You wanted to see the first woman President. You wanted to turn back the clock and make this the late 1990s all over again, with the booming economy and dot.com explosion that promised technological riches.
You wanted the America before all of this. Remember when it was all so different?
Remember America before terror alerts? You can still see this era in the “not so old” movies of just ten years ago. New York’s once forbidding Twin Towers are still on display like museum artifacts on the silver screen.
Remember when you could be late to the airport and board your flight just seconds before the plane left? Remember when you could go to Canada without a passport? Remember when the biggest thing we had to worry about was whether Monica Lewinsky had a “presidential” stain on her dress?
We watched Bill Clinton don shades and play the saxophone on the Arsenio Hall show (Remember Arsenio Hall?). We laughed away the failed attempt at revising the healthcare system (After all, Bill did not fail. It was Hillary’s pet project). We ignored every Clinton scandal, every troubled, scorned Clinton love interest by affixing blame on the Republican smear machine. I voted for Bill Clinton twice. I would have done so a third time even if he had been caught in bed with Phyllis Schlafly! – (Based on his taste, I felt it was a remote possibility).
Things were so much simpler back then.
These are not the 1990s. The Bush years did happen. The world will never be as it was, when the end of the world hinged on whether or not Jennifer Flowers was telling the truth.
If you voted for Hillary Clinton (or the combo package, Billary) for any of the aforementioned reasons, you’re not alone: Even the hapless Bush administration, upon arriving in Washington in 2001, believed things were going to be as “fun” as they were during the Clinton years; just another fun ride like the decade before.
The ride is over. The past is gone. The days of hoping that your favorite politician wins are far gone, too. We can only afford the BEST person for the job in this economy. And, based on the opinion of most Americans, that person is Barack Obama.
It’s time for the Obama revolution to cease fire in the Democratic race, however. It’s time to welcome the Clinton supporters (who were well intentioned in trying to flip the calendar back to an easier, safer time) into the tent of massive “CHANGE.”
What the Clinton supporters want is exactly what Obama can provide: A better healthcare system, smart job growth that puts people back to work in fields that have a real future with longevity, a breaking of the glass ceiling that impedes the progress of women who are working harder for less pay (or penalized for simply having a baby), a Supreme Court that safeguards Roe v. Wade, a President that will stand up for the steel worker and unions while revising or eliminating NAFTA, etc, etc.
Barack Obama is a lot like me: A husband comfortable with an equally accomplished wife, as he married Michelle during the height of her career achievements. He has two daughters. He wants them to have the same potential future he has enjoyed - This works perfectly with Clinton supporters.
Obama is still the dad that, until recently, was paying off student loans and even bounced a check while traveling across the country with his kids. He’s closer to the economic pitfalls that befall most of us. His new found fortune is very recent (within the last two years from his book proceeds). Without his grandparents (both of his parents passed away very young), Barack Obama may have easily been one of those working class folks described in the media as supportive of Hillary Clinton. Lastly, he still knows how to pump his own gas at the service station and even make a pot of coffee (does not sound like much, but Hillary did not know how).
It’s time for Obama supporters to welcome those that feel disappointment in the Clinton ranks and remind them (as Hillary, to her credit, is currently doing) that their hopes and dreams continue on with Barack.
There was never any hate of Clinton in the Democratic Party.
Disappointment in the Clinton’s tactics of 2008? YES. Hatred? NO!
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