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Where Was Hillary? - Chris Weigant/HuffPo
Where Was Hillary?Chris Weigant - HuffPo
Posted: 07/20/2015 8:24 pm EDT Updated: 07/20/2015 10:59 pm EDT
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This being a Lefty convention, security was of course not called to remove the protestors (which would likely have happened to them in just about any other setting, I should point out). Instead, their spokesperson was invited up on stage and given a microphone. O'Malley had the majority of his time co-opted by the 15-minute speech by the spokesperson which followed. O'Malley then royally stepped in it by saying "Black lives matter" and for some reason then felt compelled to add "White lives matter." You could hear an audible groan in the room when he said this (and repeated it, for emphasis). O'Malley did try to actually debate the protestors, but soon learned that they didn't want a discussion at all, since they immediately shouted down anything he tried to say.
Sanders handled things differently. After O'Malley left, Sanders was also interrupted by chanting. Sanders tried to answer the protestors a few times, but soon realized the futility of doing so, and instead just shouted them down by addressing the rest of the audience who had come to hear the candidates speak. The protestors were loud, but Sanders had amplification on his side, since he had a microphone. Sanders did fashion his remarks to answer the issues the protestors were raising, and laid out his own extensive record of championing civil rights before telling the audience what he'd do to change things as president.
Now, Bernie Sanders was around in the 1960s. He's seen protests aplenty. And my guess is that he's also no stranger to Lefties bickering among themselves. There certainly were a lot of splinter groups struggling with splinter groups back then. As there are now (remember the Occupy Wall Street general assemblies?). So Sanders didn't give the same deer-in-the-headlights performance that O'Malley did -- but speaking to various people afterwards, Sanders did come across to some as too forceful, by basically ignoring the protestors for much of his time.
Audience reactions were mixed in general. Some even tried to shout down the protestors with "Let him speak!" chants. Some thought the protest was great street theater. But most of the people I talked to showed at least some degree of exasperation with the protestors, and felt they had wasted an opportunity to have a real conversation. Some thought O'Malley handled it better, some thought Sanders did.
Many, like me, wondered where Hillary was. Hillary Clinton successfully avoided having to face Lefty hecklers. That's likely why she didn't show up. Even so, Hillary's got a very large bridge to build with progressives, many of whom view her with outright suspicion (or worse). Hillary's going to need some energy and excitement from progressives if she's going to turn out enough voters to become president. So far, she's falling short. I barely heard her name mentioned during the entire conference, in fact. That should be troubling to the Clinton campaign, but they calculated that avoiding getting heckled (or booed) was more important.
Granted, even if there hadn't been protestors for Sanders and O'Malley, Clinton likely would have gotten some very vocal feedback from the crowd in one way or another (and on more than one issue). And yes, there would have been video to run under "Clinton Booed By Lefties!" headlines. But sooner or later, Clinton's got to make her case in front of skeptical progressive crowds. That's the only way she can convince any segment of them to get excited about her campaign in any way. Right now, Clinton seems to be running on her 2008 "Inevitability" playbook. She's content to answer protestors on Facebook, days after the event, rather than show up in person. She's basically running as a general election candidate, since she figures she's got the primaries already sewn up. Maybe she'll show up to Netroots 2016, after all the primaries are over.
Or maybe she won't....
...
...
This being a Lefty convention, security was of course not called to remove the protestors (which would likely have happened to them in just about any other setting, I should point out). Instead, their spokesperson was invited up on stage and given a microphone. O'Malley had the majority of his time co-opted by the 15-minute speech by the spokesperson which followed. O'Malley then royally stepped in it by saying "Black lives matter" and for some reason then felt compelled to add "White lives matter." You could hear an audible groan in the room when he said this (and repeated it, for emphasis). O'Malley did try to actually debate the protestors, but soon learned that they didn't want a discussion at all, since they immediately shouted down anything he tried to say.
Sanders handled things differently. After O'Malley left, Sanders was also interrupted by chanting. Sanders tried to answer the protestors a few times, but soon realized the futility of doing so, and instead just shouted them down by addressing the rest of the audience who had come to hear the candidates speak. The protestors were loud, but Sanders had amplification on his side, since he had a microphone. Sanders did fashion his remarks to answer the issues the protestors were raising, and laid out his own extensive record of championing civil rights before telling the audience what he'd do to change things as president.
Now, Bernie Sanders was around in the 1960s. He's seen protests aplenty. And my guess is that he's also no stranger to Lefties bickering among themselves. There certainly were a lot of splinter groups struggling with splinter groups back then. As there are now (remember the Occupy Wall Street general assemblies?). So Sanders didn't give the same deer-in-the-headlights performance that O'Malley did -- but speaking to various people afterwards, Sanders did come across to some as too forceful, by basically ignoring the protestors for much of his time.
Audience reactions were mixed in general. Some even tried to shout down the protestors with "Let him speak!" chants. Some thought the protest was great street theater. But most of the people I talked to showed at least some degree of exasperation with the protestors, and felt they had wasted an opportunity to have a real conversation. Some thought O'Malley handled it better, some thought Sanders did.
Many, like me, wondered where Hillary was. Hillary Clinton successfully avoided having to face Lefty hecklers. That's likely why she didn't show up. Even so, Hillary's got a very large bridge to build with progressives, many of whom view her with outright suspicion (or worse). Hillary's going to need some energy and excitement from progressives if she's going to turn out enough voters to become president. So far, she's falling short. I barely heard her name mentioned during the entire conference, in fact. That should be troubling to the Clinton campaign, but they calculated that avoiding getting heckled (or booed) was more important.
Granted, even if there hadn't been protestors for Sanders and O'Malley, Clinton likely would have gotten some very vocal feedback from the crowd in one way or another (and on more than one issue). And yes, there would have been video to run under "Clinton Booed By Lefties!" headlines. But sooner or later, Clinton's got to make her case in front of skeptical progressive crowds. That's the only way she can convince any segment of them to get excited about her campaign in any way. Right now, Clinton seems to be running on her 2008 "Inevitability" playbook. She's content to answer protestors on Facebook, days after the event, rather than show up in person. She's basically running as a general election candidate, since she figures she's got the primaries already sewn up. Maybe she'll show up to Netroots 2016, after all the primaries are over.
Or maybe she won't....
More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-weigant/where-was-hillary_b_7836984.html
21 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
Many, like me, wondered where Hillary was. Hillary Clinton successfully avoided having to face Lefty hecklers. That's likely why she didn't show up. Even so, Hillary's got a very large bridge to build with progressives, many of whom view her with outright suspicion (or worse). Hillary's going to need some energy and excitement from progressives if she's going to turn out enough voters to become president. So far, she's falling short. I barely heard her name mentioned during the entire conference, in fact. That should be troubling to the Clinton campaign, but they calculated that avoiding getting heckled (or booed) was more important.
Granted, even if there hadn't been protestors for Sanders and O'Malley, Clinton likely would have gotten some very vocal feedback from the crowd in one way or another (and on more than one issue). And yes, there would have been video to run under "Clinton Booed By Lefties!" headlines. But sooner or later, Clinton's got to make her case in front of skeptical progressive crowds. That's the only way she can convince any segment of them to get excited about her campaign in any way. Right now, Clinton seems to be running on her 2008 "Inevitability" playbook. She's content to answer protestors on Facebook, days after the event, rather than show up in person. She's basically running as a general election candidate, since she figures she's got the primaries already sewn up. Maybe she'll show up to Netroots 2016, after all the primaries are over.
Granted, even if there hadn't been protestors for Sanders and O'Malley, Clinton likely would have gotten some very vocal feedback from the crowd in one way or another (and on more than one issue). And yes, there would have been video to run under "Clinton Booed By Lefties!" headlines. But sooner or later, Clinton's got to make her case in front of skeptical progressive crowds. That's the only way she can convince any segment of them to get excited about her campaign in any way. Right now, Clinton seems to be running on her 2008 "Inevitability" playbook. She's content to answer protestors on Facebook, days after the event, rather than show up in person. She's basically running as a general election candidate, since she figures she's got the primaries already sewn up. Maybe she'll show up to Netroots 2016, after all the primaries are over.
From OP.
These are the people that GOTV... you really don't want to depress their enthusiasm.
She's gotta face the music sooner or later. Better sooner...
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