I'm an Obama supporter, but I like & respect Hillary and John Edwards and would be happy with any of the 3 as President. However, I think Obama is the most inspiring of the candidates, could bring the most excitement to the campaign and would bring in both young voters and independents to make the Democrats a much stronger majority. Since on policy issues the 3 front-runners are very close, I can afford to choose on the basis of emotion. So I admit that a great part of my support for Obama is because he can bring me to tears when he speaks. But that's practical also -- that skill will be tremendously helpful when running against the Repubs.
But the ongoing skirmishes between the Obama Campaign and the Clinton Campaign, the trading of accusations of sexism and racism, is exaggerated and overplayed. Much of this mess is caused by our lovely media's desire for a story. Can't find a real story, well just go out and make one up!
So when you come down to it, what do we really have.
So here's the racist evil from the Clinton camp:
- Andrew Cuomo using the phrase "shuck & jive."
http://blogs.timesunion.com/...
Turns out that the press somehow "missed" the fact that the phrase was used in a paragraph in which Obama did not even appear. Read the transcript and you'll see that it's clear Cuomo was referring to the fact that candidates can't snow the press when they're in small states and he was reflecting on his own experience on campaigns with Gore and Clinton. Of course it was stupid of him to use this phrase at all, in any context, since it derives from our slavery history and has racial connotations, but it certainly wasn't an attack on Obama.
- Anonymous "Clinton advisor" says something to the Guardian about people who support Obama because they want an "imaginary hip black friend."
Maybe the "imaginary friend" is actually the person who made this statement to the Guardian. For all we know, this "anonymous advisor" could be the person who stuffs the envelopes in a local campaign office.
Here's the sexist evil from the Obama camp: from TPM
http://tpmelectioncentral.com/...
Jesse Jackson Jr.
We saw something very clever in the last week of this campaign coming out of Iowa, going into New Hampshire, we saw a sensitivity factor. Something that Mrs. Clinton has not been able to do with voters that she tried in New Hampshire.
Not in response to voters -- not in response to Katrina, not in response to other issues that have devastated the American people, the war in Iraq, we saw tears in response to her appearance. So her appearance brought her to tears, but not hurricane Katrina.
Now I don't like this quote; Jesse Jackson Jr. sure isn't just an anonymous advisor or imaginary friend of Obama's; and I would agree that part of it is sexist. However, another part is exactly the opposite. He was saying that Hillary isn't seen as particularly sensitive and her tears were to try to make her look sensitive. Since sexism would predict that she would be over-emotional, Jackson's comment is a ridiculous mixture of just plain nasty (she has no sensitivity) and sexist nasty (all she cares about is her appearance). I think Jackson should apologize for it.
But while people focus on this stupidity by Jackson, the real sexism against Hillary is coming from the Media:
Matthews comment that Hillary only got to where she is because Bill "messed around."
And this made-up story by Swampland writer Jay Newton-Small (who's a woman, by the way) http://time-blog.com/...
Pelosi has so far stayed out of the race. But when her top advisor who also happens to be a famous champion of women politicians endorses Obama, does it send the signal: is there room in Washington for both a Speaker Pelosi and a President Hillary?
The true issue between the campaigns is not race or sex, it's each candidate's desire to win the nomination. My real gripe against both campaigns is that they're allowing the media to hype this junk -- it gets reported, misreported, and distorted, then someone in the campaign comments on it as though it's meaningful. If Hillary wants to emphasize experience and Obama wants to emphasize everyone working together -- I have no quarrel with that. But I am truly sick and tired of Hillary and Obama allowing the media to play them. When interviewed, the candidates and their proxies should refuse to comment on this garbage and say that they'd much rather talk about their health plan or how they're going to bring our troops home.