Former first lady Hillary Clinton will finally be closing out her quest 2008 for the White House tonight during a prime-time appearance tonight at the Democratic National Convention. Many feel Clinton is the key to Barack Obama winning the presidency.
Senator Clinton’s appearance will be the main event on this second night, but it is far from the role she envisioned when she launched her bid to become the first female commander-in-chief more than a year ago. She started out as the prohibitive front-runner then, but due to an inept campaign strategy, soon found herself in a struggle against Obama that she could not win.
There remains a lingering unhappiness among Clinton delegates who are still smarting over Clinton's loss. There are hordes of Hillary Clinton supporters, including party leaders who are displaying actions that many perceive constitutes a unity crisis between the Obama and Clinton camps. Democratic party chairman Howard Dean said the
convention is determined to make Barack Obama the nation's first black president:
"There is not a unity problem. If anyone doubts that, wait till you see Hillary Clinton's speech."
However, with Clinton supporters essentially pushing the issue on a symbolic roll call that will also give Clinton's supporters a chance to cast votes for her, there may be some questions her motives. Clinton must make a speech that once and for all throws her full support for Barack Obama, while emphatically urging her supporters to do the same.
For her credit, in the past week Senator Clinton has been doing just that, but with little fanfare leading up to the convention. This is more vital this evening in the wake of the McCain campaign and the GOP’s actions leading up to this convention.
For the second time in three days, the McCain campaign sought to use Clinton to wound Obama. They have
produced ads that have taken statements made by Clinton during the heated primary season questioning Obama’s readiness and downplaying his experience. In one new ad Clinton is shown famously saying:
"I know Senator McCain has a lifetime of experience that he will bring to the White House. And, Senator Obama has a speech he gave in 2002."
Hillary Clinton attempted to quell the effect of that ad by holding a meeting in Denver on Monday for the New York Delegation in which she stated:
“I’m Hillary Clinton and I do not approve of this message.”
The Republicans have also produced a television commercial that made use of the memorable 3 a.m. phone call into the White House that the Clinton campaign produced earlier this year.
Some Democrats expressed concern about the potential for at least the appearance of disunity on television later in the week. Don Fowler, a former party chairman, said there was
more of a problem than he had anticipated:
"All you need is 200 people in the crowd to boo and stuff like that and it will be replayed 900 times. And that's not what you want out of this."
While Senator Clinton did her part, the second half of the Clinton duo was much more
ambiguous in his statements according to DJ’s own SueD. Puzzling to me because I don't think Bill Clinton would survive politically if he, were perceived to be responsible for stopping Obama's ascent to the highest office in the land. It would also likely doom Hillary's political rise.
by marcn-Flickr
Bill and Hillary Clinton
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If today’s speech by the former President is any indication of what his speech will be like tomorrow night, Obama and the Party could truly be in trouble. If the Dems don’t get their unity act together and soon, it may be too late. We shall see how this plays out in a few hours starting and quite possibly ending with the Clintons.
