Obama’s in Trouble
13 May 2008 8:27 am by Taylor Marsh
BY TAYLOR MARSH
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| via USA Today |
The West Virginia results are going to make a lot of elite Democrats nervous.
The Brokered One is going to take a shellacing. It’s going to be embarrassing.
Kentucky won’t be much better.
Beyond the primary realities, the emails have begun. Hillary Clinton supporters are not amused. Women in
general aren’t either. Marie Coco captures it today:
As the Democratic nomination contest slouches toward a close, it’s
time to take stock of what I will not miss.I will not miss seeing advertisements for T-shirts that bear the slogan “Bros
before Hos.” The shirts depict Barack Obama (the Bro) and Hillary Clinton
(the Ho), and they are widely sold on the Internet.I will not miss walking past airport concessions selling the Hillary Nutcracker,
a device in which a pantsuit-clad Clinton doll opens her legs to reveal stainless
steel thighs that, well, bust nuts. I won’t miss television and newspaper
stories that make light of the novelty item.I won’t miss episodes like the one in which the liberal radio personality
Randi Rhodes called Clinton a “big f—in’ whore” and said
the same about former vice presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro. Rhodes
was appearing at an event sponsored by a San Francisco radio station, before
an audience of appreciative Obama supporters—one of whom had promoted
the evening on the presumptive Democratic nominee’s official campaign
Web site.I won’t miss Citizens United Not Timid (no acronym, please), an anti-Clinton
group founded by Republican guru Roger Stone. … ..A
Farewell to the ‘Hillary Nutcracker’ and Other Obscenities
Obama gave voice to this when he arrogantly uttered that he could get Hillary’s supporters, but he wasn’t sure she could get his. That statement has now hardened into a reality that’s going to cause him and the Democrats trouble going forward. See Lambert. Never mind that a lot was said about the African American vote, which is very important, but not any more important than the women’s vote, the Hispanic vote, or the elderly. West Virginia will bring in the lunch bucket Democrat vote today.
Recently it was also floated that Obama may pick some other female for the
veep spot. That would be the final nail for some. Taking “Hillary’s place” in history is how it seems, which will
not go down well with the girls and quite a few boys. But Bill Richardson? Deal breaker, baby.
However, that’s actually a minor point. The Democratic party has to heal the fracture first.
Most of all, I will not miss the silence.
I will not miss the deafening, depressing silence of Democratic National
Committee Chairman Howard Dean or other leading Democrats, who to my knowledge
(with the exception of Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland) haven’t uttered
a word of public outrage at the unrelenting, sex-based hate that has been
hurled at a former first lady and two-term senator from New York. Among those
holding their tongues are hundreds of Democrats for whom Clinton has campaigned
and raised millions of dollars. Don Imus endured more public ire from the
political class when he insulted the Rutgers University women’s basketball
team.Would the silence prevail if Obama’s likeness were put on a tap-dancing
doll that was sold at airports? Would the media figures who dole out precious
face time to these politicians be such pals if they’d compared Obama
with a character in a blaxploitation film? And how would crude references
to Obama’s sex organs play?There are many reasons why Clinton is losing the nomination contest, some
having to do with her strategic mistakes, others with the groundswell for
“change.” But for all Clinton’s political blemishes, the
darker stain that has been exposed is the hatred of women that is accepted
as a part of our culture. … ..
HRC supporters can’t wait for the results tonight. After all, it’s West Virginia,
a place any Democratic nominee should be able to compete. Embarrassing that
Obama cannot. But what did the Obamabots have to say about it? According to
Keith Olbermann, Hillary was actually doing Obama a favor by staying in, because
if he lost by a landslide to a candidate who’d dropped out, well, that would
be bad. Ya think? Of course, Norah O’Donnell parroted this insult like a trained
seal yesterday. Doing Obama a favor? Try sending a message of what’s to come.
Blue collar workers and lunch bucket Democrats come in all human colors and shades. It’s not about race. It’s about understanding, appreciation and respect. Obama can take his jacket off and roll up his sleeves, but he’s never going to be one of them. It’s not because he’s black or can’t bowl, or doesn’t know a gun barrel from Cracker Barrel cheese, though that doesn’t help. It’s because he doesn’t understand the average hourly worker and why Clinton has gotten their respect. His word fogs prove his ignorance. But allowing the notion to be put forth and accepted that the people Clinton is bringing back into the party are racists was the case closer on Obama’s cluelessness. My gas technician husband doesn’t have a racist bone in his body. But because he won’t vote for Obama that’s the line being draped over him, as Obama’s team sits there and says nothing, and the elite bloggers trumpet it as true. Sure, there will always be people who won’t vote for a woman or African American, but that’s not Obama’s problem, believe me. It’s because he comes out of the McGovern – Mondale – Dukakis – Kerry wing of the Democratic party elite. It’s an intangible that makes his case impossible to sell.
Someone needs to ask why Obama is going to get trounced today, even though
everyone has pronounced Clinton’s candidacy dead. He’s going to get trounced
in Kentucky too.
Oh, and one other thing, if the superdelegates are so inspired by Obama’s “likely”
nomination why haven’t they ended this already? Obama’s humiliation in West Virginia, a state John F. Kennedy took, as did Bill Clinton twice, just might bring them out. Neither Al Gore nor John Kerry could win in West Virginia either. Precursor of things to come? Nobody knows for sure, but it’s not a great sign.
Truth is that The Brokered One is in trouble. Not just because he can’t win West Virginia,
even after Clinton is declared a goner. Not just because he’s a very weak general election candidate, while Clinton is the stronger. But because he sat around in silence
as all the sexism and racism charges were leveled against Hillary, with his campaign doing some of the race baiting themselves, doing nothing about any of it, which Hillary’s supporters will not soon forget. He wasn’t the only one, but he sent
the signal that it was okay. Lunch bucket Democrats will remember, even as some so called progressive proclaim they don’t matter anymore. That’s why he won’t be getting the votes of many
HRC supporters if he’s the nominee. Frankly, I can’t blame them. This story
is not going away.
