Senator Clinton's Letter to Her Supporters

[furrbear]

Going through the flotsam & jetsam that is one of my Earthlink accounts this morning, I found this letter from Senator Clinton. I guess they still have me on the list as an early contributor.

I wanted you to be one of the first to know: on Saturday, I will hold an event in Washington D.C. to thank everyone who has supported my campaign. Over the course of the last 16 months, I have been privileged and touched to witness the incredible dedication and sacrifice of so many people working for our campaign. Every minute you put into helping us win, every dollar you gave to keep up the fight meant more to me than I can ever possibly tell you.

On Saturday, I will extend my congratulations to Senator Obama and my support for his candidacy. This has been a long and hard-fought campaign, but as I have always said, my differences with Senator Obama are small compared to the differences we have with Senator McCain and the Republicans.

I have said throughout the campaign that I would strongly support Senator Obama if he were the Democratic Party's nominee, and I intend to deliver on that promise.

When I decided to run for president, I knew exactly why I was getting into this race: to work hard every day for the millions of Americans who need a voice in the White House.

I made you -- and everyone who supported me -- a promise: to stand up for our shared values and to never back down. I'm going to keep that promise today, tomorrow, and for the rest of my life.

I will be speaking on Saturday about how together we can rally the party behind Senator Obama. The stakes are too high and the task before us too important to do otherwise.

I know as I continue my lifelong work for a stronger America and a better world, I will turn to you for the support, the strength, and the commitment that you have shown me in the past 16 months. And I will always keep faith with the issues and causes that are important to you.

In the past few days, you have shown that support once again with hundreds of thousands of messages to the campaign, and again, I am touched by your thoughtfulness and kindness.

I can never possibly express my gratitude, so let me say simply, thank you.

Sincerely,

Hillary Rodham Clinton

Thanks, Hillary. Classy letter. At least it should put to rest all the speculation from the pundit and bloviator classes. It seems pretty unambigous about Senator Clinton's intentions; she will be focused on rallying her supporters behind the candidacy of Barack Obama.

So ends a truly historic Democratic primary campaign.

My lamp of Hope has a fresh fill of oil. To quote Marian Wright Edelman,

If you don't like the way the world is, you change it. You have an obligation to change it. You just do it one step at a time.

Screw the cynicism, that's the easy way out; that's doing nothing.

Comments

[qnetter]

Do you understand the difference between a PARTY primary and a general ELECTION? The only reason there are primaries at all is that the party chooses to use that method as part of its system. And that's true in every party: the nominees of the parties are chosen by the members of those parties according to the rules of those parties.

[cipherpunk.livejournal.com]

Yes, I do understand the difference. I’m only pointing out the contradictions of (a) a Democratic Party which is deliberately structured to allow nondemocratic results, (b) a candidate who claims to be the “winner of the popular vote” but only by discounting the results of every state caucus, which seems undemocratic, and (c) a Democratic Party which has repeatedly condemned the Republicans as the party of power and privilege, but have ensconced a party system rife with superdelegate privilege.

Clinton has made hay for years out of how many voters were disenfranchised in Florida during the 2000 election, so I find her attitude in discounting caucus participants to be nothing short of hypocrisy. My mother participated in a Democratic caucus. Every time Hillary says she won the popular vote, she’s saying my mother’s participation in a nominally democratic process can be dismissed out–of–hand.

[qnetter]

I live in a caucus state. It's an invitation for the cause-driven fanatics to stuff the room and game the system. The Washington caucuses were rife with young Obamaniacs who shouted down and shut out the long-time Democrats in the room. Couple that with the fact that they purport to be "popular" but (by imposing a two-hour participation window) make it impossible for many working people to be involved in the process, and there's no way they should be considered part of the popular vote. If states want to use it as a nominating method, fine (bad idea, I think, but their right) -- but you can't call it "popular vote."

[cipherpunk.livejournal.com]

All politics is an excuse to game the system.

I can’t speak about the Washington caucuses. The Iowa caucuses were, according to every participant I’ve spoken with, a raucous but quite civil affair for both parties.

[qnetter]

Any voting method that requires physical attendance during a short period of time is not popular vote.