lie.
My friend Paul Gottfried, a paleoconservative who teaches Humanities at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania, said he plans to vote for Obama in the fall, which may sound surprising to some conservatives, but his reasoning is sobering:
"I think he’s terrible. I’m just hoping he’ll be so bad and create such a financial crisis, that he’ll actually push this country back to the right."I just love this quote from Gottfried, but I don't think his hope will be realized. Barack Obama has been extremely proficient at bringing in new voters and young voters into the primary, but in the end, I don't think young liberals are going to be determining factor in the 2008 presidential election. In every presidential and non-presidential campaign for the last 20 years, the decisive demographic comes down to the elderly, and McCain is the candidate who most reflects their values.
Now that the picture is becoming clearer, only time will tell.
Clinton Photo © Stan Honda/Getty Images
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Comments
Everyone, we live in a day and time when people believe they are above a nation. So many just expose hot opinions with disregard for the truth. This is the truth: Our country in its birth was established to be the antitheses of a monarchy. Public Service was not meant to be a career, but an opportunity to represent your community as a civic service to that respective community. This opportunity of service was to be decided by common people through a process that did not allow large states an unfair advantage, while simultaneously giving the large states a weighted advantage for their populations. The compromise that was worked out at the constitutional convention truly created a MORE perfect Union. I read so many postings on various blogs questioning Sen. Obama’s experience and qualifications, in case they did not teach this in our failing school systems, and because so many people are now educated by television and the internet, instead of books, I present to you the qualifications for President of The United States of America:
“No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.”
All of you have bought into this myth that our system of government requires some magical knowledge, education, social status, or wealth. What is required is a desire to do the job, and the respect of voters in states large and small. The same arguments being made here against Sen. Obama’s nomination are the convoluted arguments that have been made to suppress the liberties of so many. So many women have been denied through convolution, so many African-Americans have been denied through convolution, so many Latinos are now being denied through convolution. The great thing is our constitution has trumped every attempt to pervert it’s purity: Women have gained their rights, Slavery has been abolished.
We stand at a milestone in history, once again this system has worked through distractions and diversions, the voters of states large and small have spoken and we have just witnessed a process that shows that ALL men (and women) are created equal. The nomination of Sen. Obama brings our nation, our party, and our constitution full circle. Thomas Jefferson struggled with the issue of race as he wrote the Declaration of Independence his struggle has been validated. The Democratic Party, a party that supported and nurtured Jim Crow has been redeemed, and our living breathing Constitution has proved its self once again as the greatest guide to a better way of life for all of humanity.
Out of Many One
Did anyone notice that it was John Mccain who was limping last night? Mccain came in a dismal third place behind Mitt Romney and Ron Paul in Montana last night at 22%. But that’s not surprising. People at that age do alot of limping. More to follow.
Clinton has the popular vote only if you count Michigan, where Obama was not on the ballot. I wouldn’t call that a clear majority, but both the popular and delegate totals are extremely close.
My expectation is that Clinton will drop out today, but time will tell.
Calvin, you brought a tear to my eye. Thank you for being so insightful.
Why an Obama-Clinton ticket is the best thing for America. Think about it. America is more messed up than ever before thanks to the current non-administering administration. It will essentially take THREE Presidents to fix this mess. So, Obama’s integrity, ‘git ‘er done’ attitude and willingness to do only what he believes is right-no matter the opposition is exactly what we need for our next leader (no more shafting America so your friends can get richer!) In his corner, we NEED Hillary’s determination, contacts, experience and prior knowledge of what worked and didn’t in the healthcare saga and numerous other areas. We NEED Bill’s global good will, vast experience, and insider info. He can travel the world-as he does now, but in a more important capacity, to help us regain the respect of other nations again, and continue his prior work to reduce global warming, clean up the air, water, food, etc. right along w/ Obama and Hillary. We get THREE highly qualified, dedicated Americans to fix this mess and end the war too! THEN, after Obama’s 8 incredibly productive years, we get Hillary (and Bill) another 8 years to continue what they started!!! If you are a Hillary supporter rather than Obama’s then THIS is the ticket you WANT! It’s the ONLY chance Hillary (or any VP) has of actually getting 16 years in the White House! Think about it. 16 years of getting the added value of either two or three President-qualified people in there to sort this out. Obama, Hillary, and Bill are ALL qualified individually for the job (granted Bill can’t run, but he’s had the job), so let’s put them TOGETHER and really make big, huge, amazing, life and world-saving things happen. It’s absolutely our best hope for survival in a world that’s limiting our future by the second. The three of them together can make the difference we need. Obama-Clinton ’08 – Before it’s too late! Dream team indeed!
Your name is Justin? Never heard of you. That bird brain commnetary you wrote above most likely made your day. When is your book coming out? I will be sure to pick up a copy. Funny that no one heard from you when the race was in its prime, but of course you hid in your doghouse until the end. Way to go you also make history. You are a piece of work.
I am a long time Democrat. But I was absolutely disgusted at the way this country, has treated Hillary Clinton!! She is, and will be for many years to come, the very best person to be a Democratic President.
Millions of Hillary supporters, including me are now very fed up with the Democratic party, and how they have organized these primaries. What a complete botch-up!! It will be a while before I have confidence in the Democratic Party. Michigan and Florida were a complete and utter travisty of Justice.
Obama is not Presidential material, because:
1. He is too inexperienced.
2. He is very naive.
3. He is a very mixed up individual,
who doesn’t really know who he is.
Is he white, is he black, who
raised him, was it his white grand
parents, what religion is he,is
he Muslim, like the elementary
school he attended in Indonesia?
Or like his Muslim Stepfather? By
the way Indonesia is the largest
Muslim country in the world.
Is he Christian? That is very
debatable, because of the fact
that it took him over 20 years
to distance himself, and leave
his long-term church. Oprah
left this church after only 2
years! The preachers’ that Obama
has been friends with are the
racially biased, hateful people I
have ever seen. They could not
by any stretch of the
Imagination be called Christians.
The worst point about this is that
Michelle and Barack Obama took
their children to this church.
4. The “bitter people, clinging to
their guns” comment also did not
endear him to millions of
democrats.
I will not vote for him, I would
rather vote for McCain, or not
vote at all in this election.
I am not racially prejudiced, I
would vote for a qualified,
experienced, black American man
or woman, in a heart beat.
Unfortunately, we have the
most experienced, qualified woman
cadidate for President, and WE
botched it. But I mainly blame the
DNC, the Democratic Parties unfair
rules, and the Superdelagates who
know better. They should not have
“jumped ship” just because a younger
more politically correct, trendy,
show horse came along! Obama is
full of empty promises, that all
sound so wonderful, but are in
reality unworkable.
Interesting perspective, considering how Obama was basically annointed the winner of the general election by the media already. I swear, I have never seen Tim Russert look so star-struck before.
OBAMA WILL BE NIGHTMARE FOR US PEOPLE, HE IS HUGO CHAVEZ FRIEND & ENEMIES OF THE JEWS, HE ONLY WANT IMPORTS TOTALITARIANISM.