More Growing Up Lessons

I don't usually do this, but you just must read this: a blog post from Chip Collis, posted at Off The Bus. So brilliant, I wish I had been articulate enough to have said it! As an Edwards supporter, I can totally agree. LOTS of people didn't get their candidate to the nomination. We all had to grieve, accept it, and get over it. Time for Clintonistas to do the same.

Welcome, New Readers

A few blogs have recently expressed interest in linking to me, which suprises me since the NH Primary is long gone. But hey, I'll take the link. Welcome! Thanks go to Seacoast Online's Michael McCord, Huffington Post's Off The Bus, and of course my friend Jess, The Seattleite.

So, for a quick intro to who I am, please visit my very first post. And please note, I make no claim to be a journalist. I don't do much fact checking, I just rant. I am prone to exaggeratation. I'm a regular citizen who is a bit of a political junkie who is addicted to the New Hampshire Primary.

Growing Up

I think I've finally figured out what is at the heart of my dislike of the Clinton campaign. Stay with me here...

I grew up in a family with four kids. I am the baby, thankyouverymuch. The first two kids were born in the late 50s, and one sister and I were born in the mid 60s (post-JFK assassination). Long before I ever heard the words baby boomer, I had a feeling that something about their upbringing and ours was dramatically different.

As a budding social scientist, in my head I labeled my cohort "chasers." It seemed like we were always chasing the boomers, and never catching up with them. They did everything first, and everything better. We couldn't do anything unique. It was always all about them.

As a huge market, they got all the attention. So many things were created just for and targeted to them. We just got the hand-me-downs. Pop culture was all about them. JFK was their man, their message for older has-beens to step aside and let the youth voice be heard. Media paid no attention to anyone else, and in some ways it still does. Oh, can I tell you how much I have hated Newsweek's Boomer Files series?? PuhLEEZE...as if they are the first people ever to get old.

And this brings me to the Clintons today. Bill was the first Boomer President--Fleetwood Mac as a theme song, and smoking pot (but not inhaling of course). Their time for legitimate power had arrived. Step aside, other generations, and we'll show you how it's done. Many Clinton supporters invoked memories of being inspired by JFK as youth, being called to service, asking not what your country can do for you.

But, time marches on. It's time to pass the baton, and the Clintons want nothing to do with it. In typical boomer style, they still think it's all about them. They ridicule the newly enfranchised youth supporters, inspired by Obama's message to becoming involved in politics or public service. Hillary's theme became "experience." Can you imagine what they would have said about such a theme back in the day? Experience, are you kidding? Don't trust anyone over 30.

If you dare to disagree with Team Clinton, you get smacked with the label of "sexist," regardless of the terrible errors her campaign made. NH State Rep Jim Splaine of Portsmouth is a longtime Clinton supporter, but also a very vocal critic of her campaign. He seems to be the only calm and rational supporter I've heard of willing to look critically at her as a candidate and not willing to whine, play victim, or worse, entitled.

And THAT is what bugs me the most: the sense of entitlement. "It's all about me and MY experience, I deserve this, I'm in to win." She's whining NOW about a sexist media, but where was the whining when she was up 30 points, got the vast majority of media coverage early on (especially around here), and got the greater percentage of questions at the debates? Remember the Talk Clock? The arrogance, the cackling laugh when she was asked difficulty questions, the stupid comments about RFK, Obama's drug use, hard-working white voters, and equating Florida's vote with Zimbabwe, or underestimating her opponent, or ignoring caucus states--these are some of the reasons she will not be the nominee. Sexism may have something to do with it, but Hillary has fought sexism her whole life. That's nothing new. She used to rise above it.

I think she needs to take some responsibility for herself and the people who work for her (including her husband). And she needs to start acting like a grown-up (rather than a spoiled child) and graciously allow us all to move on after the last primary.

They've already blown one Clinton Legacy, and they are about to blow the second one. Which is too bad. I used to like them.

The Money Game

So, I finally finished tracking down all my Primary Pals now working in DC, and now they might be unemployed again. Progressive Media USA is making headlines instead of trying to shape them, and that has a few people worried.

Of course, I wish we didn't need these 527s to do the dirty work either. And I think it's very noble of Obama to want to distance himself from them or to keep a tight grip on them, lest he be considered "impotent," as McCain has been called for not getting an inappropriate ad pulled. (note to media: enough of the testicular references already!) But after the whole Swiftboat thing in 2004, it seems prudent to have something ready & up your sleeve, just in case. You can bet McCain isn't telling anyone to stop donating anything! Oh, contraire! I just hope they lie low for a while, let this pass, and quietly continue to put together some great yet appropriate (policy-based, not personally-based) anti-McCain ads. And I continue to hope that donors quietly continue to support their awesome cause. And, just one request for PM USA: don't fire your best tracker!!

On a related note, Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, D-NH, has decided to accept funding from DCCC. (it's related because a few campaign retirees are now employed there, I believe.) I know how badly she wanted to stay independent, and pull off another victory in her homegrown, grass-rootsy way. But she needs the money (because she is representing constituents like me who have no money to spare), and we need her to stay in Congress. I hope Team Obama will eventually see that writing on the wall as well.

The End Is Just The Beginning

Well, he has finally spoken. John Edwards has endorsed. I'm not sure which news source to site, so I'll go with HuffPo. But I did first see it on cnn.com, then clicked all over to make sure I was reading it correctly. Yup: John Edwards Endorses Barack Obama.

And in Grand Rapids, Michigan, no less. The most Republican place I have ever been. Home of Gerald Ford & his presidential library, the Dutch Reform Church, Amway, and my grad school pal, Leyla. I hope she was there in the crowd.

So, what happens to JRE's 18 delegates? Will they follow him?? We fans of JRE are very loyal, but I don't see anyone picking a candidate because he says so. But I do bet most of them go O too. That will place Obama within reach of the necessary delegate count. Cool.

I'm so glad that Edwards picked now. Smart move...he gets to paint himself as the big party uniter. He brings some of that 7% from West Virginia, the "hard working white folks" that HRC so eloquently referred to.

Seeing Edwards on the news sites and TV made me realize how much I miss him. I really came to like him, his policies, his style. His fire. His accent and that smile. And of course I miss his staff & supporters. Thanks to everyone who sent me links and announcements, or wrote on my wall this morning.

It's a nice way to end the semester and the primary cycle for me. I'm seeing so many students who worked on campaigns graduate and move on. It's good end-of-academic-year-karma.

Cell Phones vs. Land Lines

Way back in the beginning of this current primary cycle, I whined a lot about polling. I can't find the posts now, but I know that I was ranting about land lines and cell phones and how lack of calling cells can tilt a poll. At the time I think I was suggesting a tilt to favoring "establishment" voters.


Well, now, here this! Research is catching up with me. But it's hard to say who is helped or hurt by excluding cell-only households.

By the time we start the 2012 Primary Cycle (2 years from now), I'm sure this will be an even greater issue, even in New Hampshire.

Final Exams

We're about to embark on finals week here at UNH. In some ways, I think Hillary is also facing her own Final Exam. And like the ones going on at schools & colleges around the world, one's performance all semester matters. You can pass the final and still fail the course.

So, this may come as a complete surprise to some, but it's not really rocket science. I've changed my mind: I think Hillary should stay in the race until the last primary. No, I haven't changed my mind about her and I still agree with my widget on the chances of her success. I'm thinking about the bigger picture. Like Senator Obama, I am moving on to the general election.

Like my man, I believe she should first do no harm. Having said that, I believe that her staying in the race just a few more weeks allows every state and territory to have what we in New Hampshire get every cycle: A real presidential primary that counts, gets media attention, and most importantly, fires up the state's party machine. I'm thinking GOTV. It seems like every state has reported record numbers of new voters, new Dem voters, as the primary passes through. How's THAT for a 50-state strategy? (well, 48-states since Florida & Michigan are still a bit up in the air.)


Obama will now go into the general with a decent (at the very least) ground game in every state, he will have up-to-date voter & activist lists. AND donor lists. Whether dems agree with the final outcome or not, at least every single state would have voted and had its say. No more whining about NH & Iowa getting all the say. I like that!

And, I do think my work-study student would be a bit ticked off if Puerto Rico didn't have it's chance to vote, even though she's now registered in Massachusetts. If I've learned one lesson this year it is this: it's not women in pant suits you need to fear... never piss off a Puerto Rican woman! ;-)

Good luck on finals to her, and to Hillary as well. Grades, I expect, will be posted on or before June 15, 2008.