Hillary Clinton Waited For A Mistake

Written on Sunday, May 25th, 2008 at 6:23 pm | by Nick

The reason that Hillary Clinton has stayed in the race is that she figured that she still had a marginal chance of winning the primaries against Barack Obama. By staying in the race, there may still have been a slim chance that a big mistake would be made. What Hillary Clinton was waiting for, that mistake, has come from an unlikely source — herself.

And ironically, a statement as to why she is staying in the race, is exactly the statement why she may have to pull out real soon, if only to calm the fires of anger. In a recent statement explaining her side, as she met with The Sioux Falls Argus-Leader Newspaper based in South Dakota,

HRC: People have been trying to push me out of this ever since Iowa.

Q: Why?

HRC: I don’t know. I don’t know. I find it curious. Because it is unprecedented in history. I don’t understand it. Between my opponent and his camp and some in the media there has been this urgency to end this. And historically, that makes no sense. So I find it a bit of a mystery.

Q: So you don’t buy the party unity argument?

HRC: I don’t because again I’ve been around long enough.

My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right?

We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. I don’t understand it. There’s lots of speculation about why it is.

Q: What is your speculation?

I don’t know. I find it curious. And I don’t want to attribute motives or strategies to people because I don’t really know, but it’s a historical curiosity to me.

Hillary then responded to all the commotion and the fact that she made a tremendous mistake by making the following statement,

Earlier today I was discussing the Democratic primary history and in the course of that discussion mentioned the campaigns that both my husband and Senator Kennedy waged in California in June 1992 and 1968 and I was referencing those to make the point that we have had nomination primary contests that go into June. That’s a historic fact. The Kennedys have been much on my mind the last days because of Senator Kennedy and I regret that if my referencing that moment of trauma for our entire nation, and particularly for the Kennedy family was in any way offensive. I certainly had no intention of that, whatsoever. My view is that we have to look to the past and to our leaders who have inspired us and give us a lot to live up to, and I’m honored to hold Senator Kennedy’s seat in the United States Senate from the state of New York and have the highest regard for the entire Kennedy family.

And of course, many opponents of Hillary Clinton pounced on this mistake.

But, I think the most seething response must have come from Keith Olbermann himself. And even the editorial board of The New York Times did not excuse her non-apology.

With respect to the assassination of Bobby Kennedy and how it is connected to Barack Obama, let me offer you a personal view.

I know quite a number of African Americans, and early in the primary season, I had heard something that was not talked about in mainstream media, the rumor going around, especially in the black community, of the impending assassination of Barack Obama, whether in the race, or early on in his presidency. I had laughed it off, but it has creeped its way back into my own mindset especially because of this recent remark made by Hillary Clinton.

At first, I honestly didn’t think anything of it, but quite a few news sources had mentioned the fact that Barack Obama has had threats on his life, he has been given a security detail from the secret service, and that it is definitely a real concern. And now, apparently, and I had failed to connect the dots myself, but other news sources are doing it for us, that this slip of the tongue could have been referencing Barack Obama himself.

Now, I know Hillary Clinton is not a big favorite of many individuals, but quite honestly, even if it was a huge mistake on her part, a big slip as it is, to say that it is her way of wishing ill the fate of Barack Obama is quite a stretch. Yes, it was a tremendous lapse in judgment to invoke the assassination of Bobby Kennedy, but it would be even a bigger mistake to say that Hillary Clinton is wishing Barack Obama a tragic death. That is not her politics, and anyone even remotely going in that direction has some serious political issues to address.

That aside, I am fairly certain, that with this recent debacle, quite a number of the remaining 210 Superdelegates that have not endorsed a candidate will slowly start to swing towards Barack Obama. We cannot have anymore of these slip ups. Yes, two candidates, that have energized the party is good, but two candidates that have twice the chance of messing up is even a worse scenario at this point.

Indeed, it was a mistake that Hillary had waited for. In the end, that mistake was made by her, by invoking the assassination of Bobby Kennedy, one of the most tragic moment in American History, it has sent the Clinton campaign into a spiraling political end, at least for this time around.

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About The Author: Nick is a passionate Filipino, and a political junkie. His personal blog is at Tingog - The Voice of The Filipino. He is the founder and Editor not Chief of FilipinoVoices.com. He has been blogging since 2006.

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5 Responses to “Hillary Clinton Waited For A Mistake”

  1. cvj on May 26th, 2008 3:54 am

    The Onion, a satirical magazine which has nonetheless proved prescient, seems to share your concerns:

    http://www.theonion.com/content/amvo/dean_one_candidate_must_quit

  2. Abe N. Margallo on May 26th, 2008 1:27 pm

    She could be thinking that “stuff happens,” says Maureen Dowd, that’s why Hillary is soldiering on. Baka nga naman tamaan ng kidlat bago makarating sa finish line si Barack.

    Dowd explains:

    “Alma Powell’s worries about assassination helped influence Colin Powell not to run.

    “Michelle Obama expressed concern before her husband’s election to the Senate but said on ‘60 Minutes,’ ‘I don’t lose sleep over it, because the realities are that, you know, as a black man, you know, Barack can get shot going to the gas station.’

    “Mike Huckabee had to apologize after making a joke at the National Rifle Association convention about a noise, saying it was Obama tripping off a chair when “somebody aimed a gun at him and he dove for the floor.”

    “Obama now has the perfect excuse not to pick Hillary as his running mate. She has been too unseemly in her desire to be on the scene if he trips, or gets hit with a devastating story. She may want to take a cue from the Miss America contest: make a graceful, magnanimous exit and wait in the wings.

    “That’s where the runners-up can be found, prettily lurking, in case it turns out the girl with the crown has some naked pictures in her past.”

    It looks that Hillary, running second in the Democratic primaries, thinks she in effect holds the office of the vice president-to-be on whom will devolve the office of the president- to-be in the event of the latter’s removal, death, resignation or inability.

    Maybe Hillary should be asked to explain again what she means by “a vast right wing conspiracy.”

  3. Nick on May 26th, 2008 1:58 pm

    Personally, I don’t believe that Hillary Clinton wishes the worst for Obama. A mistake maybe, but an assassination, let’s not go overboard. Anyone who thinks that is making a grave political statement.

    I know she’s waiting for a gaffe, I would too. And as Ronald Reagan moved towards the convention, I think Hillary should to. In the next primary, it may actually help her out, that she stood tough, and stayed in it. I personally, at this point, wish that she bows out gracefully, but then again, I’m not her strategist.

    But considering what’s at stake, the continuation of a failed foreign policy, someone else has to step up, someone that deviates from The Bush policy in a drastic way.

  4. Nick on May 26th, 2008 1:59 pm

    @cvj, ah yes, the onion, we should have them on our list of links.. Will have that fixed asap..

  5. Benj on May 28th, 2008 3:43 am

    I still think that Hilary stands a better chance than Obama in beating McCain in the states that Democrats need to win back the White House.

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