alternative hippopotamus

progressive cyberdadaism from our nation’s capital

June 3, 2008

Head Scratcher

by AltHippo @ 2:34 pm. Filed under 2008 Elections

Like most bloggers, I’m trying to understand what HRC’s actions mean wrt not conceding while acknowledging that BO is about to clinch the nomination. It’s kind of like a modern version of Aesop’s the Tortoise and the Hare. In this case the hare appears to insist that the tortoise didn’t win the race, as the hare has not yet conceded that the tortoise has won the race.

As Talk Left puts it:

Until and unless Hillary Clinton publicly suspends or ends her campaign and concedes that Obama is the nominee, there is no nominee. There is only a statement that if current delegate positions at this moment were frozen in time until August he would be the nominee.

The way that I’m hearing this is that HRC’s supporters believe that she holds the power of concession over Obama. With which she will get some kind of agreement out of him. I don’t believe that, but maybe there’s a political truth in this that I’m missing.

I see TPM is also trying to understand where this is coming from. It sounds like Greg Sargent believes that HRC senses the historical nature of the moment:

Here’s my stab at trying to answer the question of why this controversial and in some ways enigmatic figure has refused to quit the race. One key reason she has stayed in, I believe, is that it strengthens the inspirational power of Hillary’s political narrative and persona, and, ultimately, strengthens her emotional grip on her supporters.

It’s no accident that Hillary has compared herself to Rocky on occasion. Just as Rocky emerged as an iconic figure for blue collar whites disoriented and displaced by the wrenching demographic changes of the late 1960s and early 1970s, Hillary has presented herself as a kind of feminist Rocky, a heroine who refuses to lay down on behalf of millions and millions of women who have felt defeated or voiceless, or who have felt as if they quit too early, or who have felt that the odds have always been stacked against them.

It may be that it’s impossible to really get what’s driving her. Unless, of course, you too have been married to the President, and have lead the most successful campaign for a woman to be US president.

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2 Responses to “Head Scratcher”

  1. lacochran Says:
    June 3rd, 2008 at 4:18 pm

    As soon as she admits defeat the media turns the cameras off and she has to slink away. As it stands, they continue to cover her as they would any disaster.

  2. Mike Licht Says:
    June 3rd, 2008 at 11:28 pm

    The statement is not enigmatic at all. It is exactly what Edwards did, and for a related reason — see http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2008/06/03/clinton-statement/

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