Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Is it over for Clinton?

Many major media outlets such as CNN, MSNBC, The Washington Post, and even David Gergen, former advisor to Bill Clinton, have all said it is over for Hillary Clinton. The truth is that Hillary Clinton's chances of winning have been slim to none for over two months. The difference now is that major supporters and super delegates are now switching their support to Obama. Many have seen her negative campaign ads, and her blatant pandering, such as the backing McCain's plan for a gas tax holiday for the summer, as the last straw. Supporters such as:

- DNC member and superdelegate from New Jersey Christine Samuels
- Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Joseph J. Andrew
- Washington D.C. councilman Harry Thomas Jr.,
- Service Employees International Union member Sarah Swisher
- Civil rights leader & Illinois senator John Lewis
- United States Representative, Senator, and Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern

...and the list is growing.

Hillary Clinton has proved that her campaign part of the problem of the "old politics regime", instead of a political solution. From the 3 a.m. ad, to the ads lying about where Obama is getting his money. People know she lies, and she'll do whatever it takes to meet the end goal. Unfortunately for her, that is not the type of president that most democrats want in the white house. We just had an administration that did whatever they wanted without keeping the constitution, and the will of the people that elected them in mind. Nobody, not even republicans want 4 more years, and Clinton is looking more and more like McCain's running mate.

What's more is people have finally started to question her "experience". For months know everyone has been trying to find out what the 35 years of experience actually where. Thirty five years takes us back to 1973, when Hillary Clinton was finishing up law school. Now Clinton does have quite a bit of professional experience including corporate and public-interest law, and she performed advocacy work for the Children's Defense Fund as well, but she doesn't quite have what t she claims when it comes to government experience. Hillary Clinton had said that her experience in the white house has prepared her for being president herself.

Really? Hillary Clinton did not hold a security clearance, did not attend meetings of the National Security Council, and was not given a copy of the president's daily intelligence briefing. She did make trips to Bosnia & Kosovo, on behalf of the American people but her role was not as a negotiator but merely as the First Lady. After moving to New York, Clinton was elected as senator for New York State in 2000, and was reelected in 2006, and shortly after that she started campaigning for the presidency. Most democrats can see how this information would be a problem in the general election when you compare Clinton's experience with McCain's experience. Aside from his military experience he has been in congress for 25 years.

There is no way her campaign can continue to run on experience, and when she supports things like the gas tax holiday she can not run on change. She is loosing support with democrats, and super delegates, and with the recent delegate wins for Obama this week, she has increased the gap between her and Obama with respect to total delegates. It is getting increasingly harder for Clinton to continue, and on top of all of this - her campaign is having money issues. She has loaned her campaign almost $6.5 million dollars. People are not willing to invest in a loosing candidate, and her campaign knows it. The question now is what will she do.

There is no chance of Obama selecting her as his Vice President, or a prominent Cabinet position with the campaign ads and statements that she has made. She has made that decision for him because there is no way Obama can run on change and bring Clinton on board his administration. So what will she do?

My guess is that her campaign has given up, and they are doing their best trying to convince her, but she hasn't given in yet. One thing is true, Hillary Clinton is a fighter, but like most voting democrats, I don't want someone like Hillary Clinton fighting for herself, I want someone that will fight for me.

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