Vice President Hillary?

If you were already clearing room on the bumper of your Prius for your "Obama/Clinton" sticker, you might want to hold off. Yesterday the news broke that Hillary has been asked to deliver the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention next month in Denver, a big flashing sign that she will most likely not be tapped for the VP spot. Hillary Night, as keynote Tuesday night will certainly be, also happens to be the 88th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote in this country. Reports claim Clinton will share the stage with ALL the women senators, but does that include the Republicans? (while writing that sentence I realized I had to google to make sure there are Republican female senators and there are - there are 5) Hopefully Hillary's supporters will be satisfied with Consolation Chickfest '08 and still come to the party.

Lovable Losers

So Hillary swallowed her pride, shelved her considerable ambitions, gave a great speech and now we kind of love her. It got me to thinking. What is it about American politics that after we don't vote for them, we end up loving our losers? Hillary charmed us with her grace, commitment to the party and the history she finally embraced, Jimmy Carter became a humanitarian building homes for the homeless and traipsing around the globe literally trying to bring about world peace and Al Gore spends his days desperately trying to save us from ourselves and racking up awards. He also loosened up (after losing the election primarily for being a robot made of wood, you know aside from the whole Florida, election stealing dimpled chads thing) and made us laugh on Saturday Night Live, a show that also made lovable losers of a couple of the folks across the aisle, George H.W. Bush and Bob Dole. Maybe if some of these people had let out their human sides earlier they would have won their respective elections (not counting the ones who screwed up their presidencies). Or maybe not. But we love them anyway.

Hillary 20??

As Rach dealt with some Dimpled Chad technical difficulties, I pondered this question - will Hillary run again? Despite the fact that a failed bid usually let's the air out of political tires, Hillary is obviously an ambitious girl. And she came out of today's speech smelling like roses. Imagine if she spends the next four or eight years (depending on if we put Obama in the White House this time round or not) pulling an Al Gore - becoming the woman we wanted her to be and improving her image in the public eye as well as piling on more senatorial (or even vice presidential) experience? Somehow I don't see her as the type to pass up a second chance in favor of saving the world from global warming. Given these circumstances, I think she absolutely will run again. And if not, the Clintons have one last rabbit left in their hat. I'm putting my money in the pool right now - here comes Chelsea 2028.

Cutest Family EVA

Could Obama's daughters BE ANY CUTER?! Oh and his reaction to Hillary's speech:

"I honor her today for the valiant and historic campaign she has run," he said in a statement. "She shattered barriers on behalf of my daughters and women everywhere, who now know that there are no limits to their dreams."

Why We're Kind of Loving Hillary Right Now

So, I had to be somewhere and left the heavy lifting to Rach on the concession recap, but I can't help myself. I have to chime in. That was a hell of a speech. A few days ago I said we should give Hillary the benefit of the doubt and boy was I right. Today we saw a woman who four days ago was still clinging to the belief there was some way she could win the nomination rise remarkably to the occasion. These Clintons are amazing politicians. Hillary's party, essentially as one, told her on Wednesday she would have to concede. It was medicine we all know she wanted no part of, but instead of swallowing it through gritted teeth and doing the bare minimum required of her, Hillary stood up today in front of a crowd that also wanted no part of concession and did her absolute best to unite the party. She forged on through boos, willing her supporters to join her in the fight for a democratic White House and eventually turning those boos into cheers. For the first time, I truly believe Hillary Clinton sincerely wants what is best for the democratic party and the nation.

As Rachael said, she finally embraced the historical nature of her campaign. Obama ignited our imagination with hope and possibility. Today I see Hillary could have done the same. I ached for this Hillary earlier, but I am so glad she has arrived. It is worth noting that here at DC headquarters we were against Hillary as VP when we woke up this morning and now we're thinking, hmmm.... not the worst idea ever. Wow. I just realized if that was a calculated move, she really is an evil genius. Whatever the motivation, the speech was everything I wanted it to be. When Hillary proclaimed "Yes We Can!" I believed her and I got choked up. It was the moment, to me, when Hillary Clinton officially joined the Barack Obama presidential campaign in whatever capacity she is asked to fill. She was magnificent and I kind of love her.

Hillary's Exit

Well it was not only the speech of a lifetime, but the speech a lot of us younger women who have felt alienated and disillusioned by politics for most of our lifetimes wish she would have delivered in the beginning. She talked about the cracks she made in the biggest glass ceiling of all and that she isn't someone running for president who happens to be a woman (the way she started out)... but that she was a woman who ran for president. Instead of belittling and chiding a message of hope, she adopted it.

People! Don't be sad...these are historic and amazing times that I am so excited I got to witness.

CNN is reporting on the part that really bothers me: the bitterness her supporters are expressing as they leave the speech area, the idea that, "Obama better pick her as the VP or I won't vote for him." My God people greater good. Take your anger out on the evil ones, not Obama who is in the middle of transforming the democratic party and brought millions of new voters into the fold. These are things to be glad about and celebrate. In other words, it's bigger than your own disappointment. You can bet if Hillary were the nominee right now Dimpled Chads would be pumped and ready to help our woman beat McCain to a pulp. So climb on board the Obama train, it's lots of fun, we throw good parties, and remember this is about our country and our future.

Concession Watch

It has occurred to me there is only one thing I need to hear Hillary say tomorrow - "...the next President of the United States of America - Barack Obama!" Anything more is icing on the cake, but anything less and I'm going to be disappointed.

Behind Closed Doors

A few hours ago the news broke that the undisclosed location Hillary and Obama met at yesterday was Dianne Feinstein's house. Supposedly the two met alone in a closed living room with no aides present and Feinstein working upstairs. Am I the only one who pictures the esteemed senator from the great state of California kneeling next to the door with a glass to her ear?

WWHD?

So, not to pile on poor Hillary who I'm feeling some genuine sympathy for because losing sucks. But! She is a sight to behold and has managed to devise a strategy for NEVER LOSING even when you've lost. So I started thinking about it and this approach can be adopted to many a scenario in life.

OK, so here's how she DIDN'T LOSE the nomination even though, she lost: Everyone declared Obama the winner - delegates and stuff, national newspapers — and she took the stage and said she wasn't making a decision yet. You see? She just refused to lose. I LOVE this. A few situations, you might applly this approach to:

1. Your boyfriend calls to say that he wants to break up. *WHAT WOULD HILLARY DO?* You tell him that's sweet and you'll see him tomorrow. When you show up at his place the next day, you let him know that unfortunately, while this has been fun, you're going to need some space and want to see other people.

2. Your boss calls you into her office and informs you they are laying you off. *WHAT WOULD HILLARY DO?* You head back to your desk and create a meeting maker with said boss for the end of the day. When it's time for the meeting, you enter her office and let her know you are resigning due to personal reasons effective immediately.

Amazing right?

How it went down...

We've all heard by now that Hillary has agreed to concede on Friday (in private, publicly on Saturday - whatever) but according to Carl Bernstein, here's how it went down: Last night, despite a rock star speech from Obama and reporters shoving each other out of the way to be the first to proclaim the historical implications of the day, Hillary apparently still thought she could somehow win this thing. Maybe, if she waited long enough, something bad would come out about Obama or she could somehow sway the superdelegates come convention time. Was this crazythink the result of living in a campaign bubble or is this woman so power hungry she couldn't let go of the vision? No matter. This morning Hillary's strongest congressional supporters phoned her en masse to disabuse her of her delusions. Their message was simple. Get out by Friday and get out with grace and a strong endorsement of Obama. It's time for the party to unite.

How would she respond? Really well, actually. She marched down to the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee to convince them of her heartfelt belief in Obama's commitment to Israel. Obama, unfortunately, has had trouble with our people (the Dimpled Chads are Jews! Well, Rach is a half) and this vote of confidence should really help him. We shall see in the days to come how good of an Obama cheerleader Hillary can be (and how big of a pain in the ass she is about the VP spot) but this speech today was an important and laudable first step. I say for now we give her the benefit of the doubt (she's got plenty of time to screw that up).

Open Letter of the Afternoon...

Dear Hillary,

Concede, don't concede, whatever. But for the love of America woman, please shut up about the popular vote! Your numbers include Florida, where voters were told their vote would not count, thus making it an unfair election and Michigan, where Obama's name wasn't even on the freaking ballot!!!. (I can't tell you how many times I have shouted "wasn't even on the ballot" in the last few months) In fact, simply subtracting Michigan from the count (while still including the Florida numbers) gives Obama the lead. You did not win the popular vote. You did not win the delegate race. You did not win the nomination. For the good of your party (and any tiny chance you have left of being the VP candidate), why don't you start talking about how awesome Obama is, how he will make a great president, how your supporters should rally around him and NOTHING ELSE!!!

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
One Democrat