A quick thought on June 3, 2008: The night Barack Obama won the nomination. I'll do my best to remain objective, so as to be fair and balanced to all parties involved....
On second thought, screw it.
Hillary wins the award for "Most Blatant Lack of Class by an American Political Figure Since... Bill Clinton During the South Carolina Primary." This should come as no surprise. Her campaign has established her as the odds on favorite to win this award since she her air of inevitability first got dinged in Iowa. Time after time, Clinton and her surrogates have demonstrated an uncanny ability to behave like spoiled shits at every turn: race bating, fear mongering and even all out lying without remorse. Tuesday night was just the crescendo of a horrific symphony to which we've all been a captive audience. And I don't think I'm alone in realizing that my ears are bleeding.
Still though, somehow I was delusional enough to think that this would be the night she surprised us. Somehow, I imagined that the Clintons, so savvy all these years, would understand the magnitude of what was at hand and realize, "Hey, if we play our cards right, we could really come out of this thing looking good." The stage was set for her to share in the triumph of the evening: two historic candidates fighting until the end, then laying down their arms to join together in celebration of such an important campaign. Everything was in place for this to be Hillary's night too.
And what did she do? She took that opportunity, she took that historic moment, and she used it for leverage. She shrunk it down to just another political jab. She exploited it for yet another self-indulgent power play - a power play that was made to sound even more repulsive just 30 minutes later, when Barack Obama took to the stage for his victory speech and spent a solid 3-4 mintues lavishing sincere praise on Clinton and her accomplishments.
The contrast was un-fucking-believable.
Oh sure, there were a few nice passages about her memories from the primary season. And yes, she did give Barack token congratulations on having "run" (not "won") a great campaign. But there is no question what the real point of this speech was. After being introduced as the "next president of the United States" by Manic-in-Chief, Terry McCullough, Hillary jumped on the chance to strong-arm Senator Obama. She demanded that her followers be heard (as if Barack planned on ignoring 40% of the Democratic electorate). She continued to peddle lies about winning the popular vote, thereby adding fuel to the ridiculous notion among her supporters that she is being robbed. She declined to acknowledge that the race was over. And she refused to endorse. In short, she all but came straight out and scream "You better put me on that ticket or I'm taking my ball and going home."
It was nauseating. As Jeffrey Toobin put it, an speech of "deranged narcissism." And you know what? Like every other classless tactic her campaign has employed over the past 6 months, I'd bet ten bucks this one will backfire.
Consider this: Aside from infuriating the Obama camp with such thinly veiled threats, she has now created an even larger issue - one that won't heal over the coming months. Even if Barack wanted to put her on the ticket or felt he owed her a spot on the ticket, he absolutely can't now for fear of appearing weak. Thanks to Hillary's bullying approach, her being named to the ticket would bring into play fundamental questions about Barack Obama's ability to lead. It would be suicide for a candidate who advocates engaging with foreign dictators to cave before an enemy within his own house. The Republican talking points would write themselves, for Christ's sake. That speech made an Obama/Clinton ticket completely unworkable.
So congrats, Hillary. The pitch was right in your wheelhouse and you struck out.
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