Clinton Camp: It'll Be Better For Obama If She's Not Pressured Out

[babylonsister]

Democrats Observe A Fragile Cease-Fire

By Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 20, 2008; Page A01


Sen. Barack Obama will return to Iowa tonight to celebrate another milestone in his long and sometimes bitter battle against Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who shows no signs of dropping her effort to convince party leaders that she would be a stronger Democratic nominee for president.

But the reality is that both sides have declared an effective cease-fire as they prepare to bring the party together for a general-election campaign against Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

snip//

But while she presses forward, aides say she is determined neither to be pushed from the race prematurely nor to be seen as doing anything to damage Obama's prospects of winning in November if he emerges as the nominee. Her campaign team believes that is the best way to bring the party together as quickly as possible once the nomination contest is over.

Her advisers say that a major reason she does not want to be pressured out of the race is that she believes it will be easier to bring her supporters over to Obama once the primaries are over if they think she was able to finish the nomination battle on her own terms.

more...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/19/AR2008051902737.html?nav=rss_politics

[Botany]

1. I don't buy what team Hillary is saying.

<Her advisers say that a major reason she does not want to be pressured out of the race is
that she believes it will be easier to bring her supporters over to Obama ... >

I might be wrong but this is about her raising money and ego.

[babylonsister]

2. I don't believe a damned thing they say. She's proved she has

no one's best interests at heart but her own. And yes, I think money has a lot to do with her staying in. I just can't figure out why anyone would contribute a penny more.

[Botany]

8. It has been over since super tuesday

but Team Hillary has stayed on out of ego, bitterness, and need for money ....
but just like having Mark Penn run your campaign is stupid Hillary had to
pay for many of her "volunteers" .... so the longer she stayed in the further
in debt she was ... Obama can "print money" w/ small donations but Hillary
was "tapped out" because her old school big money donors had reached their
limit of contributions they could make ($2,300).

I so how that enough super delegates step up and put an end to this "race."

[blackboard]

5. whatever

Obama has every right to recognize receiving the majority of delegates. Tell Hillary camp to get over it. She didn't walk a fine line about how karl rove map made her better or her white working class comments. Why does Obama have to treat her like a little lady on every freaking issue.

[Pirate Smile]

7. I think they are really living in denial. Yesterday, she certainly didn't act like a person trying

to help her supporters move towards Obama. It actually seems like the exact opposite with all the sexism/victim talk.

From Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal

Inside her campaign, Sen. Clinton isn’t asking for advice, forcing advisers to hold off discussions on what she wants from the process if she loses — from dealing with campaign debt, to her role in an Obama bid for the White House. “The campaign has broken down to those who drink the Kool-Aid that Hillary can still win, and those who don’t, and are considering their options,” one operative said.

http://thepage.time.com/from-tuesdays-wall-street-journal/

[N4457S]

20. Yeah...

...the big problems are the debt and then dealing with her personally in the aftermath.

She's a petulant little witch. She's going to push this thing to McCain and deny the presidency to Obama.

I've been around people a long time and I think I understand her fairly well.

We'll be swearing in McCain in January and she'll end up being responsible for it.

[N4457S]

17. She Has No...

...intention of promoting Obama as a presidential candidate.

She's already hiring for 2012. Ask around.

There's absolutely no way Obama is going to win Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania...and has to have all of them.

We get McCain (who Hillary is very good friends with) as a one termer and then Hillary next time around.

That's what's coming. I'm sure of it.

[Submariner]

3. both sides have declared an effective cease-fire

More LIES.

I just saw her on CNN spouting that she has won the popular vote and it not about delegates, it's about the electoral map.

That is not a cease fire. That is just more Clinton-style bullshit. She is a whacko.

[southern_belle]

4. I don't trust what she says. n/t

[izquierdista]

6. Like an old bat cruising down the highway

whose turn signal has been on for the last two hours, no amount of honking, flashing of lights, sirens, or detour signs will alter her 20 mph trip. Clueless is as clueless does and she will traverse her course on her own terms and no one else's.

The only part that doesn't fit this metaphor is that Hillary is not in front, but behind.

[flor de jasmim]

9. pushed out PREMATURELY? That would have been, say, March 10th.

[hughee99]

10. Oh, come one...

If Hillary is serious about trying to win, she's not going to be able to do it without bloodying up Obama a lot more, and that's not going to bring supporters over to him after the ensuing battle. I think she sees the writing on the wall that she can't win, but she can't raise money from supporters if she doesn't at least sound like she thinks she can win. She lent her campaign a lot of money, and she's not going to end her run until she's at least covered that.

[hughee99]

19. Oh, come ON

Don't know how I missed that.

[Peacetrain]

11. Trying to Understand it all

I really think the reason Senator Obama has not actually challenged Senator Clinton in the WV and KY primaries was to give her a gracious way out.. When Senator Obama actually campaigns in an area, and people get to know him outside of how others are trying to define him, his numbers go way up even in areas where he was predicted to be blown out by thirty points..

Unfortunately I think some of Senator Clinton's supporters have put upon her a mantle no human being could carry.. The one and only to represent them.. As a 59 year old woman, I can tell you this with absolute certainty.. no one speaks for me.. I speak for myself.. BUT if you truly felt that this was your only chance, I guess I can understand it somewhat..the visceral anger

The thing I cannot understand though is the willingness to subvert all the progress in womens rights to vote for someone who would most certainly pile the court to overturn roe v wade.. they do not have the right to do that.. the history is ours collectively not theirs only..women and men who fought for womens rights...it is our history to protect ..not theirs to do away with because their candidate did not get in..

I hope and pray people rethink this only my way or the highway attitude.. and they probably will with time and space..

[babylonsister]

12. Good post, peacetrain, and welcome to DU.

I suspect the people who claim they'll vote for McCain if Clinton doesn't win the nom are not Dems to begin with. If they've been paying attention at all these past 7 years, and know the consequences of voting for McCain, how could they possibly be Dems? Maybe the hurt feelings will go away with time, but that's running out. We all need to focus on one nominee and try to get our party back on track.

[Peacetrain]

15. Thank you Babylonsister

I posted for the first time yesterday.. after lurking here for years..I feel we are at a very critical juncture and it was time to stand up and say so, instead of sitting on the sidelines tsk tsking.. I am seeing this storyline being put out, that if it is not my way..then no way..and it reminds me far too much of what went on at the beginning of this administration ..my way or the highway politics..and to think that SOME of us in our anger, would adopt such an approach is frustrating to say the least

[N4457S]

21. Sorry...

...but Roe is gone anyhow. Regulation of abortion will revert back to the individual states. It'll always be legal in places like California and New York and it'll always be illegal or highly restricted in the west, midwest and south.

The Court is packed with Catholics now. You don't think that happened for a reason?

The same goes for gun rights. DC's ban is history and San Francisco's ban will go with it.

[Peacetrain]

22. Agree in parts

N4457S, you are right in part.. but if we throw our hands up, and lose all ground.. and maybe it is my age showing, because I remember what a terrifically difficult battle it was.. though I live in Iowa now, in the 70's I lived in Minnesota, and we battled to keep women from being locked up in institutions on just the word of a family member, and my now husband helped in that fight.. sometimes I fear we do not realize how really far we can fall backwards..This sudden branding of ALL the men and our party which worked so hard, is sad..

And sadder yet N4457S is the embracing of the standard bearer (I have no personal ill will against John Mccain)for the party that loves to label women who do not fall in line feminazis.. has me baffled .. truly baffled.. somehow the neo cons are supportable over Senator Obama, or even Senator Clinton if she were to get it???

[N4457S]

23. There's Not A Dime's Worth...

...of difference between John McCain and Hillary Clinton. That's what the Republicans don't like about him.

We know Obama can't carry Ohio, Pennsylvania or Florida. That means it's over.

I can't stand Hillary Clinton but she knows this all too well. That's why she's already hiring for 2012.

[Peacetrain]

24. I think he can carry Ohion

I think he can carry the states.. probably the biggest reason being, that Senator McCain has so closely aligned himself with the current administration in regards to Iraq and keeping the tax cuts and letting them go forward. Th bulk of the tax cuts, the largest part of them have yet to go into effect. So I am much more optimistic..

[N4457S]

25. Fair Enough...

...but I say he can't carry Ohio because (1) I grew up there and Democrats I know there won't vote for him and (2) the race issue in that state will be something so powerful that he can't possibly overcome it by November.

Yes, Obama will win Cuyahoga and Lorain counties. No doubt. Mondale, Dukakis and Kerry did too.

Franklin? Don't know. Kerry won it in 2004 but did poorly in the southern portion of the state.

[Peacetrain]

26. You would understand the Ohio dynamics

better than me, since I have never lived there... But this election brings the oldest, the first woman or the first black candidate .. one of the will be president..and all three have ism's that they will be judged by.. ageism, racism, and sexism.. I am hoping and optimistic that people in the final analysis (at least 80% if us) will judge the candidate on their programs and policy's that they are offering up..

[N4457S]

27. You May Have Read...

...in an earlier thread about my brother. He called last night because he's in SF and the first thing he says is "...there aren't any <insert African American racial epithet>'s here..." and I was just blown away.

He and I grew up in northern Ohio, but I moved out of there and he stayed.

It was the first thing out of his mouth!

Ohio is economically depressed for a very good reason. It's older, highly unionized, less well educated and less skilled than average. It's also lower income and culturally less sophisticated than the coasts. I was there about five months ago and it's just a black hole. It was creepy.

This is why Hillary is bouncing off the walls. She and Bill can see what's coming, clear as day.

[N4457S]

28. I Have To Tell Ya...

...that Hillary, while more electable in the industrial midwest, isn't the easiest person to listen to. Don't call me names but the guy who said she sounds like someone who just got her husband's credit card bill is exactly correct.

Obama's perceived elitism flies in the face of everything most people stand for in places like Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania and even West Virginia and Maryland. When he started talking about arugula, I knew he was cooked.

Billy boy had this nailed in 1992. He's educated and skilled as a lawyer and smart as a whip but still a good old boy, with his El Camino and appetite for southern food and loose women and his gut hanging out. He was perfect for the job. Even Newt Gingrich marveled at how well Bill navigated all those years, through all the scandals. He was good, almost too good.

Hillary and Obama have none of these qualities. Obama thinks he does but he doesn't. The only combat Hillary has seen is from throwing a vase at her husband after a bimbo eruption.

[napi21]

13. I really HOPE she stays in until June 3rd. Do you realize that the

remaining voters haven't had THEIR primary mean anything for YEARS if EVER? I know, in the four different States I've lived in, our primary NEVER mattered...the candidate was ALWAYS chosen way before we ever had the chance to cast a vote! I've heard a lot of people say that. We're only talking about 3 more weeks until the LAST PRIMARY!

[CoffeeCat]

14. Hillary and her campaign are lying...

I just watched Geraldine Ferraro, this morning, talk extensively about how Obama is
a sexist.

How in the world is this "bringing the party together"?

It's obvious that Hillary wants more time to inflict damage. If she was truly
interested in bringing the party together she wouldn't be deploying her surrogates
to paint Obama as a sexist.

As usual, more deception, manipulation and bullshit from the Clinton camp.

[N4457S]

18. My Brother...

...and his wife are in San Francisco on vacation, and he called me last evening. I had been on pager duty for a week or so and was typically sleep deprived, but within the first thirty seconds of the conversation I heard him use the N word. He and I grew up in northern Ohio and spent significant amounts of time in central Pennsylvania because that's where the other side of the family lives.

There's no way people in the industrial midwest are going to vote for this guy. Obama couldn't carry those states in the primary and now he's supposed to win them in the general election?

That's irrational.

The election is over. It's been over for three months.

[ramapo]

16. No problem

Hillary can run the string out on the primaries. I hope she raises enough dollars to pay off her debt. Now that she has stopped trashing Obama, I am losing some of my Hillary-hate. Had she not gone down that road, she might be in a very different place today.