Five Reasons Obama Won and Five Why Clinton Lost | Newsweek Voices - Jonathan Alter

Let the Second-Guessing Begin!

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Entitlement While Hillary turned out to be a much stronger candidate as time went on, one thing never changed: the sense that the Clintons felt they were owed the nomination. By repeatedly moving the goal posts on party rules, sideswiping Obama at every turn, whining about rampant sexism on the basis of two or three anecdotes, and claiming that the Florida primary resembled the 2000 fiasco and a rigged Zimbabwe election, Clinton continued to reinforce the impression that she considered the title hers no matter what. Her reported plan to concede this Saturday will have to be carried off with extreme graciousness—and no apparent demands being made in return—if she wants to lessen the sour impression she has left in many voters' minds.

Both Clintons were so far inside their own narcissistic bubble that longtime friends didn't dare tell her to quit in recent weeks because they knew she would never speak to them again. Hillary was surprised on the day after the last primary that even her most ardent supporters weren't standing by her anymore. This was a mark of the sense of entitlement that corroded her support among Democrats and helped seal her fate.

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Just saw this and would like to share it:

"Posted By: olderwiser @ 06/07/2008 10:24:27 AMI wish to point out something. I have studiously avoided the subject of race in weeks of blogging, a new sport that I enjoy very much. But I would like to say something about old white men and racial prejudice. I am an old white man who grew up in the south and attended segregated schools. I rode on city buses which had signs dividing the front of the bus from the back, and designated them white and colored. Public restrooms and water fountains were designated white and negro. I lived a childhood devoid of association with black people. When you are born and raised in this, it seems normal.
Then, in elementary school, I began to see posters with Eleanor Roosevelt's picture and words, which I cannot remember totally, which encouraged the elimination of racial prejudice, especially against black people who were in those days called negroes. This caused me to pay attention and try to see what was afoot. There wasn't much help from the adults who were content with the status quo, but we kids would occasionally discuss it and start to question why things should remain so.

"Then, I was drafted into the Army in the early fifties not long after Harry Truman had integrated the military. My association with black people began. It was an awakening and and a welcome expansion of a narrow life. From those days to now, I have never ceased to seek and find all remnants of that old prejudice and eliminate each one as found. The older people who were not successful in eliminating their prejudices died one by one and were buried with those problems.

"I have numerous friends and associates my age with similar backgrounds and I can confidently say that whoever thinks that all old white men are prejudiced against black people is sadly mistaken. Some of these are former republican conservatives and some were just plain conservative without political connotation. We are about 80% fans of Barack Obama and we regularly send him donations over the internet. Those who disagree with us do not do so on racial grounds.

"So, that's it. I won't say any more about race, but I thought that someone should say this to indicate that things are not so black and white as is populat to believe. "

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Posted By: jackdarkhand @ 12/27/2008 12:36:04 PM

Maybe this article has missed the biggest reason why Clinton lost: Feminism.

This might come as a shock to the Democratic Party elite, but the proportion of women ages 25 - 45 who identify as feminists is now around 6% - down 70+% during the 1970s. Among men, the percentage is even lower.

Obama downplayed the importance of feminism, along with some other liberal causes most Americans oppose. This may have been honest or it may have been smart - hard to say. But Clinton did the opposite. And that's why she lost.
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Posted By: 40YearR @ 12/26/2008 10:53:21 PM

Just saw this and would like to share it:

"Posted By: olderwiser @ 06/07/2008 10:24:27 AMI wish to point out something. I have studiously avoided the subject of race in weeks of blogging, a new sport that I enjoy very much. But I would like to say something about old white men and racial prejudice. I am an old white man who grew up in the south and attended segregated schools. I rode on city buses which had signs dividing the front of the bus from the back, and designated them white and colored. Public restrooms and water fountains were designated white and negro. I lived a childhood devoid of association with black people. When you are born and raised in this, it seems normal.
Then, in elementary school, I began to see posters with Eleanor Roosevelt's picture and words, which I cannot remember totally, which encouraged the elimination of racial prejudice, especially against black people who were in those days called negroes. This caused me to pay attention and try to see what was afoot. There wasn't much help from the adults who were content with the status quo, but we kids would occasionally discuss it and start to question why things should remain so.

"Then, I was drafted into the Army in the early fifties not long after Harry Truman had integrated the military. My association with black people began. It was an awakening and and a welcome expansion of a narrow life. From those days to now, I have never ceased to seek and find all remnants of that old prejudice and eliminate each one as found. The older people who were not successful in eliminating their prejudices died one by one and were buried with those problems.

"I have numerous friends and associates my age with similar backgrounds and I can confidently say that whoever thinks that all old white men are prejudiced against black people is sadly mistaken. Some of these are former republican conservatives and some were just plain conservative without political connotation. We are about 80% fans of Barack Obama and we regularly send him donations over the internet. Those who disagree with us do not do so on racial grounds.

"So, that's it. I won't say any more about race, but I thought that someone should say this to indicate that things are not so black and white as is populat to believe. "
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Posted By: 40YearR @ 12/26/2008 10:23:35 PM

I'm hoping he will get patriotic N all N tell Obama his 'secret plan' for getting OBL....