Hillary: vote for Obama cause he’s not McCain (who is actually Bush in disguise)
I don’t usually watch much of the convention action, since I’m not a big one for speeches and infomercials. But I decided to tune in for the Hillary moment tonight.
Here are my impressions, not all of them especially deep:
(1) Chesea looked beautiful and ultra-composed as she introduced her mother. It struck me that, whatever you think of the Clintons, they’re to be congratulated on the fact that their daughter has come through so much public turmoil while keeping her sanity and equanimity. Oh, and it also struck me that Chelsea is fortunate to have inherited her dad’s basic body type rather than her mother’s.
(2) Speaking of fashion, when Hillary came out I was stunned at the blaze orange color of her pantsuit. No one looks good in something like that, least of all Hillary. I have a theory that she’s given up on using fashion to merely look good, and has gone beyond that into a sort of symbolic approach to clothing, much like that of the British queen. Her unicolor pantsuits have become a trademark. What they are meant to signify I’m not sure, but my guess is it has something to do with power, strength, simplicity, and practicality.
(3) Her voice and manner were energetic and yet calm. She sounded as though she meant it when she said vote for Obama. But the reasons she gave to do so were a bit vague, on further reflection. Vote for him because he’s not a Republican—not John McCain, who is really just an extension of George Bush. Vote for him if you believe in the causes Hillary championed. Vote for him because Michelle would make a great First Lady. But Hillary didn’t list one characteristic of Obama himself that would be a reason to vote for him.
She seems quite the effective politician, despite her loss. I’ve never been a Hillary hater and still am not. I think she’s been remarkly graceful, as well as canny, under some very difficult circumstances. Obama may be gritting his teeth right now, but there’s nothing in her speech about which he could complain—publicly, that is.
Calling someone an “effective politician” is very faint praise, Neo. Politicians themselves have made politics and politicians very dirty words, synonyms for deceit, insincere posturing, robust lying, and personal corruption. We all know and tacitly accept that (“It’s just politics!”), yet pretend to ourselves that the ones on our side are somehow less besmirched.
That said, the need to vote for McCain is utterly inescapable.
Tom: That’s exactly what I meant when I called her an effective politician.
No one really admires politicians. Nevertheless, to be elected, one has to be an effective politician, and being squeaky clean usually doesn’t cut it. It’s Catch-22.
It should be entertaining, but if I do watch TV, it’s generally to catch a movie.
And even that doesn’t happen every week…
In the first place all knowledgeable democrats know, after all, that McCain isn’t Bush, he’s really the… Joker, but Obama is no Batman. Anyway Hillary is in it for the long haul, and 2012 with the right accomplice may well be hers, when McCain actually is a little too old, and only human and unable to cure the worlds problems in four years, and because there is after all, and to her credit, a line she has shown she won’t cross, even for politics… But, that said, it’s so cool that the Obamatons rained on the power couple’s parade this year, there must be a sense of humor in that great smoky room upstairs…
Hi –
The orange color of the jumpsuit?
Two reasons: first of all, it contrasted sharply with the blue background. Yellow would have been the perfect contrast, but that’d have missed reason two; orange jumpsuits are what prisoners wear.
Hence you have the hidden message: not only is she in sharp contrast with her environment, but she is also telling us she is a prisoner, effectively, of her situation.
She had to show up and do this: she didn’t want to. But to not have done so would have been the end to Democratic Party unity, which would’ve worked against her. Still, she sees herself as the victim, as the prisoner (No. 6?), and is in stark contrast to what the party wants…
Then again, that may be reading too much into the story… 🙂
If Biden is like McCain who in turn is like Bush… then…
But Hillary didn’t list one characteristic of Obama himself that would be a reason to vote for him.
I have yet to read or hear a single specific argument explaining why anyone should vote for Obama. By “for Obama” I don’t mean voting against Republicans or the Iraq War, or voting for pie-in-the-sky New Deal promises, or for the symbolism of a non-white president, etc. Why vote for this particular candidate, Barack Obama?
neo:
“…whatever you think of the Clintons, they’re to be congratulated on the fact that their daughter has come through so much public turmoil while keeping her sanity and equanimity.”
That might just mean that she no longer possesses a soul.
“it also struck me that Chelsea is fortunate to have inherited her dad’s basic body type rather than her mother’s.”
The pair? Yes, that is fortunate.
I was struck during the speech by how she went into a long explanation of why SHE ran for POTUS, then after giving the oblilgatory nod to Obama, spent the last third on HER contribution to women’s advancement tracing back the roots to 1858.
Not much of a ringing endorsement of BHO. Much more like carefully adhering to the “party unity” line while advancing her own agenda.
As far as being a effective politician, this was a masterful performance. I disagree with everything she stands for on the issues, but have to admire how she pulled that speech off.
The very definition of “damning with faint praise.”
oh she has her eye still on the big chair in the white house, all right……….
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