At Long Last Unity Begins
27 June 2008 9:30 am by Taylor Marsh
–updated–
“I’m proud that we had a spirited dialog. That’s the nicest way I could think of saying it. … We are one party. We are one America. … … Senator McCain and President Bush are like two sides of the same coin and it doesn’t amount to a whole lot of change.” – Hillary Clinton
The color of his tie matches her pantsuit.
“She rocks. She rocks.” – Barack Obama
Hillary joins Barack in Unity, New Hampshire, where they split the vote in a state Hillary won. A state that loves the Clintons.
“It was an extraordinary honor to be alongside her during the course of this campaign,” Obama told the gathering in Washington of Clinton’s top fundraisers. “I am a better candidate as a consequence of having run against Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.”
Obama backed up his praise with his checkbook: He and his wife, Michelle, each donated $2,300 Thursday to Clinton’s campaign, which is millions of dollars in debt. That’s the maximum an individual can legally donate.
“We have to make it a priority in our lives to elect Barack Obama the next president of the United States,” Clinton said, to sustained applause.
“I know my supporters have extremely strong feelings, and I know Barack’s do as well,” Clinton told her fundraisers. “But we are a family, and we have an opportunity now to really demonstrate clearly we do know what’s at stake, and we will do whatever it takes to win back this White House.”
The meeting last night went as expected. Skepticism remains, because Hillary’s big funraisers and closest donors want to see Hillary’s vendor debt paid off, which is important to every Clinton supporter. We also want to witness real respect from Obama and his team for what Clinton accomplished. So from what I’m hearing there were some tough moments after the cameras were turned off. Like that wasn’t expected? Marc Ambinder has more.
But the majority of Democrats will get there on Obama. It’s a long way to November.
However, two a prominent Clinton supporter in New Hampshire, with others reportedly also involved, have started “Democrats for McCain,” an oxymoronic movement if ever there was one given that McCain doesn’t stand for anything Democratic, capital “d”.
Democrats have a groundbreaking opportunity this year to take back the White House, while increasing Democratic majorities in the House and Senate, which is critically important.
Hillary standing beside Barack is a symbolic new beginning. All informed Democrats know that McCain will not take this country where it needs to go.
The two biggest Democratic powerhouses on the same stage showing “unity,” no matter the grievances and the difficulty of the moment. Bottling Obama and Clinton’s power. It’s going to give Republicans fresh nightmares.
