Clinton Backers' Support of Obama Not Universal
Her strong endorsement of Obama gave many of her supporters a reason to stay in the Democratic fold
It wasn't a celebration, but it wasn't a wake, either.
When Sen. Hillary Clinton graciously closed out her presidential campaign Saturday before hundreds of her most loyal supporters and unequivocally endorsed rival Sen. Barack Obama, she provided welcome relief to party stalwarts worried about deep fractures come fall.
But perhaps more important, Clinton, in a speech salted with references to the women's movement and stay-strong encouragement, gave supporters like Deborah Kahn of McLean, Va., a reason to stay in the Democratic fold.
"She did a wonderful job in placing the emphasis on America—moving forward for America," said Kahn, standing in the sweltering heat after Clinton's speech in Washington. "You don't have to love [Obama] to vote for him because you love America more."
It was that kind of day for Clinton loyalists, a day marked by occasional tears and tumultuous applause for the first woman to get this close to a major party nomination. The raw, public emotions that marked the previous weekend's Democratic Party snub of Clinton's effort to seat all Michigan and Florida delegates--her campaign's final, desperate act--had given way to quiet resignation.
There were no demonstrators among the quiet lines of supporters waiting outside the National Building Museum hours before the speech. There were no Hillary posters, no banners; and only a handful wore campaign T-shirts. (One read: "Bill Clinton for First Laddie.")
"Today I'm feeling ambivalent," said Inez Charles, 54, who had driven down from Philadelphia with two friends. "I'm happy I supported her, and I'm also happy that Obama's going to need her votes."
But the overall resignation, along with the talk of moving to acceptance of Obama, wasn't universal. Boos mixed with loud cheers when Clinton repeatedly called on her supporters to support Obama, and Charles was among those who said they'll need a lot more convincing.
The speech also provided a setting for perhaps one last campaign gathering of the Clinton family's political brain trust—from Vernon Jordan to campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe, who worked the VIP line near the stage with the mantra "We gave it all we had." (Less than an hour later, McAuliffe was on television again touting Clinton for vice president.)
Many of her supporters said they'd like to see Clinton on the ticket, but they aren't holding their breath. "It would be great, fabulous—but we're not expecting it," said JoAnn Foltz, 32, of Arlington, Va., who attended the speech with her boyfriend, Chris Bjornson, 41. He wants Clinton to continue to fight for healthcare reform, and Foltz said she'd love to see her in the cabinet.
It would "break my heart," Clinton told the crowd, if the disappointment of her loss meant that supporters would fail to help put a Democrat in the White House. "When you fall," she told them, "you get right back up."
Marlene Connors, 60, of Washington said she plans to do just that, though she said she remains troubled by media she sees as sexist but petrified of seeming racist and by women who didn't get behind Clinton.
"My husband and I decided that we were going to be in mourning the month of June," she said. "In July, we'll chill, and in August, we'll get on the Obama bandwagon." And what about Clinton's future—the national ticket? A high-level appointment?
"I don't know," Connors said. "I just want her to be happy." Perhaps even Clinton herself doesn't yet know what holds the key to her happiness. But on Saturday, when she stood alone on the stage and spoke of how remarkable it is that it now can be considered unremarkable for a woman to compete for a party nomination and when she talked about the 18 million new cracks in the glass ceiling to the White House, she had reason to feel a sense of great accomplishment, Connors said, if not happiness.
"What she did," Connors said, "will last forever."
Reader Comments
Vote For McCain = More Of The Same
It really doesn't shock met that the hate mongers that be Hillary Clinton supporters would rather see four more years of the same incompetence and failure that we've had for the last eight all in the name of spite. It really sickens me that they'd rather back a person of McCain's political views and standards which amounts to the remedial way that "W" ran the country straight down the toilet. Here are 10 things that you need to know that are fact not fabrication about Mr. McCain
1. John McCain voted against establishing a national holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Now he says his position has 'evolved,' yet he's continued to oppose key civil rights laws.
2. According to Bloomberg News, McCain is more hawkish than Bush on Iraq, Russia and China. Conservative columnist Pat Buchanan says McCain 'will make Cheney look like Gandhi.
3. His reputation is built on his opposition to torture, but McCain voted against a bill to ban waterboarding, and then applauded President Bush for vetoing that ban.
4. McCain opposes a woman's right to choose. He said, 'I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned.
5. The Children's Defense Fund rated McCain as the worst senator in Congress for children. He voted against the children's health care bill last year, then defended Bush's veto of the bill.
6. He's one of the richest people in a Senate filled with millionaires. The Associated Press reports he and his wife own at least eight homes! Yet McCain says the solution to the housing crisis is for people facing foreclosure to get a 'second job' and skip their vacations.
7. Many of McCain's fellow Republican senators say he's too reckless to be commander in chief. One Republican senator said: 'The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He's erratic. He's hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me.
8. McCain talks a lot about taking on special interests, but his campaign manager and top advisers are actually lobbyists. The government watchdog group Public Citizen says McCain has 59 lobbyists raising money for his campaign, more than any of the other presidential candidates.
9. McCain has sought closer ties to the extreme religious right in recent years. The pastor McCain calls his 'spiritual guide,' Rod Parsley, believes America's founding mission is to destroy Islam, which he calls a 'false religion.' McCain sought the political support of right-wing preacher John Hagee, who believes Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment for gay rights and called the Catholic Church 'the Antichrist' and a 'false cult.
10. He positions himself as pro-environment, but he scored a 0-yes, zero-from the League of Conservation Voters last year.
John McCain is not who the Washington press corps make him out to be. Does the think that his family are more deserving of a better life than you and yours? Yes Osama Bin Laden is a evil man with evil intentions and deserve to be punished for his crimes, but the one thing I can say about him is that when he was recruiting and jockeying for the political position and favor he held he showed the people that would be his followers that even with all the wealth at his disposal he dressed like them, ate like them, worked like them, and held himself in no higher regard than he held them. You think John McCain has even an ounce of such value for the American People? If you think for a second he does you're either delusional of just plain stupid! Just like W. Bush and Cheney he has his own and his cohorts best interest at heart and that's what's going to come first and foremost. Obama seeks camaraderie, peace, and all who make up America coming together and being Americans, and supports issues and policies that would give any hard working American the same quality of life that any senator or congressman enjoys. McCain wants to keep your haves and have not divided society going. He knows that if everyone enjoyed a good quality of life and everything was economically well for everyone no matter what class you fell in, that our dependence on government would cease, and this would be the beginning of the end of their control, it would be the scissors that cut the strings that control the the American people like the puppets that most of us are being. Anyone who listens to Obama hear what he is saying he wants to give the power back to the people! It's our government, we are the one's who put these people where they are. Governments should fear their people in America it's the exact opposite the people fear the government. Are you going to be a coward and give into McCain's lies and fear tactics? The same one's that lead to Bush's defeat over Kerry, or will you stand on your own two feet and relinquish the chains that has bound the American people for so long and cast a vote for the candidate that looks out for every American not just the wealthy and privileged. God Bless Barrack Obama, God Bless the American people, and God Bless America!!
Clinton supporter will not vote for Obama
I will not vote for Obama - he scares me. Clinton did not get a fair shake from the media. The media (which is corporate America) picked their golden boy from day 1. Good luck America - what a choice Obama or McCain. No thanks to either of them.
What!!!!!!!!!!!!
You have no idea what gracious is. There was nothing gracious about Hillary ending her campaign. Nothing. Instead she came across like the sour loser she is and with that she held on to some of her supposed 18million supporters. The same supporters who are even right now still rooting for her to get the nomination away from Obama. The same people who have decided that if it can't be Hillary then they would rather vote for McCain - the Republican. Which is exactly what Hillary wanted. Your supporters take thie cue from you Hillary. If they can so easily vote for a Republican then they were never Democrats. What are you? Did you choose the Democrat party because you were convinced you would beat Obama?
Her endorsement of Obama was not sincere, she had no choice and she gave it begrudgingly, with every word uttered in that speach. I'm ashamed of Hillary and that she is a woman like I am. Her loss had nothing to do with her being a woman, her loss was because her actions and words made us embarrassed to be women and made men loose faith in us and our amazing capabilties. Where is her self respect? And this was her campaign not her husband's - she put in in the Presidents seat - because it would be been him ruling no her and we all saw that.
Obama will become the 44th President of the United States of America with or without her true endorsement.
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