This election season has been an intense one for us Democrats without question. We've gone through a historic primary - of 7 legitimate challengers (sorry Libertarian Mike Gravel no longer counts), only four were white men, and by February, our two candidates still in the race were a white woman and a black man, both of whom looked to be astounding candidates and presidents.
Then the race rapidly turned ugly - there had been bad points before, but after Wisconsin, things got vicious. NAFTA, mailers, Wright, veracity, scandals, the campaign seemed to be spiraling downwards in some senses. Polling begun to make the rounds that suggested that no one would really "win" the primary fight, that the nominee would lose a critical amount of Democratic voters to McCain, making the nomination worthless.
Certainly, Hillary Clinton has taken a beating on this site, with many people claiming that she's attacked Obama far more than he has attacked her. While I grant that Obama has attacked HRC some, I agree with the belief that Clinton's campaign has been more negative, and I was especially appalled by her referencing Wright this week.
Today, however, HRC did something that I didn't really expect at this juncture...
She stood up for Unity:
Hillary Clinton pleaded for partisan unity on Thursday, urging Democrats not to abandon their party to vote for John McCain if their preferred candidate fails to secure the nomination.
Clinton was asked by a questioner in the audience here what she would tell frustrated Democrats who might consider voting for McCain in the general election out of spite.
"Please think through this decision," Clinton said, laughing and emphasizing the word "please."
"It is not a wise decision for yourself or your country."
The crowd applauded loudly.
She continued:
"First of all, every time you have a vigorous contest like we are having in this primary election people get intense," she continued. "You know, Sen. Obama has intense support. I have intense support."
Clinton stressed that there are "significant" differences between her and Obama, but said "those differences pale to the differences between us and Sen. McCain."
"I intend to do everything I can to make sure we have a unified Democratic party," she said. "When this contest is over and we have a nominee, we’re going to close ranks, we’re going to be united."
Given her position in the race, with many people calling her to quit, this is a bold move. She could leverage her voters in a nomination fight, encouraging division in the off-chance that she could blackmail the superdelegates to support her. That would be insanely risky for the party, but it would help her get the nomination. Yet, she declined this part, preferring to stress the need for unity and promising to work for it.
So bravo Sen. Clinton. I didn't expect this at all. And let me say, without hesitation, that I was wrong about you, and I'm incredibly happy that you proved me wrong.