NOTE: I'm the Clinton campaign's Internet Director
In the closing hours before the March 4th elections, I wanted to share an amazing phone call with you. It comes on the heels of a new tracking poll showing Hillary doing better than Sen. Obama against John McCain - as well as public polls that show Hillary stronger against Sen. McCain in crucial swing states like Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio.
As Hillary has said, all Democrats (and all Americans) should be proud of the historic campaign Democrats have run this cycle and of our great candidates. But no matter who we support, as Dems we can all agree that winning in November and taking back the White House is our imperative. And one thing is increasingly obvious: winning means defeating John McCain - the likely Republican nominee.
The Democrat who eventually faces Sen. McCain will require a set of skills and experiences that enables them to:
a) compete on a broad playing field;
b) confront and beat back a GOP attack machine waiting to tear them down;
c) put forth and defend core Democratic ideas - and ideals - such as universal health care;
d) build a solid coalition for victory;
e) and importantly, stand toe-to-toe with Sen. McCain on national security.
Hillary excels on each of these fronts. [On the last point, my blogosphere friends know that I spent most of 2004 in the Kerry-Edwards war room and gained some perspective on how national security - an issue Democrats cannot and will not cede - takes center stage in a general election.]
Now before you listen to the audio of the call, I want to add a personal note about Hillary: I joined her team in 2006 and I've come to know a person who is brilliant, thoughtful, disciplined, possesses tremendous inner fortitude and courage, and who has demonstrated a lifelong commitment to core Democratic values. In short, someone who is the most qualified person running to be president. Someone I am extremely proud to work for. And someone I trust to make this world a better and safer place for the child my wife and I are expecting.
Now, to the call. Listen to it. It is a series of powerful testimonials from eighteen former admirals, generals, and senior defense officials who support Hillary. They are among nearly 30 general and flag officers who have endorsed Hillary.
Whether or not Hillary is your candidate of choice, consider for a moment what these distinguished men and women are saying and why they are saying it. They are aware of the choices, decisions, votes and experience that Hillary brings to the table. And they have come to the same conclusion, a conclusion reached by millions of voters: that Hillary is the Democrat ready to take back the White House and clean up the mess that George W. Bush has left behind.
Peter Daou
P.S. Here are a few individual transcripts from the call:
General Wesley Clark
LISTEN
"She has done her homework on national security and I know from my personal discussions with her and with many other friends that go in and brief her in her role in the Senate Armed Services Committee. She knows the facts, she knows the details, plus she has the big picture. She is a strategic thinker but she has the building blocks of the strategy in her personal knowledge. This is someone that when she is president our military is going to respect very highly, and when our Senior Officers brief her and meet with her they are going be very, very impressed by what she knows and the intelligence that she brings to these problems."
Brigadier General John Watkins, Jr.
LISTEN
"As I think about the challenges facing the nation and having been in uniform for almost thirty years, worked with a number of presidents to include the last four, I can’t think of a single person – those generals included – who is better qualified to walk into the Oval Office than Hillary Clinton. I don’t make that statement very lightly. She is more qualified, in my view, than her husband Bill was when he entered the office. It is no surprise to me that you would have as many flag officers who serve this country and Secretaries of the Army and Navy who have served this country who would come out and support Hillary."
Major General Paul Eaton
LISTEN
"On a personal note, I have a Special Forces Captain son and a Sergeant Paratrooper both in Afghanistan and I find Senator Clinton the perfect choice to be their Commander-in-Chief and to display the loyalty to command our armed forces and to rebuild them after the conflicts in which we are engaged right now."
Lieutenant General Claudia Kennedy
LISTEN
"I support her because I trust her. I trust Hillary Clinton because of her judgment and her leadership. I have confidence that she is responsive to the needs of people. I believe that she understands leadership the way we do in the Army and that is that it’s about building connections and relationships and establishing guidance and leadership for others. I think she’ll rebuild relationships with other countries that have been suffering for the last seven or eight years; those relationships have really been strained beyond anything I would have anticipated. Another part of Hillary Clinton that I think is just tremendous is that she knows our reality. She is in touch with people, she listens to people. She decides what she believes about policy based on what’s right, she has integrity, and on what works, so she’s practical."