31 May 2008

what i'm learning about rules from the delegate debate

next time i enter into a contest, well aware of the rules, and strategize according to those rules, but start losing to the candidate with the better strategy, i get to argue all the way to the highest possible power - mid game - that we should change the rules. i mean, so i can win. cuz ultimately, i am better than everyone else in the entire world who could play that game.

boy, what a grown-up i am.

28 May 2008

Dear Senator Clinton:

I should start off by telling you I am a woman and I support Senator Obama for President. Though I had initially assumed I would be supporting you for president, when Senator Obama announced his candidacy, my immediate support when to the candidate more aligned with my philosophy on life and politics. The reason I write now is to congratulate you for a well-run campaign, and express my admiration for your tenacity and strength in these very difficult times (though I have and do disagree with many of your tactics). You have shattered the glass ceiling for those of us who follow in your footsteps. You will go down in history as the woman who paved the way for the rest of us. But only if you step down now, with grace and dignity, admit to yourself where and how you went wrong, and show the rest of us, women and men alike, that women have the courage to admit when we’re wrong, and the strength to learn and grow from and for those mistakes.

Senator Clinton, you have lost. Your strategy was a losing strategy. You put all your thought and bank into Super Tuesday. You underestimated the power of an organized community fighting for change. I am sorry Senator Clinton, but this is our time. This is our time to move our great country forward with a new step and in a new direction. But for the Obama factor, you would have won. And you would have become a president who made some decent headway into the future. But Obama represents a march into the unknown and he inspires us to join him by believing in our ability to reach across party, ethnic, and racial lines to unite on that which brings us together, that we are all Americans first.

What he said at the Wesleyan commencement speech sums it up for us, “It’s because you have an obligation to yourself, because our individual salvation depends on our collective salvation… Because it’s only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential and discover the role you’ll play in writing the next great chapter in America’s story.” That’s what we’re doing. What we the people of the Obama campaign believe in and fight for is our voice in uniting our country, working together to bring about healthcare reform, repairs to our crumbling infrastructure, the re-invigoration of the American economy, and clean up our environment. It’s not that you don’t have the ideas, you just don’t carry with you the might of a united and progressive grassroots movement.

I know there has been a lot of bickering amongst the supporters of each candidate, as well as some nastiness emanating from the candidates themselves. And there have been some embarrassing moments for all. But you have lost. And the longer you continue your crusade of desperation, your actions and the irrationality of the masses fuels the divisive fires that you, Senator Clinton, will be putting out when you start campaigning for Senator Obama for President. So please, I beg of you, for me, for all women, for the Democratic Party, and for America, stop this now.

Please step down, give the women behind you the courage to continue what you have started, by believing that there is a place for our voices at the highest levels of government. But step down before you ruin our reputation by single-mindedly forging onward, in spite of the overwhelming facts declaring that you have lost. Be a better woman by admitting defeat and accepting responsibility for your own mistakes, and quit pointing fingers at everyone else. This was your race to lose and you lost. Concede with the dignity you earned (though ding away at with each day you further contest the inevitable result) and step away knowing that all women cheer you for paving the way for the rest of us.

Thank you, Senator Clinton. You are a pioneer in our fight for equality.

Sincerely yours,
notes from the music box steps


cross posted at daily kos, http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/5/28/194451/041?new=true