Obama, Clinton move on from RFK (we should too)

[bigtree]

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico— Barack Obama said Saturday that he accepted rival Hillary Clinton's explanation that she made an innocent gaffe in citing Robert F. Kennedy's June 1968 assassination as a justification for continuing her long-shot bid for the Democratic presidential nomination into June.

Asked about Clinton's remarks in an interview with Radio Isla Puerto Rico while campaigning in the commonwealth, Obama attributed them to fatigue.

"I have learned that when you are campaigning for as many months as Sen. Clinton and I have been campaigning, sometimes you get careless in terms of the statements that you make, and I think that is what happened here," Obama said. "Sen. Clinton says that she did not intend any offense by it, and I will take her at her word on that."


http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-obama-puerto-ricomay25,0,2206528.story




. . . gotta love seeing our Democratic campaign come to Puerto Rico.

moving on . . . n/t

[Joe the Revelator]

1. No more passes for Hillary

Obama is taking the high road, and I commend him for it. Thankfully I'm not running for office. Hillary doesn't get off easy after trying to push this meme at least three times. She needs to apologize to Obama and the american people for hinting about assassination, and then quickly exit the race in order for democrats to focus on McCain. Anything less is unacceptable.

[chascarrillo]

2. I've given her enough free passes already.

[Elspeth]

38. I'm sure HRC thanks the heavens that you, chascarrillo, have given her so many free passes.

:eyes:

[Radio_Lady]

60. Even RFK, Jr. commented that it was simply an error...

If the family can accept her attempt at explaining her remarks so graciously, why can't we???

[DesertFlower]

3. good for obama. i think he

did the right thing.

now, if it were the other way around, oy vey.

[yellowdogintexas]

16. poetry in motion, that is what he is. Poise and grace under fire.

which is exactly why after a severe case of whiplash from changing my mind so often and so quickly I finally cast my vote for him in our primary.

[DesertFlower]

25. i never changed my mind.

soon as he said he was running, i was with him.

my husband, who was a republican, registered as a democrat so he could vote for him in our primary.

[yellowdogintexas]

29. I had been leaning to him from the get go, in fact when he gave that speech 4 yrs ago

I called my husband who was out of town and told him this:
'
"Don't know when but I just saw the first African American President. The only thing between him and the Oval Office is him deciding not to pursue it"


But I did go through about a month of mental gymnastics, mostly over this:

hmmm first African American nominee...

hmmm first female nominee


AA??? female???

AA??? female??? (we need an exploding head smiley, for this spot)

I blame it all on John Edwards for dropping out (not really)

[DesertFlower]

36. i saw that speech and had the same reaction.

i think many of us have. when he announced that he was going to run, my friend said "i have this feeling in my gut that's he gonna go all the way".

i hope to see john edwards in obama's administration.

[yellowdogintexas]

50. me top. I think he would be a fantastic Attorney General, as do many others

but he would also be fantastic with HHS. So many of his objectives are entwined with that agency.

OR special prosecutor in charge of whatever the hell he wants to investigate

[catgirl]

4. Not "moving on" for Hillary

SHE should move on out of the race and politics.

[emilyg]

5. Too bad his DU supporters don't have as much

sense as he does.

[Shae]

13. Too bad Hillary doesn't have as much .

sense as he does.
e.g. bittergate, rev.wright

[John Q. Citizen]

15. Our leaders are supposed to have more sense than we do. You probably have more sense than Hillary

does.

[TTUBatfan2008]

32. Too bad Hillary and her supporters don't have as much class as Obama either...

Bittergate was the biggest crock of shit ever and Hillary fueled the fire as much as possible on it, along with her supporters all over the Internet including at this website. Pot, meet kettle.

[WinkyDink]

58. We get to be the judges of that, in a democracy, NOT the candidates.

[WeDidIt]

6. Nope, no more passes for Clinton

She deserves derision every day for the rest of her life.

[Johnny__Motown]

7. Sunday talk shows need to kick it around first. Sorry... one more news cycle for this... minimum

[marylanddem]

8. Bullshit. I'll never move on from this atrocity.

[Swamp Rat]

9. I think people need more time to process Hillary's remark.

Maybe at least a few more days.

[anigbrowl]

10. Ah, the 'maturity' card.

[hfojvt]

11. you mean we should get over it?

ah, if only we could

Why does my heart go on beating?
Why do these eyes of mine cry?
Don't they know, it's the end of the world?
It ended when she mentioned RFK.

[emilyg]

19. You don't have much of a life.

[ShortnFiery]

28. Pot meet kettle?

Maybe you need to go back for more "talking points?"

[emilyg]

35. Since I don't enjoy "talking" to you - will

save myself future aggravation. Ignored.

[greguganus]

37. She is ignoring you until after the conference call on more talking points from Shrillary. n/t

[hfojvt]

40. you may say I spend too much time on DU

but I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us
and the world will live as one

[Lady-Damai]

12. Didn't Obama move on with the Rev.Wright GD america drama too?

What happened months later?

:popcorn:

[cosmik debris]

14. It doesn't matter, she's toast.

She can't hurt anyone but herself now.

[ShortnFiery]

30. It matters. She's figuratively wounded - like a wild animal, HRC is MOST dangerous now.

:scared:

Its time to launch a massive email campaign for Tuesday and SHUT HER DOWN.


ENOUGH!

[Tatiana]

17. Yes. We "will take her at her word on that."

Good post.

[ShortnFiery]

27. "as far as I know."

:puke:

[Tatiana]

33. "Sen. Clinton says that she did not intend any offense by it"

Read his words carefully.

:hi:

[psychopomp]

42. I noticed that, too

:toast: Glad that he could use her dubious use of that phrase now that the shoe is on the other foot and Sen. Clinton is on the defensive.

[Tatiana]

45. It was very mild, but very appropriate.

I know she got the message.

:toast:

[MadBadger]

18. It's not over bigtree

I dont believe anything sinister in what she said, though she still doesnt seem to understand why people are upstet. Also her analogy just doesnt really make much sense. But the reason it's not over is because the media hasnt had its sufficient time to get its hands on it. It probably will lead off the morning news shows on Tuesday, and go from there.

[crickets]

20. Nope.

That talking point went over the line and cannot be unsaid.

[tokenlib]

21. No, at least the Super Delegates need to look at the comment in relation to...

...the previous conduct of Hillary, her surrogates, and her campaign. This comment could be defended if it took place in a vacuum--but in light of the environment out of which it came--the comment and indeed the so-called apology are highly disturbing as I laid out in my previous post below...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x6111439

Keith Olbermann was not overreacting in his commentary, and we were not overreacting either...

[Tarheel_Dem]

22. I have no doubt that the Clinton campaign would love to move on,

but I'm not as forgiving as Obama. I remember Ms. Clinton, in coordination with John McCain, exploiting the "bitter" misspeak by Obama. I also remember Ms. Clinton reigniting the Rev. Wright controversy, even though she initially said she wouldn't comment. I am proud that Sen. Obama would come to her rescue, I just don't agree that she misspoke. In order to believe that, I would have to forget that she made up a fairytale, from wholecloth about Tuzla, when the actual story was sufficient.

Thank you Sen. Obama, but I don't accept her rationalization.

[charlie]

23. Yes, let's do what Hillary wouldn't

Reeeeeally good advice.

[Skrelnick]

24. No. NO, SIR. Not this time! And never again!

nm

[ShortnFiery]

26. You got that right! Just wait until the M$M gets deluged with email on Tuesday?!? eom

[TTUBatfan2008]

31. If only Clinton was as understanding...

with regard to Obama's gaffes. What a frickin' shame that Clinton's supporters are praising Obama for "moving on" while they and Hillary herself trash Obama for every little gaffe he might have, such as the "bitter" thing. Hillary used that for votes and criticized the hell out of Obama instead of giving him the benefit of the doubt. The double standard in the Clinton camp with regard to this kind of stuff is pretty amazing.

[RichardRay]

34. Move along, folks, nothing to see here, keep moving please.

We have work to do and this isn't helping. If Senator Clinton has added more rocks to her pockets while she's trying to swim to Denver that's OK with me, but it's not worth a lot of my time.

[cbc5g]

39. As a 24 year old I didn't go through the assassinations

But I'm sure for a lot of people, Hillary's comments brought back bad memories. I think we should move on soon and I think GD: P should be removed but I can definitely understand the sadness and anger the past few days. Obama has accepted her story and so should we after tonight. We show we are better than Clinton's campaign by not pushing this all over the media. She got a taste of her own medicine, but it's time to move on and get Barack elected.

[ruby slippers]

44. I'm 56 and I DID live through the assassanations and Hillary's remark was

not a very funny thing to say at all. It did bring back memories. Here, watch this for some perspective....PS The kids in it are my grandbabies....



http://youtube.com/watch?v=XLNH00ecqd4

[crickets]

51. WOW

Recently (for obvious reasons) I've been thinking a lot about Bobby's Aeschylus speech*, and then your vid comes along. Beautiful. I'm in tears.

:hug:


*I did not make this video. I was six at the time, and so have few clear firsthand memories of what happened, but it is my understanding that Indianapolis had a troubled but nonviolent sleep that night. Other cities erupted, but this one did not - and Bobby is credited for that, in spite of his campaign handlers begging him to skip his stump speech that night. He knew the pain that would come, having faced it before himself, and he did not shrink from it, or from the effort to comfort others.

For anyone who truly did not understand what Hillary invoked in such a seemingly casual and accidental manner, do you get it now? Please? Peace.

[psychopomp]

41. I still resent her for "spade work"

that should tell you how long I plan on keeping this grudge against her :rofl:

[Warren DeMontague]

43. Right. Now we can get back to talking about how Hillary has "won the popular vote", right?

Or how the rules pertaining to FL and MI- the rules that Hillary was fine with 7 months ago, the same rules that Terry McAuliffe personally ENFORCED 5 years ago- are an unfair, undemocratic assault on the rights of free people everywhere?

What are we moving on to?

We had how many weeks on Rev. Wright?

How many weeks on Michelle Obama not bein' a proud enuf Merkin?

How much blather about how white workin' Merkins won't vote for Obama?

and, my favorite...

how much time did people- including Senator Clinton Herself- spend clucking and hand-wringing over Obama saying the word "bitter" to some, you know, San Francisco (wink wink) liberals?

How much time did we spend on Latte Liberals and Elites and Priuses and Birkenstocks and all the rest of that crap?

Oh, we can move on?

Move on to what?

Hillary taking her phony outrage slash-and-burn stomp-my-feet-if-I-don't-get-my-way brigade all the way to the Convention?

Yes, let's "move on", shall we? Let's finish the primaries, and then let's have good DEMOCRATS rally behind the DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE.

Enough, already.

[ima_sinnic]

48. what you said!! if only I could rec your post!

OP would really, really like us to "move on" to Hillary's insane destruction of the Democratic Party, but I'm ready to "move on" to seeing her CONCEDE already.

[bigtree]

55. well, you could spend your time promoting what your candidate is promoting

:shrug: time to move on.

[Warren DeMontague]

56. Spend what time? The primaries are almost OVER, Jack.

And Hillary has no mathematically conceivable way of "winning"; unless, of course, she continues her scorched-Earth, hypocritical slash-and-burn crap about MI and FL. Which we've been over, and over, and over, and over.

The primaries are JUST ABOUT DONE. So how much "time" are we supposed to be spending arguing with Hillary Clinton? Is she going to get out of the Race on June 4? I doubt it.

No, what we should be spending our time doing is getting ready for November and John McCain. But our party is hamstrung by Hillary's refusal to accept reality.

It's very, very simple. She needs to get out of the race.

[bigtree]

57. Spend your time promoting your candidate for the presidency. The race doesn't end here.

Move on.

[Warren DeMontague]

59. The primaries will end on June 3rd. "The race" is against John McCain.

It's time to unify behind our nominee. Hypocritical bullshit about FL and MI or about how she's "won the popular vote" doesn't help unify our party.

She needs to drop out of the race; if not now, then in the first week in June.

I'm sure you must grasp that, on some level.

[ccharles000]

46. I agree.

This thing was overblown.

[fujiyama]

47. Obama is pretty classy and a stand up guy overall

This was a hard fought race. But one candidate managed to get more pledges delegates. Once I heard about Hillary's comment, I immediately knew what she was getting at. It was obvious she was trying to say that other primaries have gone this far, but invoking an assassinated popular icon, that too one compared to the current Dem front runner was in shockingly poor taste and displayed complete ineptitude on her part. She should have been smarter about it, but the way the Clintons have acted over the last 5 months or so...I am not entirely surprised.

[ima_sinnic]

49. I'm sure you, as a Hillary mouthpiece here, would love for us to "move on," the way she didn't

I'm not "moving on" until that extraneous piece of baggage officially concedes and starts acting like a Democrat, giving Obama the room and the support he needs to beat McCain. She is an atrocity. She needs to exit the stage NOW.

[bigtree]

53. who's mouthpiece are you?

[YourUniqueDemocrat]

52. Sorry, faking outrage is too fun

We must claim to be crying and outraged about Hillary's comments which didn't offend Obama or RFK's son.

[book_worm]

54. Just like the fake outrage over Obama's mild (by comparison) "bitter" comment?

which Hillary gleefully used against Obama for several weeks.

[moobu2]

61. NO DON’T STOP NOW!!!! PLEEEEASE!!

[grantcart]

62. I agree and we should move on from Hillary completely as well

Even if she were to get everything that she wanted re MI/FL including stealing the uncommitteds from Obama she would still need 72% of the remaining delegates to win.

And this is not counting the Clinton pledged delegates that already have announced that they are not voting for Clinton or the Pelosi delegates that have announced they are going to follow the pledged delegate number.

Interesting find

In New York (and New Jersey) Obama is polling better than Clinton: