Hillary made history again last Tuesday, taking the primary contests of Florida, Ohio and North Carolina by huge margins, and unexpectedly scoring narrow wins in Illinois and Missouri. Instead of celebrating her clean sweep, beltway media by and large pretended it wasn’t happening, focusing on “how well” Bernie did, or — in the case of major pundits/reporters Joe Scarborough, Brit Hume, Glenn Thrush and Howard Kurtz — told Hillary to “smile.” Hillary is running to be Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces and leader of the free world. She has, from the beginning of this campaign, offered a comprehensive, progressive platform. Her victory speech was an invigorating, inclusive call to arms. In a frustrated attempt to distract from the trail she is blazing, pundits pretend she’s running for Miss Congeniality, but her momentum cannot be denied.
For the intellectually dishonest, in the press or otherwise, who pretend Hillary Clinton is not already our de facto Democratic nominee, or that she is somehow “subverting” the will of the people, Secretary Clinton currently leads Senator Sanders by more than 2.5 million votes. She is also 323 PLEDGED delegates ahead of him. SUPER delegates (comprised of 718 senior party officials) are not even at issue at this point, but currently support Hillary 479 to Sanders’ 26.
Senator Sanders this week admitted he ran as a Dem for publicity reasons. Long critical of the Party, he chose to co-opt its apparatus to gain visibility for his campaign, which means he cannot now be a Party of one and must play by their rules.
After his losses Tuesday, Bernie trumpeted the possibility of swaying Super Delegates from their support of Hillary — even though he first fought against Super Delegates being part of the equation at all. Were he to attempt such an action under these circumstances, that would be subverting the will of the people. Sadly, it’s also a tacit acknowledgement by Sanders’ campaign that there is no way he can catch up to Hillary’s pledged delegate or popular vote lead, particularly with the upcoming delegate rich states of New York, California, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and more, that surely favor her.
That said, if Sanders wishes to continue his run, he should. But the negative attacks against Hillary’s character must end. This is not only about what hurts Clinton as a candidate in the general election, but Senator Sanders is marring his own brand by turning his back on his promise to stick to the issues and “not go negative.” An argument can be made that he has already hurt his popularity and standing by doing so.
In 2008, Hillary Clinton got more votes than anyone in primary history, about 200,000 more than Barack Obama. He narrowly beat her in the pledged delegate race, however, to the tune of about 130. Super Delegates then ran to him. Despite the closeness of their contest, Hillary acquiesced to Democratic Party rules, released her delegates at the Convention and proposed that then-Senator Obama be nominated by acclamation. Afterwards, she made 180 campaign appearances to help elect him, later serving faithfully as his Secretary of State. At no point in the 2008 contest did Barack Obama have anywhere near the formidable lead Hillary does now.
For Senator Sanders to continue to run on issues dear to him is valid, but his campaign might want to consider being honest about the way the Democratic nominating contest works. To pretend his campaign can overthrow the popular vote and delegate counts is dishonest to his loyalists, taking campaign contributions on a whim that will not come to pass.
Hillary Clinton is a lifelong Democrat who has been fighting for progressive causes since her years working for the Children’s Defense Fund. As a New York Times opinion piece just offered “Clinton’s bipartisan governing tradition may not be stylish, but it is highly effective.” She marches onward with a diverse, dedicated and enthusiastic (sorry, corporate media) coalition of voters.
Despite the cringe-worthy behavior of sexists like Joe Scarborough or anchors like Chris Hayes and Rachel Maddow, who continue to humor Sanders’ creative delegate postulations, Hillary Clinton is doing what Donna Brazile said:
Hillary’s march toward the nomination has been slow and steady. I’m sure the slow part annoys her, but the steady is impressive.
— Donna Brazile (@donnabrazile) March 16, 2016
I don’t know that Clinton is annoyed. After all, slow and steady wins the race. That is what she is on track to do – win – regardless of those who would blunt her history-making run to keep the click bait going or the money flowing.
11 Comments
I mostly condemn the talking heads continually saying Hillary
“is not likable” they keep repeating it until at this point it has become a (untrue) theme. The media created the Trump monster and now they are on track to use the “likable” theme to get audience attention. They didn’t report quotes from Republican elites that they “can work with Hillary” – unlike Trump, Cruz.
I was in Denver for the 2008 Democratic Convention and I videotaped delegate who admitted to me that they had been told by the DNC leaders to “not” vote for Hillary and to switch their vote to Obama. Those delegates who were sent to Denver to vote for Hillary (which is what they are supposed to do) were ordered by the power elite to switch their vote to obama.
“Senator Sanders this week admitted he ran as a Dem for publicity reasons. Long critical of the Party, he chose to co-opt its apparatus to gain visibility for his campaign, which means he cannot now be a Party of one and must play by their rules.”
Could he do a Ralph Nader and run as Independent or something in November?
Hillary is not a lifelong Democrat. Please check your facts. I am a Hillary fan but want to trust the articles I read about her
Like Clinton, I was raised in a conservative household. When I turned 18, I dutifully registered as a Republican. That lasted about a year, and by 1996 I cast my first vote in a presidential election for Bill Clinton. I have never voted Republican since. I consider myself a lifelong Democrat and Clinton has 30 years on me. Clinton left the 1968 Republican convention and became a Democrat. She was 21 years old. If over 40 years doesn’t make you a lifelong Democrat, I don’t know what does.
The distinction here is between Clinton, who was Republican for a very short time before switching to Democratic and staying Democratic for 40 years, versus Sanders, who became a Democrat for the first time in 2015, with no previous history of ever having campaigned as a Democrat during his entire career in politics.
Stop trolling. She has been a Democrat since she was old enough to vote — when she voted DEMOCRAT. Following her father’s footsteps when she was 17, which she dropped shortly thereafter to campaign for anti-war Eugene McCarthy tells the tale.
Sen Sanders is NOT a Democrat and how he was allowed to run as one is beyond me. In 2008 Hillary was pressured to give up even tho it was a much closer race then than now. Where is the pressure for Sanders to give up? Seems a bit sexist to me. She’s always asked to apologize, quit, etc?
The male candidates opposing her get away with too much. I’m sick of it.
Bernie is and wants to be just what Anita says… A PARTY of one. He thinks America is a dictatorship of sorts. Typical male outlook. “I’m the male in the house. Do as I say. My rules apply…”
The recount here of Hillary’s remarkable loyalty to the Democratic Party after 2008 hijack and the support she, and her husband too,gave to BOB causes me anguish as to why BOB has NOT yet endorsed her. His support is too tepid. So is MOBs. And even Biden.
Not only is Hillary the right candidate by far for the nomination, they owe her their support. It’s time to weigh in.
Obama isn’t a terribly popular President, so an endorsement from him is not a gift to run on for all voting segments. He lacks political skills, and his agenda always seemed more from a speechwriter’s pen than from his heart. He, like Sanders, loves the rock stardom that stadium rallies provide so I can see him campaigning.
Louann,
I totally agree with you! Bernie is not going to win, no matter how much he thinks he is going to change the “system/establish” of which he claims not to be a part. The media is silent on Hillary’s historic run and wins in primaries that the male candidates can only hope for. They treat her as if she has done nothing special, while constantly finding anything to say nice about Bernie. HE IS NOT AUTHENTIC OR HE WOULD HAVE RUN AS AN INDEPENDENT.
The same media who is giving him and Trump a pass, hounded Hillary every day to get out of the race, even though she was closer to obama than bernie is to her in delegates and votes. In fact, Hillary won more popular votes than obama and the DNC still demanded that Hillary’s super delegates vote for obama in order to avoid a floor fight, which is exactly what sanders is proposing and we hear not a peep! She is head and shoulders above all of the candidates who are running in experience, knowledge and judgment and they are still treating her like a second class citizen.
I support her now more than I did in 2008 and I hope the women of the country wake up and realize just how much the patriarcby is frightened of her because they know she is going to actually do the job as commander-in-chief better than any of them have done so far.
Spot on, Kathleen. Thank you for your comments. Also, Sanders is now proposing preconditions for his endorsement. After a knife edge race in 2008, Hillary released her near 2000 delegates at the Convention, asked that Obama be nominated by acclamation, and made 180 campaign appearances for him. ZERO preconditions. Speaks a lot to her grace and class.