Much like when I wrote an open letter to Michelle Obama in December of 2006, I now find myself scratching my head at the response to my letter to Senator Hillary Clinton.
You people are crazy.
Alright, not all of you. In fact, I owe hugs and beers to many of you for your support. Even if you did not agree with my “whacky” idea that a candidate quit the race, you were respectful in your discussion. So thanks. And let’s face it, respectful in discussion is more than I usually am, so you get bonus points from me for keeping a level head.
The rest of you may just want to keep watching American Idol and worrying about Britney instead of coming back to this blog.
Some thoughts as I scan the hundreds of comments over at Huffington Post, at Digg, and here on Queen of Spain:
-candidates drop out of races all the damn time and states continue to vote in primaries that don’t matter. I live in California. My primary vote never mattered until this year. I’ve voted in PLENTY of elections in which it was already decided by the time my state got a chance. Guess what? You still get to vote in a general election. No really. I swear.
-If you don’t think Senator Clinton is divisive, read the comments in the last post.
-I don’t want anyone to give up on “fighting” for us or for themselves. Please. I realize the race is still neck and neck, I’m not a moron. What I was asking of the Senator was to sacrifice due to her inability to win over those Hillary-haters. She’s had time, it’s not working. That means if she wins (and mind you, if she does I am 100% behind her) we will be in a very similar situation as we are with George W. Sure, she’s on my team…but that does not change the hate. Yes, of course there are Senator Obama haters. OF COURSE. I just haven’t seen the same level of divisiveness with him. If anything, he’s winning many over.
-Superdelegates. Or as my son calls them, Super-sniff-my-butts, because he misheard me talking about them on the phone. But really, we might as well call them Super-sniff-my-butts. I’m really not liking these scenarios where Obama wins the popular vote and Clinton convinces more Superdelegates. Scary. And worthy of a revolution. As if the electoral college isn’t bad enough, now we’re faced with a frightening Superdelegate situation. Whoo hoo Democracy.
-What I was asking Senator Clinton do to was earth shattering and I realize that. I do not want a repeat of South Carolina. I do not want to see this party fight it out until the END of August and the convention leaving a bitter taste in all our mouths. The momentum of Obama’s campaign, coupled with the grassroots base and the divisiveness of Clinton does nothing but lead me to an early September of not just disenfranchised voters but near riots. I can’t be the only one who sees this coming.
-It’s Valentine’s Day. Let’s at least pretend to get along. I’m looking at the Wisconsin ads now and am quickly becoming disgusted at both campaigns when I see where this is heading. It is not pretty and it is most certainly politics as usual.
We can talk more about this tomorrow-live on ooVoo. Tell me why you hated, loved, wanted to rip to shreds my letter to Senator Clinton. Tell me if you have a better idea how to heal this country. Or are you over the idea of bringing everyone back together? Would you rather just win in November and oppress those right-wingers for a few decades?
In the meantime, I’m off to hug some Valentines…
*titled especially for the grammar nazi’s
Girl, some of those comments–especially over at Digg! Wow. I mean just wow.
I really admire you for your thought and courage in what you wrote–and for taking the hits, both reasonable and unreasonable, that you did.
Sounds like I missed all the fun, but honestly your idea doesn’t sound that crazy. I’ve always felt Hillary was too devisive. I wish I felt like I was hearing more specifics from Obama, but Hillary?? She’s not going to convince anybody new to vote for her.
Reading the comments sections at Digg! is the biggest exercise in masochism you could pursue.
It is Digg, after all.
That said, I’d love to chat with you over my disagreements at some point, but it would of necessity be a nice, meandering, ‘yeah but’ conversation… no name calling, and no expectations.
One of the strangest phenomena I’ve seen on the internet is the apparent belief of some that a vitriolic comment left on someone else’s well-thought-out blog post will somehow cause them to change their position. As if all that was wanting was some obscenities and someone calling you stupid to get you to see the light! 😛
I think you rock. I think your post was well-written, even the parts I disagree with.
I’m so lucky to know you!
“super sniff-my-butts.” fucking priceless. i’m totally stealing that. your son is awesome.
I am so really worried about the superdelegates. I mean, if they go against the popular vote, the voice of *the* people, then this is communism and we’re all a big bunch of coward cretins.
Already the last president was chosen against the desires of the people. I’ll be damn if they keep doing this!
I don’t really think it’s neck-and-neck anymore. Obama has won 8 straight. If Hillary doesn’t win Texas and Ohio, it’s pretty much curtains for her.
The Count is proof that the apple don’t fall farm from the tree. Either tree, since you and the Kaiser are both super-sniff-my-butts-friendly kinda folk
This is my favorite comment of all time: “I am a big time Obama supporter and big time Hillary hater. But while I would normally highly approve of this letter, the author is a feminist, so I have to disagree with her out of principal.”
Anything a feminist says is wrong. Anything. THAT’s thinkin’ buddy.
I don’t know if Hillary should drop out, but I don’t think she will in a million- trillion-kabillion years, as my kid would say. I also didn’t know the vehemence of the Hillary hatred until I posted a video that I took of her talking about healthcare on YouTube. Some comments were so vile I deleted them. I had to stop reading them after a while.
I sometimes think that the meanest people on earth comment on the HuffPo. You have guts. I like that about you.
I love the picture. I’m still not sold on the idea of having her bow out, but you and I have discussed this already. The comments were quite interesting to read. Thankfully many did have great points in support and against your argument. I really hope nobody has threatened you for simply stating your opinion. To me that would be more sad than a divided Democratic party.
I loved your original post, I agree 100%. It’s not that I hate Clinton, but so many people do that if she ends up as the front Democratic runner, there’s a much higher chance of having ANOTHER George W. president, Lord help us all. I would love for Obama to be on the ticket, for more reasons to count; if it’s Clinton, I’ll support her, too, but I think that if she does end up with the nomination, she’s too divisive for it to lead anywhere good.
Even though I can’t picture Hillary Clinton actually dropping out of this race…I LOVED your post, and I love that you have the guts to tell it as you see it. Keep up the great work!!!
Super sniff-my-butts. I totally love that imagery.
I loved your letter. It spawned a further discussion via email with a friend in which I likened Obama to a soothing balm that has the potential to soothe and heal the rash our country has, whereas Hillary is some good strong fingernails that can really scratch the itch, but you know it’s not going to heal if you do, and it will probably leave scars. That analogy kind of pissed my friend off.