Image from Illseed
There has been talk for many months about Hillary Clinton's die-hard supporters refusing to support or vote for Barack Obama. They've been said to be so dead set against him that they'll stay home on election day, or vote for John McCain. I viewed this as little more than sour grapes, and figured that after a little time to mourn, they'd pretty much all come around.
Then came last night, and Clinton's peculiar speech indicating that she was going to press on. That seems less likely now, but last night, she urged her supporters to visit
HillaryClinton.com to give her ideas of what to do next.
So, I went there. I had a little difficulty finding where the people were commenting, but it turned out that it was in the comments section of Clinton's blog. And what I found was stunning, somewhat mesmerizing, and completely bizarre. The overwhelming majority of commenters quite vehemently hate Barack Obama. They're fairly vague and nonspecific about why, but they mostly claimed that they wouldn't even vote for him if Clinton was on the ticket (go there, if you don't believe me).
Worse, most of them are enthusiastic about voting for
John McCain, who they see as second best to Hillary Clinton! The combination of Hillary Love and unabashed Barack Hatred was astonishing, and more than a little creepy. I understand that these folks are feeling a bit of the "
Kübler-Ross model" of the stages of grief. They're feeling a combination of stages 1, 2, 3 and 4: Denial, Anger, Bargaining and Depression. But they're so dedicated to their cause, I fear that they won't progress to step 5: Acceptance. But I'd like to help them get there.
I've peppered the labels section at the bottom of this post with some incendiary words to try to lure some of them here with a Google search, to ask them a few questions. The words are only for that purpose, not intended to express any personal insults. But if it worked, and you are a Clinton supporter that fits the description above, I'd personally love answers to these points.
- If you are a Clinton supporter, why would John McCain--whose positions are 180-degrees from Hillary's--be a better choice than Obama, whose policy positions are virtually identical to hers?
- What did Barack Obama ever personally do or say to Hillary Clinton that would brew such vitriol from you?
- Does it concern you that McCain would likely fill one or two Supreme Court Justice slots with conservatives, turning the whole court to the right, and probably overturning Roe V. Wade?
- Even if you're angry with the DNC about their alleged treatment of Clinton, why take it out on Obama, and by extension the whole country?
- What exactly did the DNC do to Clinton, specifically? And for that matter, does reporting the reality of the delegate math automatically put the news media "in the tank" for Obama?
- Does Hillary Clinton get a complete pass for everything she did in the campaign, from saying that Obama doesn't pass the Commander-in-Chief test, to heaping praise on McCain?
- Do you think there is any possible way Clinton could win the Presidency if she ran as an independent? Really? Are you unaware that she'd split the Democratic vote, and that McCain would win in a shoo-in?
Thank you for your time.
UPDATE: Having just spent a great deal of time at HillaryClinton.com, and reading many of the comments, I've come to a couple of conclusions. First, they apparently hate Barack Obama mostly just because he beat Clinton. Second, they are so enamored of Clinton, they believe she did everything right, and nothing wrong in her campaign. They believe that everyone was out to get her, and conspired against her: Barack Obama, the media, the Democratic National Committee, everyone.
They remind me of a woman (or man) who has found that their partner has cheated on them. The wronged partner automatically hates the "other woman" or in this case, "other man." Their grief is palpable, and their response is understandable, if completely irrational. I really do fear for their emotional well being. Hopefully, this condition is limited to the relatively small amount of posters in the "Hillary Family" at HillaryClinton.com.
Proving that there is literally nothing either the President or First Lady can do that won't inspire outrage, Right Wing World is in a tizzy over a photo of Michelle Obama holding a card that says #BringBackOurGirls. It's part of an awareness campaign over the Nigerian girls who were taken to be sold into slavery. It's a horrible issue, and it's a widespread awareness campaign. But for some reason, Michelle is just awful for having participated. I have no idea why.
