Why the mighty fell
I like this breakdown of how Clinton’s presumptuousness about superdelegate loyalty was her undoing. They didn’t mention her bigger-than-Texas-sized sense of entitlement outright, but you can read between the lines. Some highlights:
“Sure, Senator Clinton was the favorite early on, but that was simply because of the institutional support that she already had,” said Jason Rae of Wisconsin, a superdelegate who endorsed Mr. Obama in February. “In the beginning, people were unsure of Senator Obama. But as they continued to see primary after primary, and him excelling, and him attracting all these new voters, I think the superdelegates really started feeling more comfortable with him.”
Of all the assumptions the Clinton campaign made going into the race, its support among the party establishment seemed like a safe bet. Many of the superdelegates, who help pick the nominee at the convention in August, came of age during the Bill Clinton presidency. Many were personal Clinton loyalists, cultivated to help deliver the vote.
Don’t give in to peer pressure, kids!
The Clintons certainly tried, interviews with two dozen superdelegates found. Many said that the Clintons had intensely pressured them and that their endorsements became a test of personal loyalty, subject to a hard sell. At the same time, many said they were drawn to the Obama campaign’s excitement.
The moral of the story: A presidential campaign should inspire and persuade voters, not badger them.
And at least one rural voter wasn’t impressed by the tempest in a teapot that was the “bitter” comment.
The Obama campaign skillfully managed the flow. Richard Machacek, a farmer and superdelegate from Iowa, for instance, said he told the Obama campaign on a Monday, April 29, that he was endorsing Mr. Obama. The campaign waited until Tuesday afternoon, the same day that Mr. Obama held a news conference to angrily renounce Reverend Wright, to announce Mr. Machacek’s endorsement.
“I don’t know if that was on my mind,” Mr. Machacek said of the timing. “But he needed it more then than he did before.”
Even “Jeremiah Wright the Remix” backfired on Goliath.
Representative Ben Chandler of Kentucky, who came out for Mr. Obama on April 29, said he timed his endorsement to an “unusually critical” moment.
Mr. Chandler made a reference to the controversial Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. “Reverend Wright’s second incarnation,” Mr. Chandler said. “I did step forward then, because I thought it would be particularly important to him at that time. They seemed to be very happy about it.”
Bottom line, Billary? Sometimes less really is more.
It was the sense among many superdelegates that they should follow the voters’ lead rather than loyalty to the Clintons that prompted many to come out on Mr. Obama’s behalf.
Patsy Arceneaux, a National Committee member from Louisiana who had a friendship with the Clintons, was persuaded early this year to support Mrs. Clinton. But when Mr. Clinton made what she saw as racially inflammatory comments in South Carolina, Ms. Arceneaux said she developed serious misgivings about supporting Mrs. Clinton.
After switching to Mr. Obama two weeks ago, the Clinton campaign bombarded her with dozens of calls, she said. “You can’t imagine how stressful this has been,” Ms. Arceneaux said. “It had gotten to where my life had just been taken over by this.”
Debbie Marquez, a superdelegate from Colorado, said she had made up her mind to shift to Mr. Obama, largely because he opposed the Iraq war from the start. The ex-president called and talked for 45 minutes, she said.
“When people talk about the finger wagging and lecturing in his speeches, I kind of felt that was going on over the phone,” Ms. Marquez said.
In the end, she was not swayed.
I haven’t wanted to post about this this week because I’ve had such a nervous stomach the whole time. I just kept waiting for some crafty spoiler move from Clinton. But I think I can relax about that now…and move on to worrying about Obama’s safety instead. I really hate to think about it, but I do. Sigh.
But to end on a better note, here’s a quote from Mike Taibbi that had me chuckling. Hat tip to Field Negro, who in turn hat-tipped to RollingStone:
“So no more Hillary: no more Rocky references,no more Tom Petty, no more carefully orchestrated leaks of human imperfections mined deep in the anus of Barack Obama’s increasingly sullied biography. No more guilt -by- association raps, no more purges of insufficiently ruthless campaign staffers, no more woe-is-me whining about media conspiracies and the “race card” and Florida and Michigan and her empty war chest. No more whining about being outspent from a candidate who had eight years of White House chips to cash in. No more tearful “How can you do this to my mom?” phone calls from Chelsea Clinton, no more of a hectoring red- faced Bill Clinton lecturing us about whatever side of his ass we forgot to kiss that day…..”
