Joe Conason: Questions for Hillary’s Zealots

[marmar]

from Truthdig:



Questions for Hillary’s Zealots

Posted on Aug 27, 2008
By Joe Conason



As the Democrats convened in Denver to celebrate Hillary Clinton and nominate Barack Obama, a tiny minority of her supporters continued to behave petulantly. They whined, they blustered, they agitated themselves and each other. But what was it about Sen. Clinton’s repeated endorsements of her former opponent that they could not understand? How do they honor her by undermining him?

No doubt many of her friends still feel robbed, months after her gracious concession. With considerable justification, they believe that their woman should have been the one accepting the nomination of their party this week, rather than the man who took it from her. She certainly possesses the talent and experience to be a formidable national candidate, and during her life in politics she has worked very hard to earn that prize. She entered the campaign almost two years ago as a prohibitive favorite.

It is past time for the zealots to face honestly why she lost what might have been hers. Her defeat cannot be blamed on outdated or unfair party rules, on the rhetorical manipulations of the Obama campaign or even on the reflexively hostile coverage of the Clintons in the mainstream media—because a competent campaign would have accounted for all those utterly predictable factors. Those angry donors and voters should be brandishing their pitchforks at the well-compensated consultants who wasted tens of millions of dollars without developing an inspirational theme or an effective plan.

Dwelling on blame, however, is not what Sen. Clinton urged her fellow Democrats to do.

To take her at her word—as those who constantly proclaim their devotion ought to do—means joining her behind the new Obama-Biden ticket. Rather than sulking over the slights and stupidities of the primary, she speaks about the disastrous implications of a Republican victory as well as the policies and values she holds in common with Sen. Obama. Do the rejectionists think that her speeches on his behalf are insincere—that when she says she wants him to win, she is being false? Such assumptions are an insult to her. .......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20080827_questions_for_hillarys_zealots/