This is partnered with this thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5014803&mesg_id=5014803Where I state that I think both candidates meet the basic qualifications to be President, and think that both candidates would be better presidents than John McCain. It also focused on my reasons for
supporting Obama.
But in this thread, I honestly discuss what I feel to be the total failure of the Clinton election campaign from day one. It touches on qualitative (not quantitative) reasons for
opposing Clinton that have to do with my opinion of her character and its effect on the quality of her leadership. And be warned, I have a negative view of the Clinton campaign and of the tactics I believe Clinton uses, so read at your own peril:
Hillary Clinton's campaign has failed from day one and run a miserably inept campaign. This post isn't designed to sugar-coat what I feel to be the truth, or even change any minds. It's just designed to tell it like it is, and that's the fact of it. That she and her subordinate followers now cry and whine pointing their fingers at everyone and everything else rather than take any personal responsibility for their defeat is really the saddest display of all.
Hillary Clinton has no one to blame but herself for becoming such a polarizing figure that you either staunchly defend or deeply dislike. Her strong-arming scorched earth philosophy to politics leaves a trail of angry, frustrated, disillusioned people who feel used and often betrayed wherever she goes. It leads to things like the head of the Children's Defense Fund and once fierce supporter of Clinton's describing her as betraying the program and selling them out to get what she wanted, like dispirited colleges and party leaders who are sick of the politics of destruction approach. You can't "skin sheep" as you attempt to get what you selfishly want for reasons of individual ego, and then expect the love and adoration of those skinned sheep later.
The problem isn't that Clinton has ambition in and of itself, and it certainly is the fact that she is a woman. The problem is the kind of ambition that she has and the kind of woman that she has show herself to be in this campaign. And that's what not being talked about enough.
The problem is that her ambition is for personal ego above and beyond all other interests and the problem is that she's a poor representative
of women and
for women because of that. Ambition for the good of the party, and the good of the country. Ambition to "lift all ships," if you will, and to work together for the betterment of society is an extraordinarily good thing, and this democratic finds that to be an awe-inspiring trait in women. Ambition that places ones ego and self-interest ahead of party or country, that wants to "win" for personal gain and subordinates other concerns to that quest for power, that is willing to hurt the party, hurt the country, hurt the hope of a more liberal tomorrow all in order to win, is an ugly sight to behold, and we behold it now in Hillary Clinton.
As if these failures of character aren't enough of a failing, the arrogance of her and her campaign have cost them the nomination that would have otherwise been assured - regardless of these negative criticisms. By assuming that the nomination was somehow her birthright for which she was waiting to be crowned, she failed to take the challenge of other nominees seriously. Her campaign recklessly and frivolously blew the money of others in a haphazard manner, nearly going broke as a campaign after super-Tuesday. Her campaign failed to reach out and connect with ordinary people early on, choosing instead to rely on a few large donors for major contributions and ignoring the "little people."
Then when she started getting beat, her campaign was in total shock and disarray. They had no plan - literally no plan for anyone challenging them in the polls. None. They failed to develop clear and consistent messaging, they went into major debt and developed a huge money gap between their campaign and the now frontrunner for the nomination. They had no idea how to compete because in their arrogance that had been so certain that the nomination was automatically Clinton's. The complete chaos within the campaign has led to one of the worst managed, worst executed political campaigns in modern history. The Clinton campaign went from across the board double digit leads in every contest to losing twelve contests in a row, losing the majority of states, losing pledged delegates, losing the popular vote, losing the money race and ultimately losing the nomination.
Interestingly, Clinton ran her campaign much like Bush ran his war in Iraq -- assuming it would be a cakewalk, declaring mission accomplished far to early, then having zero plan for winning the war "on the ground" and failing to anticipate resistance.
The response from camp Clinton to all of these internal failures has been to blame everyone and everything else. It's the media's fault for covering her miserable failure of a campaign instead of lying about its ineptitude. It's because America hates women - it couldn't possible be because she has been a bad representative for women in this campaign. No, couldn't possibly be her responsibility or her campaign's. It always has to be someone else's fault. Soon we'll hear that it was a conservative conspiracy, or that the party elders are to blame, or any other excuse that they think might stick. What we'll never hear from the Clinton Camp is the truth: they blew it, and its their fault, no one else's.
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