Obama and Hillary's Debts, Take II. (Or, "No Frickin' Way!")

[dkf]

So much for that! An Obama insider says the idea of helping Hillary with her debt went down very, very badly among supporters, donors, fundraisers, etc. This person says the most generous offer he could foresee would be Obama headlining a fundraiser for Hillary, but cautions that this is just speculation and might even be a stretch.

Of course, this could just be posturing--people often take hardline positions to gain leverage prior to negotiating. But I didn't get that impression. My sense is that the Obama people really are dead set against this.

--Noam Scheiber



Posted: Sunday, May 11, 2008 1:57 PM with 40 comment(s)

http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_stump/archive/2008/05/11/obama-and-hillary-s-debts-take-ii-or-quot-no-frickin-way-quot.aspx

[quantass]

1. Good! Let her deal with her own mess...i feel sorry for her donors

[Lady-Damai]

7. Don't feel sorry for them! If they want HRC so badly then PAY HER DEBTS!

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

2. she's $20 million in debt, see Late Breaking News

and America Blog says that it costs about a million a day to run a campaign.

Every dollar of debt will be spent on trying to damage Obama.

She wants him to go into the GE with her mantra of "hard working white people" won't
vote for him.

Never mind that Bill didn't do much better with white people and depended heavily
on getting the bulk of the black vote.

[mikiturner]

3. He can't transfer money from his account to her

He can send an email to suppporters to donate to her, they can hold joint fundraisers or he can get his rich donors to bundle for her. But that is it. He CANNOT use his primary funds to retire her debt.

[dkf]

5. Looks like the outcry was enough that the email option is a no go.

And forget the rich donors...they can't stomach it either.

[MonkeyFunk]

4. And still

not one single piece of evidence that Clinton asked for this. Just another smear perpetrated by obama fans.

[woolldog]

6. Nobody said Clinton asked for this.

The ridiculous assertion that Obama supporters are saying Clinton asked for it is yours and yours alone.

Obama suggested doing it as a way to foster unity.

[MonkeyFunk]

8. So why do you keep harping on it?

I've seen people say that Clinton is "expecting" it or "demanding" it. I saw somebody else refer to her "extortion".

Of course you guys want people to think Cinton asked for this. If she didn't, it's such a ridiculously stupid non-story that you wouldn't be able to start thread after thread about it.

[Onlooker]

9. This is the so fucking immature. It's a sure way to lose to McCain.

This election is about winning the White House, and to do so peace must be made with some enemies. Jimmy Carter lost to Ronald Reagan because the left rejected his overtures to the more conservative wing of the Democratic party. Too many Obama supporters are trying to force the hand of his campaign. His campaign won him the nomination. Whoever is behind it should be trusted to do what's in the best interest of getting Obama elected. Obama has got to unite the party, even if it means writing off his more ideological followers. He will not win the White House without uniting the majority of the Democratic Party.