2008 Election

HRC Delegates Should Get to Vote For Her

By Maegan Carberry ⋅ August 8, 2008 ⋅   Email this post ⋅  Digg This ⋅  Share on Facebook ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment

There’s a great story on Politico explaining the debate about whether Hilary’s delegates should have the chance to vote for her in Denver. Even though I think they backed the wrong horse, I’d have to side with the PUMAs on this one. It really bothered me in 2001 when Bush entered office and the GOP proclaimed a Republican Mandate when the results of the election clearly indicated that the American people were divided in half. This (well, minus a few culturally-insensitive and illogical platform differences) is no different. The Democrats were not united in their choice of candidate, even though that’s not the case ideologically. The convention results and history books should reflect the reality, and HRC’s unprecedented accomplishment deserves to be acknowledged. If the situation were reversed, I’d be pissed and feeling extremely uncooperative. One could argue that Republicans will use this as a sign of weakness, but I don’t think any reasonable undecided voter with moderate tendencies is going to see this as anything but an act of respect. Those who’d feel otherwise will probably be watching “One Night in Paris” for marketing tips anyway.

I watched this interesting video (below) on the subject yesterday, and while I initially wished that these people would dedicate their energy to something more compelling, I later felt glad that they were determined to preserve the significance of her candidacy in the feminist movement’s ongoing efforts. That will matter some day. 

  **UPDATE My USC professor friend has convinced me that I need to reconsider my position on this, arguing fairly persuasively that HRC is really trying to co-opt the Oval Office. Since I wouldn’t put it past her, I am going to stew on it over the weekend.