There certainly is a pattern emerging here.
I was born in West Virginia and grew up in the steel town of Aliquippa, PA in a blue collar family. But I was educated at Carnegie Mellon, The University of Chicago and Harvard, so I guess that means I am now one of Paul Begala's "eggheads". I loved the Clintons before observing their behavior in this campaign. But what I have seen out of them over the last few months deeply saddens and disappoints me. When Hillary reflects back on her behavior in this campaign she will also be deeply saddened and disappointed in herself. She has spent a lifetime fighting for civil rights and has now completely destroyed her legacy and reputation with her race baiting remarks. As a native West Virginian I am personally insulted by her misguided pandering to uneducated hard working, “white” voters in the run up to the West Virginia primary. She apparently views West Virginians as a bunch of ignorant racist white Hillbillies.
Whatever happened to honesty, fairness and integrity as qualifications for being president? Hillary is trying to change the rules regarding FL and MI only because it helps her get closer to her personal goal. If any of our children did such a thing we would reprimand them for cheating. Winning at all costs, even if lying, cheating and race baiting are necessary to do it, is not an admirable quality. Her spin on the issue of Florida and Michigan often fed to the mindless media by Terry McAuliffe and Howard Wolfson pivots on her claim that “no voters should be disenfranchised”. Then why does she want to disenfranchise all of the people who stayed home and did not vote because she told them that their votes would not count? If I am a Florida voter who stayed home instead of voting for Obama how is my vote going to be counted? You can’t tell people their vote won’t count then count the votes if they come out in your favor.
Hillary did not “misspeak”, about Bosnia, she LIED, repeatedly, until caught on film, but Obama is running a campaign that continues to take the high road and he did not make nearly as much of this incident as the Clinton’s would have if the shoe were on the other foot.
I once paid $100 at the request of Hillary’s NY senatorial campaign for a $20 book advertised as hand-signed by Hillary. I finally received it six weeks later after making several phone calls. It had a rubber stamped, smeared, stick-on label with her name on it inside the front cover. I was disappointed but still held Hillary and Bill in high regard until this campaign.
She and her campaign manager continue to spin lies regarding the polls. Last September she was ahead of Obama by nearly 30 points in almost every poll including Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Indiana. Only one poll out of more than 20 ever showed Obama leading in Indiana. Now the Clintons keep repeating the lie that she was “never supposed to win in Indiana” and she was “always supposed to lose North Carolina”. A November 5, 2007 SurveyUSA poll had Clinton ahead by 24 points in North Carolina, but the media never challenges her on the false claims being made by Hillary and her campaign representatives.
The Clintons are also trying to sell the "fairy tale" that Obama should be winning because he is outspending them, but the reality is that he started this race as an unknown neophyte with no campaign funds and he is outspending them only because he is raising more money than one of the most powerful and strongly backed political teams in history. Hillary was the clear frontrunner in every poll when this campaign began. She had more money, Bill Clinton, and a head start of nearly 100 super delegates, but the Clintons continue trying to portray themselves as the underdogs. If this is a joke, the American people are not laughing.
Barrack’s proven ability to win more votes, win more states, raise more money, pay his campaign bills, and manage his national campaign better than the Clintons proves that experience does not mean as much as integrity and intelligence when assessing a person's ability to do a job. The Clintons' vast campaign experience has lost to Obama's core competencies and his ability to unite and motivate the American people. Obama is outnumbered 3 to 1 on the campaign trail by political celebrities Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton, but he is clearly winning against the vastly more experienced Clinton machine. Obama’s core competencies, strong moral values, and good judgment have clearly defeated Hillary’s experience. The only people who will be calling her at 3 AM are the bill collectors trailing her in the wake of her mismanaged and debt-ridden campaign.
There is a reason that well educated people are voting for Obama and less well informed voters are voting for Clinton. This campaign has opened my eyes and the eyes of other well informed voters to the Clintons’ lack of integrity and character and the hope that Obama offers this great nation. The Clintons are destroying their political legacy and diminishing the likelihood that the Democratic candidate will win the general election for their own egotistical and self-serving purposes. Obama is running a campaign with the class and dignity that America deserves in a president.
Considering Hillary’s comments about her base, it’s time for “educated” superdelegates to pledge their support to Obama and put an end to Hillary’s shameful campaign before she destroys what's left of her reputation and any chance for a Democratic victory in November.
Bob Hollis,El Dorado Hills, CA
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