I have to say, I've gained back some respect for Hillary

[democrattotheend]

I haven't completely let go of my anger from the primaries, but I am trying hard, and despite my anger, I also have gained back a lot of the respect I once had for her. I will give her kudos not only for her speech today, but for the things she has done behind the scenes since dropping out to push her supporters toward Obama. I read in this http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mayhill-fowler/one-happy-family-in-unity_b_109674.html">Huffington Post article that she is supposedly shaky and tearful behind the scenes these days, and I have to admire her ability to go out and sing Obama's praises despite her emotional state. This has to be a big letdown for her and her supporters, and despite my anger over some of her tactics I do feel sorry for her and for all of the people who saw their dreams in her the way I do in my candidate. As much as I love Barack, sometimes as a woman I even feel a little guilty about my choice. Is that crazy?[br />
On edit: Just to clarify, I love Barack Obama and don't regret my choice for one second. I just feel sorry for Hillary and sympathize with her female supporters, especially the older ones, who really wanted to see a woman president in their lifetime.

[Genevieve]

1. "sometimes as a woman

I even feel a little guilty about my choice.
Is that crazy?"

Yes, that is absolutely crazy.
JMO, and you asked.

[democrattotheend]

2. I don't regret my choice

I love Obama and I am so proud that he is our nominee. But sometimes I feel guilty for not supporting the first woman with a real chance at the presidency. Hillary Clinton was one of my heroes growing up, and if you told me ten years ago that I would be supporting another candidate when she ran for president I'd be pretty surprised.

[pnwmom]

17. You are not crazy

you are torn. Both of them are great candidates and she had been ones of your heroes. No wonder you're feeling ambivalent.

So am I.

[Raine]

3. Agreed

I picked Obama cause I feel he will do a better job, I don't feel guilty at all.

[RazBerryBeret]

4. yes that is crazy...

since we think with our brains not our uteri.

[sellitman]

5. Nope.

I haven't gained back a inch of respect. She is only saving her own Senate career now and retiring her debt.

You asked.

[GalleryGod]

10. Total 100% agreement.

:evilgrin:

[JVS]

18. I also agree

[SoCalDem]

32. and the dilemma is entirely self-created

Had she dropped out when the MATH was overwhelming, there would be no NEED for all the drama now.

The person I feel sorry for, is Obama.. He never got a chance to be happy about his accomplishment. He got the ice cream sundae, but the shit-sprinkles ruined the experience.

Even when he finally won, he had to slather on the praise for her..and now he's expected to pay extortion money so she can "let her people go"..

Her plan, once she knew she could not win, was to make it as hard for him to win, as she possibly could..to poison the well for him..

All those people who voted for her, after she "lost"..well some of them would still have voted for her..just as people continued to vote for Huckabee and Romney and Paul..and the few who still voted for Dodd & Kucinich...but they would have done it as an homage to her...not a bitetr vendetta against Obama.. She turned her votes into anti-Obama votes..not pro-Hillary votes.That's the "problem"..

Her anger against Penn & her campaign team & maybe even Bill ended up focused on Obama...as his campaign chugged merrily along.. I can understand her anger...but I cannot excuse her decision to "soldier on"...for what?? "winning" would never have been the outcome..unless (see RFK)..and by the time she had "lost", she still had enough delegates that she would have been the "winner" in such a horrific consequence.. She deliberately squandered borrowed money, just to muddy-him-up..just in case he survived the campaign..

Even now, with him as the presumptive nominee, as much of the "talk" is about Bill & Hillary and their reactions & feelings, as it is about Obama.

[Purveyor]

6. Hillary - Senate Majority Leader 2009!!! eom

[democrattotheend]

7. I think chair of the HELP committee is the perfect role for her

Although obviously I hope Teddy hangs on for as long as possible. But if he has to retire, that would be the perfect role for her. She's already a member of the committee and it would give her a platform to help pass universal health care, which is the issue she is most passionate about.

[Happyhippychick]

8. I agree with this.

[NatBurner]

9. I've found myself getting pissed about this latest wave of media treatment

i'm cursing these tv pundits are purposely avoiding the power of today's display
and questioning her (and Bill's) party loyalty, and their ability to persuade fellow democrats-

"will this be enough?"
"where's bill?"
"will her words come back to haunt them?"
"can hillary's 'followers' let go?"
"blah blah blah..."

why do they always have some tightass dickhead republican professional cynic do the commentary?

i'm watching campbell brown do her best to diminish this day-

it's so predictable and obvious

i can't stop watching though

..cuz i like to cuss at the tv? who knows

[ChimpersMcSmirkers]

24. Yeah, but where is Bill? A one line endorsement via a spokesman?

Hillary's doing good and it was nice to see Obama and her together. I am expecting the Clinton's to do
their best to help, however, and so far I'm not feeling much love from Bill.

[polmaven]

26. "Where is Bill?"

Um....Out of the country! Did you expect him to discuss his role over a trans-Atlantic phone call with Senator Obama?

I'm quite sure that, now that he is home, he and the Senator will sit down, IN PRIVATE to discuss what it is that Senator Obama wants him to do during the rest of the campaign.

[papapi]

11. I think Hillary and Bill contributed a lot of unnecessary negativity to....

the primaries and used tactics that should have been off limits. I do understand why many would support her. I will not be upset if Obama chooses her as VP or for some other post in the administration. Unity is more important that any of our disappointments.

[Richard Steele]

15. You know, I have to disagree with you there- and I've never been a Hillary fan.

Sure, I agree that some tactics "should be" off limits,
but the fact is that they aren't these days.

And Hillary didn't do that; she's not responsible for our
national elections being crap-flinging smear-fests.
She just RECOGNIZED that that's what they are nowadays, and
she played the game by the 2008 rules.

And, if anything, I have to give her credit for that.
I'll give her a big "+1" for her pragmatism.

[Raine]

12. Her endorsement was good but

it's going to take more (lot's more) for me to respect her again.

[DeepModem Mom]

13. Obama said at the Mayflower that even his grandmother and his daughter Malia...

related, as women, to Hillary's campaign. I supported Obama from the beginning (sponsored the DU Obama Group, way back when), but throughout the campaign I felt, as a woman, a connection to Hillary and the untrodden road she was traveling.

I appreciate your honesty in sharing your feelings. It's been fascinating to me to observe the emotions Hillary's campaign has evoked among women (from hatred of her to a connection so strong that some would vote for McCain, to somewhere in between for most). A Gen Y woman very close to me, an ardent Obama supporter, has, for example, looked at some things in her workplace with regard to women in an entirely different way as the campaign went on. She heard things said in the press, saw what she considered unfair treatment, and realized that even though we've come a long way, at her workplace, as in politics, we aren't quite there yet.

[Arrowhead2k1]

14. I respect Hillary a little more now but

I'm still 'miffed' by the damage she ended up doing to Obama's image among Women voters, no matter how small and insignificant it may prove to be.

Atleast she's under control now...

[Evergreen Emerald]

21. She did not do damage to Obama's image--he did his own damage

It is not about Clinton. It is about Obama.

[Arrowhead2k1]

22. He did his own damage?

While Hillary goes around saying her and McCain will bring experience to the office, all Obama will bring is a speech?
Or what about, "he's not a Muslim, as far as I know..."?
Or, "Shame on you Barack Obama!"
Or insinuating that Obama's supporters are nothing more than delusional idiots with no clue?
-"...let’s get everybody together, let’s get unified the sky will open, the light will come down, celestial choirs will be singing,” she said, to a smattering of giggles. “And everyone will know we should do the right thing, and the world will be perfect..."

Now we can look forward to GOP ads like this gem:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2DECDKOFnw&eurl=


Not to mention, organizations like PUMA who's supporters truly believe Obama is the spawn of evil, wouldn't exist today if it weren't for Hillary's lack of grace and relentless negative campaigning against all odds which ended up running her own campaign into the ground with a $20+ mil dept which Obama's camp is now under pressure to help pay off.

So yeah, shove it up your ass that 'She did not do damage to Obama's image'. Granted, she didn't do all of it, but as a fellow Democrat, she did a good deal, and I for one will NEVER forget it.

[Evergreen Emerald]

25. oh stop

The things Clinton said about Obama in the heat of the campaign are no worse than the things Obama said about Clinton--indeed Obama called Clinton Racist and I think that is the worst thing you could say about a person. So, perhaps you should grow the fuck up and look at Obama's actions instead of blaming other people.

People supported Clinton over Obama because they thought she was the better Presidential candidate.

Shove it up your own ass.

[Arrowhead2k1]

27. Obama called Clinton a racist?!

Wtf?! Where? when? Sounds more like something you just pulled out of your own ass.

As for Clinton saying things no worse than what Obama has said about her, then you must still be deluded with some crap you've dreamed up. The snippets I've highlighted above are remarkably worse than any attack Obama himself has ever leveled on Clinton.

[butterfly77]

29. This is something I have never understood about Hillary supporters..

You are trying to pretend that Obama attacked Clinton during the campaign and everytime I saw him or his surrogates respond to her it was because she attacked him in some way. What was he suppose to do not say anything and just let her attack him. I agree with everything Arrowhead said. I often wonder if it were another candidate if you would have felt the same.

It seems as though those who supporter her thought that he shouldn't defend himself just because she is a woman. Geraldine Ferraro was angry just because he said he was dusting the dirt off his shoulder. He didn't attack her she attacked him the night before at the debate. If he really wanted to attack her he could have done more than he did, he did not want to attack another Dem and give the repubs more ammunition. As for the better candidate I say Bull! the best person won...

[mrreowwr_kittty]

31. When did Obama call Clinton racist?

Put up some substantiation of that or STFU.

[niceypoo]

16. I never experienced this 'anger' you talk about

It was just a lot of knee jerk reaction to typical politics.

[PatGund]

19. Sen. Clinton.....

....deserved far better than her campaign.

[sufrommich]

20. I'm still shaky and tearful about her not getting the nom,

I imagine it's hard for her. I get a feeling of sadness every time I see her now. She would have made a great president.

[crankychatter]

23. as Adlai Stevenson said in reference to Richard Nixon

"... he could chop down a redwood tree and make a speech for conservation from the stump."

[iconicgnom]

28. "shaky and tearful" 4 weeks later?

How long do we milk this sympathy cow before getting back on track talking and critiquing policy and strategy?

I'm not totally unsympathetic to losing candidates - however, of all the losing candidates I have most sympathy for John Edwards. Tho' that's just my emotional response and I wouldn't mention it except this "sympathy for the loser" meme is *still* so in our face. What's more, I have a certain respect for candidates like Edwards who haven't tried to pull every emotional lever they can conjure, so they can continue to bollix the show by making sure it stays all about *them*. If there were stories about how Edwards was still "shaky and tearful" a month after leaving the race I'd just shake my head in dismay, that he wasn't presidential material after all.

[butterfly77]

30. I am also sick and tired of the media...

all through this campaign acting as though hillary supporters were more angry at Obama's so called tactics against Hillary, when in reality we were angry because she began attacking, when she started losing. Her supporters then began to act outraged if he commented or defended lies about his religion or character.