LOUISVILLE, Ky. - As Barack Obama gains momentum in his battle with Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Party’s 2008 presidential nomination, there are signs that the scrappy New York senator’s inner fighter may be giving way to the uniter who will knit the fractured party back together once the bruising nomination process ends.
But parsing her recent campaign speeches from West Virginia and South Dakota to Oregon and Kentucky, Clinton does not appear ready to give up the fight just yet.
At a speech late on Friday here, Clinton appeared initially to aim for a conciliatory tone toward Obama, only mentioning her challenger to draw comparisons between women and blacks — two groups that she said had suffered greatly under the original U.S. Constitution written by America’s founders.
“Neither Senator Obama nor I nor many of you were fully included in the vision of our founders,” Clinton said.
“We’re here for one reason - to make sure the next president is a Democrat,” Clinton told the dinner held by the Kentucky Democratic Party. “Once we have a nominee I know in my heart we will come together as a party.”
But later in the speech she used very specific pronouns: calling for “a Democratic president who will roll up her sleeves and get to work for all of you.”
A day earlier in Charleston, West Virginia, Clinton had dismissed calls for her to drop out of the race as “déjà vu all over again,” and recalled similar entreaties before she won the Pennsylvania Democratic primary.
“There are people who said we need to end this before we get to West Virginia. Well, I don’t think so,” Clinton said. “I was never supposed to win Indiana.”
Clinton has vowed to continue running until the voting concludes on June 3, but she and campaign aides have hinted she would step aside if it is clear that Obama will be the nominee.
So which is it? Hillary the Fighter or Hillary the Uniter? Time will tell.
Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.
- Photo credit: Reuters/Chris Baltimore (A Clinton supporter holds up boxing gloves at fundraiser in New York City.)
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OK Hilary! Everyone knows what a great fighter she is, but it is time to stop fighting and see how she can unify the Democratic party that appears to be so divided due to her tactics. She played the sexism and racism game to such perfection, that it almost seemed that a Republican was running for the nomination.
My friends and I, (including some Republicans among us!) who are mostly over 50 years old, are all Obama supporters, but we kind of understand why so many women in our age group are voting for her. I think many of them feel that if a woman becomes president it will somehow be a vindication for whatever sufferings they have experienced being women.
Anyway, it is time for all democratic women to come together and vote for our nominee, most likely Obama, in November. If they continue to remain miffed because Hilary did not get the nomination, they will be shooting themselves in the foot. If people really care about the future path of our nation, we need to set all the passions and resentments that this unusual campaign has brought about, and vote for what is right, good and decent.
- Posted by Ann et alObama 08 !
This “lady” so reminds me of Nixon, he was a “fighter” also; he together with Kissenger illegally overthrew a democratically elected government in Chile and replaced it with a barbaric murdering dictator; he illegally bombed Cambodia resulting in the Pol Pot killing fields! Accountability of bad bad government, well America has a very poor record on this scale of judgment. Her husband disgraced the American People with his crude, emotionally undeveloped tennagerism. Why Why should America return this debased family unto the White House. That defiled man, he’ll be living there again if this “fighter” gets elected! Do you people honestly think that this evil corrupt disgrace sexist will not shape and influence American governance? He’s her husband for crying out loud! Who do you think will be her closest adviser??????????????
- Posted by mosheHillary needs to change her tune,she is not in with the changing generation nor cultural trends.People,young intelligent people of every diversity are ready to change things and they are joined by wealthy boomers whom are no longer tied to the old eco/political dogma of the past generation.See this live video polling of what three highly educated young women think of Hillary
http://www.babelation.com/?q=node/372
- Posted by MyimotoKarina
I think you may need to slow down and take sometime to RE-READ my article.
For you to say that am mean spirited because as a American Democrat (not a Canadian) I laid out the FACTS about one of our great candidates is quite an absurd comment from you.
Everything I wrote are the FACTS and I made NO MENTION anywhere about the gender or race card that you are suddenly trying to play here!!! And as a Democrat who is proud of both my party’s candidates, I will respectfully ask not to be drawn into that cheap talk.
Thanks for letting me where you have lived. That is a narrow list considering I have also lived in Europe, Africa and Australia - and are very well aware of the admiration the Clintons enjoy around the world. However,that has failed to change the FACTS ON THE GROUND here about her candidacy. The fact is that: Clinton’s campaign is broke, $20 million in debt, behind in pledged delegates,popular votes and states won.That is the latest news in case you missed it.
Also, last time I checked: Senator Obama is enjoying even more world wide admiration - without spending eight years in the White House. Did you get that news yet?
All in all, I love both my party’s candidates and will support whoever the nominee is - but we already have one. We are just waiting for a formal declaration.
- Posted by JuliusI’m more worried about the Chinese Panda Bears than I am keeping Hillary, around especially in politics. She done MOVE ON people!!!!
- Posted by TerryA win in W.V. only says Hillary may as well have been campaigning with a white sheet and mask on. It’s not a reflection of our country and quite frankly she should be offended by the reasons she’s winning not saying it’s the voice of all America!!!
- Posted by Terry in NYMiss Sandra Lewis,
While your commentary is quite elegantly written, the reasoning behind your opinion is incredibly flawed. While I read, I totally understood what you were saying (while disagreeing with the content), and as I approached the tail end of your commentary I could see the bias toward feminism. Then I reached your last paragraph about McCain.
You say that “he & his wife have ‘the look’…” and I read that to say “old, white, pretty couple”. In other words you are saying “how DARE the Obamas think they’re qualified to be president?” Let me guess what is behind this questioning… they’re not white? In fact, they’re (gasp!) BLACK? Oh… my… GAWD! How can people POSSIBLY support them?
Let me explain something that you dismiss as youthful ignorance; the young people in this country (& apparently you are including me, a white, 38 year old female scientist) are SIGNIFICANTLY less affected by the color of one’s skin or their cultural or ethnic background. Why, you ask? Because we have grown up on the internet, playing games with people in Japan, we have dealt with help desk personnel in India, our cubicle neighbor is from China or France or Belgium, and our companies send us to other countries to optimise our work in progress. We are truly a global society, and the fact that a half-black man who has been exposed to Muslim religion, whose father is from Kenya while his white mother is from our Heartland doesn’t in the least phaze us. He is like us, and we understand that his skin color & ethnicity are irrelevant to the position for which he is applying. He has been a gentleman through a destructive process, with most of the destruction originating from his own “teammate.” THAT, my dear, is why people like me are sending him our money. THAT is why we want him to be the one making the all-important descisions, and hopefully in the process, force some badly needed change in our government.
Go vote for the “Pretty, old couple” (or should I say “the pretty old couple”) with “the look” if you want. Your bigotry speaks LOUD & CLEAR to those of us who want to end the war, who want to bring transparency to government, who want to end the corruption that has dominated for the past century. I’M voting for OBAMA.
- Posted by Ratgurl