Clinton’s decision to not concede denies me what I most wanted, which is a sense of closure and some peace of mind so that I can relax after six months of battle. That probably makes some of her supporters happy, but my feelings and emotional well-being are insignificant. The only problem is that I’m not alone. The entire country is exhausted. Obama’s campaign had one motto for hiring staff: ‘No drama’.
Well…all we have left is drama. This is the view from across the Pond, where I’m headed:
The lead story tonight – my “lede,” as we spell it here – should have been about the remarkable fact that a black man has been nominated by a major party to lead a developed Western nation for the first time in the history of the world. A man – in whose lifetime people with his shade of skin were denied the right to vote and to use public accommodations – who is now on the cusp of the presidency. It says something good about America, and I would like to have been able to dwell on it.
But no. Once again, it’s all about Hillary Clinton, who delivered the most abrasive, self-absorbed, selfish, delusional, emasculating and extortionate political speech I’ve heard in a long time. And I’ve left out some adjectives, just to be polite.
That evaluation is nearly unanimous in the columns that came out this morning. And I share that view. But, what of it? Hardening her supporters against our nominee is an act of great irresponsibility and classlessness. But we either knew, or should have known, that this would be her decision. It’s been a long campaign, but try to think back to when it started. Do you remember what I was saying? I was saying that we had to defeat Clinton not so much because of her espoused policies, but because she surrounds herself with people that hate us. How have the following people conducted themselves in this campaign?
James Carville
Lanny Davis
Harold Ickes
Terry McAuliffe
Bob Johnson
Geraldine Ferraro
Bill Clinton
I hate to say ‘I told you so’ but I did. I knew who we were dealing with. My only surprise was to learn that Hillary Clinton was perhaps worse than all of them rolled together. I didn’t come to that conclusion until last night. I always thought she’d eventually try to atone for whatever hard feelings she had created by giving a gracious concession speech. But by the time last night rolled around, I no longer expected that. And she didn’t defy my low expectations.
I always understood that it was exciting to have a viable female candidate and that it meant a tremendous amount to millions of people. But I never saw this a battle between a black man and a white woman. I saw it is a battle to rid the party’s power structure of people like Lanny Davis and Terry McAuliffe. Hopefully, a lot of people now see why I saw things in these terms. Because those people are trying to force their way into the Naval Observatory where they can continue to lord it over decent hard working activists. I say, no more.
