On Wednesday, November 5 we will see essays, news articles and Op. Ed. pieces which will read much like what you will read below.
In spite of Hillary's attempt to ruin Barack's chances for the White House in 2009, and therefore bolster her own attempts at a bid in 2012, Hillary will, in the end, be seen as having had a beneficial impact on Barack's victory on Tuesday, November 4th against John McCain.
Read below:
Barack has now accomplished what many thought to be impossible just a few short months ago. He has become the President of the United States. He has also done so in convincing fashion, winning states thought to be unwinnable by most Democratic strategists in early April. Sweeping through the North, and the West, and the East, and even making large strides in the South, Barack Obama has won in convincing fashion with 36 states in his column, to only 14 for John McCain.
Many will say that this is proof of a change in America. And when a black man named Barack Obama can carry a virtually white state like Oregon, maybe we can all take pride in that.
Some will say he has run a cleaner and more focused campaign, and that will be true as well. He has spent more than John McCain, and yet has benefitted from a campaign that has been less top-heavy and more disciplined with their words and attacks.
Many have written about the heavy losses in Iraq over the last few months, as tribal conflicts have spilled over to American loss of life in numbers not seen since 2004. John McCain has been on the defensive when explaining his stance to continue the mission when so many Americans have become tired and frustrated about the needless loss of American treasure...our young men and women.
Certainly Barack Obama has benefitted from the continued recession as unemployment rates have moved up steadily even as our national debt has skyrocketed. Much of this can fairly be placed on the shoulders of a Republican platform of continued war and domestic tax cuts.
But what many have underestimated was the important role Hillary Clinton played in the success of Barack Obama. 6 months ago when it was "unfashionable" for her to run a negative campaign at a fellow Democratic brother, she did so anyway. And in many ways, in unison with Joh McCain. Some have said that she did so, only in her own selfish attempts to derail Barack Obama and to bolster her own chances in 2012. But the insight she recently gave to her campaign's strategy sheds new light into the brilliance of her negative tack. She said:
You know, it was a hard campaign. I was very close. We were very close. And, well, I'm a fighter. What we didn't know is if Barack was a fighter or if he would wilt under pressure. I told John McCain, who is a friend of mine, that I wanted to, you know, vet him a bit. And so he gave me the goods. What John didn't know was that my real goal was to use his ammunition, the Republican Party's ammunition before the general election. All along, I've been a fan of Barack. I think I did him a favor. I think we got him ready. It was never about me winning. It was always about US winning.
Bill Clinton has echoed those same sentiments:
Hey, we knew he was a good candidate. We believed if anyone could be president, and do as good of a job as Hillary, well, it would be Barack. I plan on touring some Southern states with Barack if he'll have me. I told Hillary and her staff we should toughen him up, and well, we did. Now, let's go reap those rewards
Few can diminish the role the Clinton's have played in this election. What if Hillary hadn't mentioned and promoted stories about Barack's relationships with Pastor Wright and a Weatherman? What if he had not been forced to defend himself 6 months before it really mattered?
There were two crucial legs to the Clinton approach:
- Hit him hard then, and don't let the Republican's hit him later.
This has proved to have been a brilliant strategy as Americans, while watching their children die in Iraq, while fighting hard to keep their homes, while forgoing vacations and reducing personal health care, became simply TIRED of all the negative things and issues they just didn't care about anymore. People may have become tired of the Clinton's, but the more Hillary sided with John McCain, the more he was unable to paint himself as a positive candidate as well. Americans simply grew tired of both of them. The lasting truth of this strategy is when John McCain sorely needed a bullet in his gun, he just didn't have any...Hillary already shot them all.
- Stay in the race as long as possible.
This allowed Americans to never feel a purchaser's remorse towards Barack obama. When Hillary finally decided to concede the race at the behest of a cadry of Superdelegates, most Americans has seen enough of Hillary to know, to truly know, that she was not the person they wanted in the White House. This would not have happened if not for the bitter ending of the Democratic Primary. By lengthening the process to an almost unbearable conclusion Hillary succeeded in allowing Barack to become known as a man, a politician, and as a person of character (especially in comparison to herself), before the Republican machine could re-define him as a scary, angry, black man with a questionable patriotic heritage.
When June finally arrived people KNEW. They knew who they wanted, and they knew who they didn't want.
Barack deserves a lot of credit for running a brilliant campaign, and for being the brilliant leader that he is.
But one wonders how far he would have come if not for the crucible of fire the Clintons put him through?