The Only Unity Was the Town’s Name
Jun 28, 2008 Political
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama had a unification meeting in a place called Unity, New Hampshire where they pretended to bury the hatchet in order to bring the party together in a big effort to beat John McCain in November. The two have not been together since about a month ago when Clinton suspended her campaign and vowed to help Obama win. I did not believe her then and I do not believe her now.
The Clintons are sore losers and the idea that an inexperienced, first term Senator with nothing more than the gift of gab could beat them is grating on their nerves. Bill Clinton has taken to other tasks rather than be involved in anything where he has to discuss the recent primary because he usually says things that sound more like sour grapes than thoughtful analysis. He went to a party for Nelson Mandella where he barely acknowledged the existence of Oprah Winfrey, a person with whom he once had a good friendship. She backed Obama and he did not like that. Bill might say he will support Obama but he will not work too hard to do it.
A large number of Clinton supporters are saying they will not back Obama and though I am sure that number will decrease by the time election day rolls around, there will still be a number of them who will stay home or will vote for McCain. Obama needs the Hillary supporters if he is to stand a chance of winning so he gains from the uncomfortable relationship with the Clintons.
Hillary Clinton has about 20 million dollars in campaign debt that she needs retired (and God knows she does not want to spend her own money to do it) so she needs the Obama campaign and its money to help settle the bills. She will play along with this uncomfortable pairing in order to get her bills paid. She will even give the appearance of being a good little storm trooper and going along with the Obama nomination but she (or more likely her surrogates) will be working in the background to help get Obama defeated. Hillary would love to see Obama lose (and the worse he loses the better) so she could say “I told you so” to the DNC and run in 2012.
But Hillary needs to be careful. She needs to give the appearance that she is supporting Obama and that she wants to defeat McCain. Any member of the Democratic plantation who utters anything that goes against the grain will be met harshly. Ask Debra Bartoshevich, a national delegate who supported Clinton but has not consumed the Obama Kool Aid. She stated that she would vote for McCain in November and now she is no longer a delegate. Hillary cannot cross the gods at the DNC (more than she has by dragging out the primary) and she certainly cannot give he appearance of screwing over Obama until her debt is paid and the convention is over, but her people can work behind the scenes.
I have no doubt in my military mind that the Clintons want Obama to lose and to lose badly. I also have no doubt that Obama wants the Clintons to just keep quiet and not help “too much.” In any event the Unity meeting was nothing more than a facade to bring all the other little Dems into line and get them to vote for Obama. They might talk like friends but there are still a lot of bitter feelings (more so on the Clinton side) and there will always be discomfort when they are together.
Keep this in mind little Democrats, the Clintons do not want Obama to win but they do not want to appear as if they are destroying the party. They will work in the background to squash Obama and his presidential aspirations.
The only thing that had anything to do with Unity during the meeting is the name of the town where they met.
Tags: Clinton, new hampshire, Obama, unity