![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stinglikeabeeLike the sad little news wonk I am, I've been listening to broadcasts from the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado all day. Normally it wouldn't be my thing listening to NPR and political talking heads bitch about the day's events (or non-events). But as everyone kept mentioning from Denver, it feels like history.
Let's start with the gossip. Did you know the California delegation shares the same hotel as their counterparts from New York? Apparently the CA side is laidback and warm (literally), whilst you can tell which the New York delegates are -- they're the ones dressed formally in what seems like zero degrees air-con. Senator Hillary Clinton was supposed to have met the CA delegates for breakfast, only she didn't show. The delegates had breakfast with Nancy Pelosi instead.
This apparently ignited ill-feeling against Clinton: I heard convention-goers make snide remarks about the Senator being 'selfish', of bringing her own agenda to the convention. Unfair possibly, given a report she was taking the time to concentrate on her speech instead. However, the reason for canceling wasn't made public soon enough, allowing people to pounce and attack.
A call-in show around 1pm featured plenty of callers berating Clinton and her Clintonistas for not reconciling, and being downright nasty. After all, McCain's latest ad spotlights a Clinton supporter named Debra who is trying to convince those like her to vote Republican (see video here). As many former Clinton supporters said on the show, how could any Democrat possibly vote for McCain knowing he does not support Clinton's issues? Said another caller, the fact that her supporters are behaving in this way makes it obvious Clinton was not the right candidate. If she were, people wouldn't be voting for McCain out of spite.
Clinton quickly distanced herself from the ad and urged her supporters to vote for Obama, saying this race is too important. We'll see what she says in her primetime speech on Tuesday night.
Incidentally, one caller on the show said he could not, or would not, vote for Obama because he needed someone he could trust, without going into specifics. Minutes later, someone else rebutted by saying that person wasn't looking to be reassured about Obama's policies -- he was actually expressing his inborn racism. That last message wasn't made as an accusation, by the way, it was stated matter-of-factly by an woman who sounded extremely sad by this revelation. And that's what made me think of history -- not of Michelle Obama's extremely personal speech about her family in her bid to humanise Obama -- but that this lady, who is part of Clinton's demographic, could find that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Let's start with the gossip. Did you know the California delegation shares the same hotel as their counterparts from New York? Apparently the CA side is laidback and warm (literally), whilst you can tell which the New York delegates are -- they're the ones dressed formally in what seems like zero degrees air-con. Senator Hillary Clinton was supposed to have met the CA delegates for breakfast, only she didn't show. The delegates had breakfast with Nancy Pelosi instead.
This apparently ignited ill-feeling against Clinton: I heard convention-goers make snide remarks about the Senator being 'selfish', of bringing her own agenda to the convention. Unfair possibly, given a report she was taking the time to concentrate on her speech instead. However, the reason for canceling wasn't made public soon enough, allowing people to pounce and attack.
A call-in show around 1pm featured plenty of callers berating Clinton and her Clintonistas for not reconciling, and being downright nasty. After all, McCain's latest ad spotlights a Clinton supporter named Debra who is trying to convince those like her to vote Republican (see video here). As many former Clinton supporters said on the show, how could any Democrat possibly vote for McCain knowing he does not support Clinton's issues? Said another caller, the fact that her supporters are behaving in this way makes it obvious Clinton was not the right candidate. If she were, people wouldn't be voting for McCain out of spite.
Clinton quickly distanced herself from the ad and urged her supporters to vote for Obama, saying this race is too important. We'll see what she says in her primetime speech on Tuesday night.
Incidentally, one caller on the show said he could not, or would not, vote for Obama because he needed someone he could trust, without going into specifics. Minutes later, someone else rebutted by saying that person wasn't looking to be reassured about Obama's policies -- he was actually expressing his inborn racism. That last message wasn't made as an accusation, by the way, it was stated matter-of-factly by an woman who sounded extremely sad by this revelation. And that's what made me think of history -- not of Michelle Obama's extremely personal speech about her family in her bid to humanise Obama -- but that this lady, who is part of Clinton's demographic, could find that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
no subject
Date: 2008-08-26 04:19 am (UTC)But Hillary snubbed the NY delegates? That's pretty juicy.
no subject
Date: 2008-08-26 04:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-31 10:51 pm (UTC)Yeah, as much as I want to pumped for the election, that little nagging voice in my head keeps saying this.
It's a very sad voice, but a very loud one.