(Cross-posted to The Agonist)
She was never vetted," a Democratic official reported. "She was not asked for a single piece of paper. She and Senator Obama have never had a single conversation about it. How would he know if she'd take it?".... "This would be the biggest leap of faith ever," the official said. "She's waiting for the text message like everyone else.".... She has not been asked to provide written documentation to the committee vetting the background of candidates for Mr. Obama. Although Mrs. Clinton probably needs less flyspecking than almost anyone else in the field -- considering how long she has been in public life and how intensively her past has been examined -- the silence from that corner is being taken by Mrs. Clinton's advisers as evidence of where she stands on Mr. Obama's vice presidential list.
Far be it from me to revel in the suffering of another...but in the case of Hillary Clinton, I think I'll make an exception. There are a lot of reasons why she hasn't been vetted by Barack Obama's operatives as a potential Vice President. Ultimately, though, the choice was Obama's- and Obama's alone- to make. As the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee, Sen. Obama could have chosen Larry the Cable Guy as his running mate. No one was owed ANYTHING- particularly Sen. Clinton, who seemed to think- and her followers are even more zealous in this regard- that she was owed a spot on the ticket.
Memo to HRC and supporters: get over yourselves already. You ran, you fought the good fight, and you didn't emerge victorious. Than happens in politics. OK, so your husband was President for eight years. That means squat this time around...and, if anything, Bill Clinton was and remains a major liability. There's no such thing as a line of succession in American Politics. You campaign, you state your case, and you hope that your message resonates with enough voters. In HRC's case, her shrill persona and self-absorbed message was redolent of nothing if not noblesse oblige. The shrill, mean-spirited, and completely self-absorbed campaign she ran at the end hardly presented itself as convincing evidence that HRC deserved to be #2 on the Democratic ticket.
To those of you who committed HRC supporters who may be thinking of trying to disrupt the proceedings in Denver this week, I would ask only one question. Are you really so willing to have a public hissy fit that you would engage in behavior that could potentiall result in John McCain winning in November? Would you really risk another four years of a Bush Presidency because your feelings are hurt? Are you really that immature and unwilling to pull together as Barack Obama tries to take this country back from the thugs and criminals who have had the run of Washington for the past eight years? OK, that's three questions, but you get the point....
I'll certainly grant all y'all your right to be disappointed. Your candidate lost; I get that. Unfortunately, in politics people lose far more often than they win. The key is what happens after you lose. Do you get over your own disappointment and pull together with the victor for the common good, or do you sit in the corner while you whine, cry, and stomp your feet while you're tantrum is roundly ignored? Those of us who support Barack Obama are gearing up to move forward and take this country back. You can either pitch in and work towards the common good...or you can piss and moan about the unfairness and injustice of it all as Republicans try to steal yet another Presidential election. It's that simple...and is that really what you want? Are you really willing to run the risk of handing the election to John McCain out of anger and spite? Surely, we're all bigger than that.
No one- including Hillary Clinton- is owed ANYTHING in our political system. You pays your money, and you takes your chances...and sometimes things don't work out in quite the way you might hope. That's just the nature of the beast. If you care anything about the future of this country, you don't then throw a hissy fit because things didn't work out the way you believe they should have. Get over yourself...and help us take this country back. The future of this great country is at stake, and you have the power to be remain part of the problem...or to just us and become part of the solution.
Your choice.
