This was my comment answer to Steven D’s post. The quotes are from HRC’s speech.
I am running because I still believe I can win…. I believe I can provide that leadership.
Almost all of the people have spoken, and the majority of them do not agree with you. To be fair, it’s only a slight majority. To be fairer, you started off as the presumptive nominee and then after Iowa, people started rallying around Obama. Of course you believe you can provide presidential leadership, or you wouldn’t be running. But to believe you can win? Now? How? You are clearly out of touch with reality.
If Sen. Obama wins the nomination, I will support him and work my heart out for him against John McCain.
What a refreshing change from the months of free campaigning you did FOR McCain against Obama.
I am running because I believe staying in this race will help unite the Democratic Party.
I might believe you if you hadn’t so successfully turned your strategy into a matter of Black & White, Man & Woman. If you cared about uniting, you would have done as Edwards did and spoke out preemptively against racism (and sexism!), saying that if someone is only voting for you because you are white or you are a woman, you don’t want their vote.
I believe that if Sen. Obama and I both make our case – and all Democrats have the chance to make their voices heard – in the end, everyone will be more likely to rally around the nominee.
I’ll cede this one to you – but you know damn well the only reason it would be controversial if the party shouted you off the stage now is because you’ve made it a goddamned civil rights issue, when in fact it is your self-absorbed political motivations keeping you in so long.
I am running because my parents did not raise me to be a quitter…. As the first female candidate in this position, I believe I have a responsibility to finish this race.
God forbid one accept a loss gracefully. You are setting a horrible example for young women – the kind of macho toughness that some women think they have to adopt in order to beat men at their own game. I’d give you my copy of the Tao te ching if I thought you’d read it: “the softest thing overcomes the hardest thing”. Obama had been gentle, and you’ve mocked him as weak.
I am running for all the men and women I meet who wake up every day and work hard to make a difference for their families.
Yes… because Obama is only helping the wealthy and welfare moms? Huh?
I believe I won a 40-point victory two weeks ago in West Virginia and a 35-point victory in Kentucky this past week because I’m standing up for them.
With NAFTA? With pandering? With smear campaigns?
Finally, I am running because I believe I’m the strongest candidate to stand toe-to-toe with Sen. McCain.
Sadly, the popular vote and the delegate vote do not support your belief. You also fail to take into account the large percentages of Obama supporters who are independents and first-time voters and Obamacans and who will not turn out for you.
Good lord. All this is doing is casting further doubt on Obama. A few months ago, I was excited by HRCs campaign – even though I’ve been anti-DLC & Clintons for years, I was just thrilled that in my lifetime a woman might be president. But now any comraderie I felt with Hillary Clinton is replaced with embarrassment. I want a leader who can say “I’m sorry” or “I messed up”. The blustering bullshit of “I did not have sex with…” was never as bad as WMD, of course… but I’m ready for a politician who is also able to be human, speak frankly, and admit mistakes. It takes real strength to be vulnerable, and as an independent-minded woman, I know I’ve often confused strength with toughness…. It takes the most strength to be soft.
