On Clinton's Non-Concession

by: Chris Bowers

Wed Jun 04, 2008 at 00:07


Based on the pledged delegate numbers at Green Papers, and the superdelegate endorsements at Democratic Convention Watch, I just did some quick math to see if Obama has reached the 2,210 magic number laid out of the "Clinton rules." In this case, the "Clinton rules" mean full votes for Florida and Michigan, and a Clinton 73, Obama 22, uncommitted 33 apportionment for Michigan. It turns out that, even without the Michigan and Florida superdelegates from the Obama superdelegate wave added in, Obama has reached 2,211 delegates under the "Clinton rules." So, he literally wins in every scenario now, and does so with room to spare.

And yet, Hillary Clinton has not conceded. Part of me doesn't care, because Obama has won in virtually everyone's estimation and there is no argument her campaign can make anymore (although maybe I shouldn't underestimate them). Another part of me thinks that if the campaign is over under the most extreme Clinton campaign argument, it is high time for Hillary Clinton to start helping Barack Obama win the general election in November. She should suspend her campaign as soon as possible. She can even keep her delegates if she wants, but it is time to acknowledge that Barack Obama will be the nominee.

So, since she asked, I suggest that you send her a message on her website. Tell her that it is time to suspend her campaign ASAP, and acknowledge that Barack Obama will be the Democratic nominee. Really, this needs to happen tomorrow, because otherwise the media focus will be on Clinton's refusal to concede and a continued division within the party. However, I will settle for Thursday, at the latest.

Go to Clinton's website,and tell her it is time for unity. Be nice when you do so, since nobody likes a sore winner. We have been divided long enough. The time for that division to end is now.  

Chris Bowers :: On Clinton's Non-Concession

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On Clinton's Non-Concession | 39 comments
Good thinking! (0.00 / 0)
Post this on other blogs people! Spread the word.
$10 says she endorses Obama by Thursday night. (0.00 / 0)


Cunha for Congress (FL-06)

P.S. I'm not a big fan of John McCain
[ Parent ]
Counting (4.00 / 2)
Given Clinton's counting skills, she'd just count every website entry as more evidence people want her to stay in.

Can you somehow get your numbers to the press, perhaps MSNBC? You make an extremely important point.

You're probably right (4.00 / 1)
I can just hear her campaign going on all the networks tomorrow bragging about how many people went to her website to "participate", thus proving how "impassioned and dedicated" Hillary supporters are. Not that I mean to dissuade anyone from going to her website to suggest she formally concede and hasten the healing/unity. I'm just saying Semblance is probably right on this point.
[ Parent ]
Why would the media even bother covering her anymore? .. (0.00 / 0)
Is the Senate in session this week?  You heard her plugging her website, right?  She obviously wants to pay herself back .. so that is another reason she isn't packing it in yet .. if the media had any stones .. they'd just ignore her
brilliant way to build a donor list. (0.00 / 0)
if only they had set it up so you could text whether she should stay til Denver or concede this week, that would be awesome!

What has John McCain done for veterans?
Just give a bum email address. That's what I did. (4.00 / 1)

[ Parent ]
No Way (0.00 / 0)
I don't want to give her my email address, she'll just sell it to InfoUSA to help pay off her debts.
use a fake email address (0.00 / 0)
I don't want her to be on her email list either, so I used a bogus email address. I encourage multiple entries under different bogus email addresses.  
[ Parent ]
Yeah, About That (0.00 / 0)
I NEVER signed up for "Obama" emails and yet I get them every day, without fail, in my inbox. I've written to his campaign, asked to be taken off his mailing list, "unsubscribed" (even though I never subscribed to anything from his site), and still I get his emails. I finally installed an email blocking program that keeps most of them out, though I still get at least 1 a day.

That is just obnoxious. So, if you're worried about all those "pro Hillary" emails you might get, spend some time on the other side deleting HIS emails from your inbox...

[ Parent ]
I was livid (0.00 / 0)
She is basically fueling the animosity of her supporters (who seem to be as based in the mathematical reality as Hillary is) to keep up this thing until the convention. Never mind that there are no primaries, and that she is likely to pick up no more superdelegates from hereon out (meaning that Obama will have a lead of probably between 350-400 delegates when all is officially counted). And if she stays in, some of her staunchest superdelegate backers and financiers are sure to publicly renounce her and support Obama.

There is no way for her to win this. And the fact that she kept pushing the popular vote myth is insulting.

I really do think that it comes down to Hillary and Bill having an innate inability to accept the reality that they started out this process with the biggest advantages - and lost.

Who wants to see her supporters in tears? (0.00 / 0)
She was more charitable in her speech tonight than I can recall her having ever been toward Obama.  If she conceded tonight you'd had had half the supporters there heartbroken and in tears on live TV.  We don't need that.

Give her and her supporters a little more time.  
 

What has John McCain done for veterans?

[ Parent ]
If they only understood math (4.00 / 1)
They've had since March to deal with their inevitable defeat.

Slacking toward the apocalypse
[ Parent ]
No tears necessary (4.00 / 4)
No one expected her to concede tonight. But going on about how she was the stronger candidate to beat McCain, better in the swing states, the winner of the popular vote, and all the other bullshit was completely classless and pointlessly inflammatory.
[ Parent ]
Time, time, time!!! (4.00 / 1)
How much more time?  She lost back in February.. everyone said, give her more time.. she'll concede after WV... after KY...  more time...  

She's had plenty of time!  It's over!  Give it up!!!

REID: Voting against us was never part of our arrangement!
SPECTER: I am altering the deal! Pray I don't alter it any further!
REID: This deal keeps getting worse all the time!

[ Parent ]
Two more days (4.00 / 1)
That's the amount of time I deem reasonable or acceptable for her (and her supporters) to come to terms with the loss and make an explicit, full-throated concession and endorsement.

After that, she's a pariah, in my view.

[ Parent ]
Agreed on insulting Pop Vote... (0.00 / 0)
Amazing to me that she can keep pushing this BS, and the sad part is that it's probably working.  My boss today said something to the effect of "I heard that she's actually slightly ahead in the popular vote."  I had to explain to him what the reality was.

I said to my friend before her speech that "she better not mention her popular vote BS now" and then lo and behold... we get popular vote, electoral college, subtle digs on health care, every vote for her a "prayer", etc etc...  It wasn't the worst possible thing she could've done, but it certainly wasn't great.

[ Parent ]
Done. (0.00 / 0)


Cunha for Congress (FL-06)

P.S. I'm not a big fan of John McCain
Have you actually followed that link? (4.00 / 2)
It reads:
"Stand with Hillary today and send her your message of support.
I'm with you Hillary and I'm proud of everything we are fighting for."

Right off the bat she's trying to write my message for me and in a way I do not desire.

To hell with her.

Besides, she's supposed to be so damn smart and caring about the party and the people, she should know what the right thing is to do.

Slacking toward the apocalypse

This sort of behavior used to be known as freeping (4.00 / 1)
based on this site's current model, freerepublic.  Of course, freerepublic, in addition to such masturbatory exercises, every once in awhile had some influence.

I'm not really sure what your goal is.  If she won't concede with the pressure she has now, do you think a handful of emails directed from a pro-Obama site will tip the scales?  Do you think she hasn't received such emails every day for months?

Do you think anyone cares what you will "settle" for?

Hillary is resembling Glen Close (0.00 / 0)
in Fatal Attraction.

John McCain doesn't care about Vets.


Please don't go there - it's not helping. n/t (4.00 / 5)

[ Parent ]
I'm not sure why we need to tip toe around Hillary and her supporters (4.00 / 1)
Obama is now recognized by the entire nation as the presumptive nominee and the leader of the Democratic party. By not conceding, she is tacitly denying the outcome of the primary. There is no good goddam reason for Hillary not to be congratulating and endorsing him right now. Is she just being petulant, a sore loser, narcissistic, or worst case, is she still considering dividing the party and taking her faction to the convention?

She should not leverage herself into the veep spot. If she cares so much about the party and country, let her do something selfless for a change and go out and campaign for Obama.


Slacking toward the apocalypse

[ Parent ]
An objection to the "Fatal Attraction" (4.00 / 3)
analogy is not "tip toeing" around the Clinton supporters. It angers a great many women of all political camps (me included), and understandably so.

Yes, I absolutely agree that Clinton's withholding of support for Obama undermines him, and it's making me pretty mad right about now. But tossing out the "crazed female" tropes is undermining as well. A strong argument for Clinton stepping aside needs to be made without that kind of thing.  

[ Parent ]
Slacking toward the apocalypse (0.00 / 0)
By the way, roberto, I like your tag line.  
[ Parent ]
You're confused (0.00 / 0)
You said "I'm not sure why we need to tip toe around Hillary... Obama is now... the presumptive nominee."

This indicates that the point of not being a sexist asshole has had or continues to have something to do with the state of the election.

In fact, the point of not being a sexist asshole is that it's wrong to be a sexist asshole. So, desiring to see a woman who you disagree with humiliated, making the Glen Close comparison, or, as you did upthread, saying that "they" don't understand math are all pretty assanine. All play into sexist stereotypes.

I support John McCain because children are too healthy anyway.

[ Parent ]
I apologize -- not intended to be offensive. (0.00 / 0)
Believe it or not, the fact that Glen Close is a woman had nothing to do with the analogy. This isn't about a crazed woman. It is about her undermining Obama after he had won, evidencing an attitude that "if I can't have the presidency, no one (i.e.no Democrat) can."  I'm sure there are other examples of that in movies or literature, but not being particularly well-read, none came to mind.

Having said that, I do think that she has acted crazy and vindictive.

Fortunately -- according to news reports anyway -- some in her camp intervened and (hopefully at least) have talked some sense into her.

John McCain doesn't care about Vets.


[ Parent ]
??? (0.00 / 0)
Okay, I wrote her a note about the need to concede. I was polite. I didn't use any cuss words.  But then, when I tried to submit my note, the damn this wouldn't work unless I gave her money.  

Hey, Chris, I love you, man. But what the hell were you thinking linking us to a site like that?

You Are So Full Of It (4.00 / 1)
This is just sad. Just pathetically sad that progressive Democrats have sunk to right-wing Republican idiocy, driven not by "issues" but by hatred of Hillary Clinton.

And you are just lying here. I sent her a comment, just telling her I cried tonight when she gave her speech: same "form" you got, dude, and it went through (even though I was also redirected to a "donate" link).

Just sad. We are losing every so-called progressive value we supposedly care about every time you and others like you (and Chris Bowers and others at OL) engage in this hatred.

And you really, seriously wonder why Clinton's supporters are angry? Then you really have no clue.

[ Parent ]
Pot meet kettle, mabelle55! n/t (0.00 / 0)

[ Parent ]
Hit Contact Us (0.00 / 0)
On the footer of the site.  

Also, I used to think the Clintons were pretty decent but now I think they're unambiguously narcissistic and evil.  

[ Parent ]
Male vs. Female Perspecives On Power (4.00 / 1)
Stop acting like Republicans.

Hillary Clinton has 17.5 million votes. In labor negotiations, this is a huge bargaining chip.

Lay off the concession idiocy. She has leverage. I doubt seriously that ANY male candidate in the same position would be forced to "make nice" and "concede". Indeed, the Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermanns and Tim Russerts of the media world would be saying something like this:

OLBERMANN: "Well, [he] has garnered 17.5 million votes - nearly 1/2 of the votes cast in this primary season. [He] has some powerful leverage to use with delegates on the party's planks - universal health care, full employment, education reforms."

RUSSERT: "Indeed. This is no small achievement and I'm sure [he] will bring this to bear on discussions within the party about how they move forward from here."

Just.lay.off.

Try to look at this from your own [male] perspective. Would you not give this "swan song" speech for your supporters? And please do not tell me you wouldn't use the leverage you have with 17.5 million voters.

Just.lay.off.

This is a huge part of the reason that Hillary Clinton's supporters are so angry. By any measure, the speech she gave tonight was gracious and was first and foremost a speech to her supporters, as it should be.

Now if you are that afraid of ONE strong woman, there is something seriously wrong with you. If you cannot and will not acknowledge your own unconscious gender/sexist bias in this "dialogue" then you need to have it.

Please... (4.00 / 1)
What exactly is a "huge part" of the reason Clinton's supporters are angry?  The fact that Obama won the nomination and the media reported it?

And, as you can see, clearly the speech she gave tonight was not "by any measure" gracious.  Mentioning that she's ahead in the popular vote, that she won the most electoral votes, as well as a few subtle digs at Obama AFTER he is now officially the presumptive nominee... let's just say that it doesn't speak to what we all want: unity.  Perhaps this is just politics and it's coming in the next few days... but the tone of her speech didn't really suggest it.  We shall see, I suppose.

[ Parent ]
Spare us the charges of sexism (2.00 / 2)
You apply it in such a blanket way as to render it as so much self-pitying, self-justifying victimhood.

It is the Clintons that have injected race and gender into this process and have succeeded in dividing the party along the lines of identity.

Slacking toward the apocalypse

[ Parent ]
Oh please (0.00 / 0)
You know, I voted for Obama and don't agree with mabelle, but if you haven't seen any sexism in this race (or in this thread) you need to take a fucking minute to think about it.

I support John McCain because children are too healthy anyway.
[ Parent ]
That was then (0.00 / 0)
Hillary Clinton has 17.5 million votes

Not any more.  Polling in many states has indicated a shift towards Obama (look at California, for example).  And the vast majority of people who would still vote for her over Obama will need no help voting for him over McCain.

[ Parent ]
Except (0.00 / 0)
There's no evidence that she's staying in to get her arguments on the platform. She's stopped talking about mandates since she started talking about a gas tax holiday and she spends more time criticising the process (and hence implicitly the winner of that process) than she does McCain.

It's not sexist to say that she lost the nomination contest and that her actions here aren't beneficial for the party. She can keep her leverage, but she needs to admit in the very near future that she's lost.

Forgotten Countries - a foreign policy-focused blog

[ Parent ]
not helpful (0.00 / 0)
Lay off the vitriol.

The truth about Saxby Chambliss
[ Parent ]
Unseemly (4.00 / 2)
Hillary Clinton spent much of her campaign championing the little people -- people who were hurting, who could not afford the soaring prices of food, gas, and health care.  And yet there she was, on television, asking these same hurting people for money.  How unseemly that a multimillionaire would ask for money from the very people who need it most.

I'm embarrassed to admit I used to admire her and her husband.  But this is the last straw.  Her selfish behavior, her unseemly grubbing for money, her ongoing divisiveness is the last thing we need in a President.  She does not deserve any American's vote.  She should leave the stage and do whatever she can to restore some semblance of her dignity.

On Clinton's Non-Concession | 39 comments
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