Standing up and standing by.
By V on May 5, 2008 at 8:52 AM in Barack Obama, Bill Richardson, Clinton, Current Affairs, Hillary Clinton, Jeremiah Wright
FLINEO’s latest creation reminds us of Michael Barone’s latest article, “Wright Controversy Affects the Polls.” It’s impossible to instantly, and credibly, repudiate someone you’ve associated with, named your book after one of his sermons, been married by, had your children baptized by, and had your $1.6 million mansion “blessed” by — and the American people know it.
Hillary’s campaign has been declared dead several time. But, as she often says, “I may get knocked down, but I get right back up.”
While being interviewed at the April 11th NYC Protest, Murray (who runs hillaryclintonforum) was asked why he was supporting Hillary Clinton. He answered, “I like her style. She’s for everyday people and she’s willing to fight. Since when did perseverance, determination, and persistence become bad? And that’s what she demonstrates. She’s willing to fight to the end and that’s a positive quaility.”
So many of America’s archetypal stories are, at their core, stories of perseverance in the face of adversity. Stories from our youth, in the movies, etc. (think Beorge Washington at Valley Forge, Old Yeller, True Grit, etc.) Sticking by your friends through thick and thin. Courage and grit. Loyalty and honor. Hillary’s campaign and her supporters have come to exemplify those traditional American values and qualities — qualities that most of us find inspiring.
So maybe it’s not surprising that, as Michael Barone recently wrote, “Recent polling shows Obama’s share of the two-candidate vote in North Carolina at 54 percent, down from 59 percent in April, and Clinton with 53 percent of the two-candidate vote in Indiana, where she trailed not long ago. A few pundits still are saying that Obama’s choice of pastor is a distraction, an irrelevancy. But some voters, perhaps in the belief that a president’s judgment and values have important consequences, don’t agree.” (My emphasis.)
Flineo’s most recent video makes a similar point very nicely.
Of course the circle of betrayal and cowardice surrounding Barack’s campaign is hardly inspiring. Consider a few of the examples Flineo used in his flick:
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After trading for years on his relationship with the Clintons, Bill Richardson can’t screw up the courage to tell his long-time friend and political benefactor, Bill Clinton, face-to-face that he will not stand with him and his wife. Instead this stand-up guy endorses BO citing how good a job he did with the Rev. Wright issue during his “race” speech in Philadelphia. In the process Richardson earned an apt new nickname, “Judas.”
Joe Andrews, another brave hero, can’t find the integrity to even call Hillary and tell her he’s going to switch his support to Barack and thereby stick a knife in her back. Why? Because he’s inspired by someone he met once, briefly, at an airport. (As one blogger notes, Andre is seriously wobbly.
Barack Obama himself stands by his Pastor, spiritual mentor, and friend of twenty years precisely for as long as it doesn’t cost him anything politically. But as soon as it does, Barack denounces him. (More throwing people under the bus by Barack here.)
After his lame performance facing his first tough questioning at the debate in Philadelpha, Barack cancelled a North Carolina debate he had previously agreed to. Hillary.
Is any of that inspiring anyone?
Thanks, Flineo - that’s a great video. I especially like the woman at the end, saying that Hillary will bring America back to being “polished like gold.”
She can, and she will!!
What’s amazing to me is that he is still competitive at all in NC & IN. Beyond the profound lack of judgment he has shown, his disturbing inability to handle the resulting turbulence and deal with confrontation should disqualify him for president. Why would anyone think he is prepared to handle the pressures, complexity and confrontation of the White House if he can’t even manage his first campaign difficulty? I don’t get it–especially IN. WHO are they looking at? They are in love with an illusion. When you hear him speak, he is halting, uninformed. But his weakness and fatigue speak volumes for the CIC role. I am baffled by what others see…or don’t see.
Yes I find this baffling too! Just WHAT is it that they all think is so ‘competent’!?? I think there is such a naive ignorance of just what consequences the judgements of a government are. It’s like ‘oh well’; the country will run by default anyway… It’s scary how freekin’ stupid people are. They just don’t get it until it literally kicks them in the arse!
Of his 2 BIG SPEECHES this primary season:
BIG SPEECH #1: I could no more disown Wright than I could my own white granny.
BIG SPEECH #2: I denounce Wright. He does not speak for me. And my favorite:
ARR! Yes we know you THINK you’re special, but actions speak louder than words.
“…..Thought like all potent weapons, is exceedingly dangerous if mishandled.
Clear thinking is therefore desirable not only in order to develope the full potentialities of the mind , but also to avoid disaster…….”
Giles St Aubyn. The Art of Argument
Intellegent people are supporters of Sen. Clinton…..It is logical….
Great Post and masterful video……..Made my day…..Thanks.
Check it out!
My 84 yr old MOM answered the phone this morning and about passed out when she heard none other than BILL CLINTON on the other end!
Good Morning, This is Bill Clinton and I’d like to ………………… and don’t forget to vote for Hillary!
(prerecorded of course)
My MOM adores Bill C so this was something she will be talking about for the rest of her life. That and the fact she got a chance to vote for the first Woman President of the US before she died! (another dream of hers)
What a wonderful thing the Clinton’s have afforded my Mother. I will always be grateful to them for caring about US the little people!
That is a hoot….My 18 yr. old daughter got a call from Hillary too when they were campaigning in Texas…..She was none the less thrilled…..
That was cute…..Your mom sounds great…..
I just talked to my 80 yr old friend — the one who back in the 40s toured the south with an all girls black band. (She had to become black for that gig. Her hair is naturally curly and black — so she wore very dark make-up and passed for black.)
She voted for Hillary in the primary (in MA) and she can’t wait to vote for Hillary in November! And her 90+ yr old boyfriend also voted Hillary. Her boyfriend remembers when women didn’t have the vote — and he remembers when women won the vote. He cannot understand some of the “modern” women who aren’t supporting Hillary. HE remembers what a battle women had to fight for the right to vote — it wasn’t just given to women.
Hillary’s battle is for ALL of us. She’s fighting a “ringer” someone who doesn’t have her qualifications and knowledge, but he has the $$$ backing him.
The people in MA aren’t fooled by Obama — they know exactly what he is.
Barky tells the folks in Indiana that when they lose their jobs they lose their dignity.
That should make them happy.
“…Hypocrisy is the homage that vice pays to virtue…..”
Francois, Duc de la Rochefoucauld
The Working Class have little tolerance for Elites like Obama….
I couldn’t agree more about the values argument. My family and I were discussing around the dinner table the other evening how much more traditionally American Hillary’s history is as opposed to Barack’s, which is supposed to be so inspiring.
Hillary was brought up in a family with tough love and was tought that with hard work and determination she could do anything. She has, from being the first student commencement speaker to being first lady, to being the only first lady ever elected to office, to being a millionaire, to being the fist woman to ever have a serious chance of being president, having proven that she has what it takes to be president despite all the sexism.
Barack consistantly looks back at his childhood and sees complaints about minor issues, despite the support he was always given in love and education. Something many children are not blessed with. This is proven in his somewhat accurate books, and his comment in that debate, as being why he was tested and ready to be president. He has had an amazing life, but throughout all of it, he has chosen to instead want more, without first working at the current task. This goes all the way from his lack of academic literature writing as a student and instructor all the way to showing a lack of interest in the campaign of late.
With the majority of reliable voters in the general election being older, and their somewhat accurate, somewhat oversimplified idea of young people feeling entitled, I suspect they will be more impressed by the war hero and longtime public servant, than theegotistical man with a feeling of entitlement and an anti-american mentor.
“….He is a self made man…..and worships his creator….”
Borrowed from John Bright……This aptly descibes my observation of Obama.
Debate: how have you been most tested in your life?
Obama: I was raised by a single mom.
Yes, she was single. She also had a Phd. You also got to travel with her to Indonesia, an amazing experience. You also had two grandparents nearby who cared for you and gave you the option of moving back to the states for high school.
AND OBAMA’S MOMMY WAS A CREATURE OF PRIVILAGE…..How else was she able to get FOOD STAMPS in INDONESIA….
I am GOddamned tired of Barack bitching about how hard it was on him to be raised by a single parent. I was raised by a single Mom. I do not think that was a test for me. That was a test of my mother’s strength. She worked her ass off raising 5 children alone. Her mother had died, our father ran and hid to avoid child support, so Mom was on her own.
Being raised by my Mom was not a struggle for me, it was a privelige and joy. She showed me every day of my life how much she loved and valued me. She inspired me to do my best and encouraged me to finish college. Yes, we were poor, but we never did without.
Obama was not raised by a single Mom. She was single for about two years. He should be thankful she had her parents to help out, instead of bitching about how hard it was for him. I am sick of him bitching about his mother. It is not her fault his father was an asshole. From what I’ve read, he was better off without than lowlife raising him.
But, regardless, it was not a test for Obama, it was a test for her. A good parent can raise children just fine alone. It just takes more work and sacrifice on that parent’s part.
If that’s the worst he’s been faced with, he’s pretty damned lucky. I’ve sure had worse trials in my life. My mom was the best part of my life as a child. Following her example has been a little harder.
Same thing I thought too, his MOM was tested, not Obama.
Damn, what kind of parent is he if he still can’t appreciate what the people who were supposed to love him sacrificed for him?
Some stupid staffer write the answer to that one, too?
How ignorant is that crew, anyway?
Most of us understand no parent is perfect when we become parents ourselves, and most of us can appreciate the good job our own parents did, despite everything we “suffered,” such as it is, we weren’t brought up in a New Delhi ghetto, for god’s sake, as the song says, “know they love you.”
Typical narcissist, what of a DUMP of head, the obamas have…
Obama is an ass.
I had two parents — but largely raised by my mother who was left alone for MONTHS at a time. That’s because my dad was career military and he had long deployments.
Many military brats are raised by single parents BECAUSE of this damned war Bush got us into.
Families adapt and it is no big deal to have only one parent — and has been pointed out, Obama’s mother quickly remarried.
Obama’s father was a drunk who abused his white wife. Obama was damned lucky his mother saw what she’d gotten herself into and stayed in Hawaii.
Obama is a self centered prick.
A misogynistic self centered prick.
Can he go away now — we know more about him then we care to know.
Michelle Obama said the other day that Barack is bored fighting Hillary and wants to move on to McCain, is this an indication of an Obama White House!
Tomorrow Obama will be bored about Iraq and want to move on, screw the troops, I am bored and want to move on!
Tomorrow Obama will be bored fighting Congress and do nothing but go on speaking engagements around the country!
Tomorrow Obama will be bored with the G7 and not deal with them anymore!
Strange how Obama never became bored with Rev Wright over 20 years, confronting Wright on his anti-American rhetoric, oh yeah he never confronted Wright till it was costing him votes!
Strange how Obama never became bored confronting Rezko over his stealing taxpayers money for years and bankrupting the slums Rezko was suppose to be renovating for the poor of Chicago, oh yeah he never confronted Rezko’s actions till it was costing him votes!
Strange how Obama never became bored confronting Lester and James Crown over taking jobs from Illinois people and sending them to Mexico throwing hundreds out of work, oh yeah he never confronted Lester and James Crown on it, only gladly accepted money from them for his campaigns and making James his co-chair on his campaign for finance!
Strange how Obama never became bored confronting Penny Pritzky over her failed Superior sub-Prime mortgage bank failure costing Illinoisians millions, oh yeah he never confronted Penny Pritzky on it, only gladly accepted money from her for his campaigns and making Penny Chair of his national campaign finance commitee!
Amazig how everyone suffers EXCEPT for Obama!
MO ought to be told how bored WE are of listening to her incessant complaining! Gosh! For ‘hope’ & ‘change’, these two are sure negative!!!
Did you hear her yesterday say that she and Barky don’t belong here. That a black person shouldn’t have been allowed to get this far but it was through hope and BLAB BLAB BLAH.
Well she’s right they don’t belong in this position. But not for the reason she feels… you know because they are black, but because he’s incompetent.
Great commentary, Mel. I hope you’re getting around the internets with that kind of input!
Well written rant — Letter to the Editor material!!
With all due respect, Hillary’s father was supposed to have been very, very difficult, very judgemental of her.
I respect her even more, knowing she transcended the bitterness, NOT an easy thing.
Just ask the Dick Morris pod people, (if you can pull the chrome out of their mouths, sorry, personal joke)…
And then she and Bill raise a beautiful, brilliant daughter, so she learned from her Dad’s mistakes…
Obama’s father made him a Harvard legacy, and Obama’s mother had a Phd. Now, I’m not saying he grew up on easy street but…
Hillary’s mother was sent away at age 8 from Chicago to LA to live with relatives because her mother could no longer afford to care for her. Dorothy Rodham had to work as a live-in maid at age 14 on because her guardians did not have enough money. Dorothy Rhodam was accepted at Dartmouth but never attended college due to lack of funds. Which is why Hillary is so conscious of giving children early childhood education and access to opportunities her mother never had. Hugh Rhodam attended a non-ivy league college.
Another great video by Flineo, and another great post by you, Susan.
Obama’s very existence as a national candidate for president is dependent on a network of Chicago corruption. If Obama makes it to the Whitehouse, expect Chicago style pay to play cesspool politics to follow. Think W’s Whitehouse is corrupt? An Obama Whitehouse could be much worse.
Flineo: damn that guy’s good!
:) 
He’s got Alice Palmer in there too!
In his own words:
Alice Palmer, a long-time and well respected activist and community organizer. She was Obama’s mentor when he first got into politics in Chicago. When she tried to get reelected as state senate, Obama block her name from the ballot on technicalities, as well as all the other candidates. He won the seat uncontested. That’s how Obama’s political career started. Alice Palmer is now standing by Hillary and campaigned for her in Indiana.
Barry sure makes a lot of friends…
Did you all see this article on “The Australian”?
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23643866-5013948,00.html
Oooooohhhhh……..JUICY……Thanks for the link…..
Thanks for the link, Flin. Here’s my fav quote from said article:
“Obama, far more than the others, is the ‘judge me by what I say and not what I do’ candidate. He wants to be the conscience of the country without necessarily having one himself.”
Bravo! Mr. Siegel hit the nail on the head.
He is such a fraud. I too, am having a hard time understanding how anyone can support him. His lack of knowledge, his thin resume, his associates, make him a poor choice for President. His campaign crafted a message that the public was thirsty for. After Bush, of course people wanted something different in Washington. But, how can people be so gullible to think that he can manage change, when he’s never shown that he is capable of doing so. I am amazed by Hillary. Her competence, her tenacity, her sheer knowledge of the issues, and her understanding of the voters. She is the only choice. I will not, and my family will not, ever vote Obama. I pray I will never have to consider it. I am calling the DNC again, and letting them know what I think-if that fraud is the democratice nominee, I am registering Independent.
Obama’s campaign makes the repub treatment of Max Cleland look honorable.
Mel, right on. I was definately not bored with YOUR comments.
And to the women… talking about Mother’s… thank you for sharing. Still more of Baracks arrogance. It’s ALWAYS only about him.
But back to Mother’s… Mother’s Day is coming and I just wanted to say it has been an absolute delight watching the photos that come out from supporters on the campaign trail showing Chelsea and Hillary together. There is such love and adoration from Chelsea to her Mom. The way she often looks at her just beaming. And Hillary looks at Chelsea with such pride and love. They are amazing to watch and so inspiring to Mothers and Daughters everywhere.
Hillary (and Bill) definately did something right.
And Happy Mother’s Day to all the hard working, sacrificing, loving mothers out there.
WOW, the article in THE AUSTRALIAN is absolutely astounding! EVERYONE needs to read it. I guess it takes looking at us from a distance to see clearly. See link in above post Flineo.
Look at this…