Clinton Delivers a Mixed Message Victory Speech

Last updated on July 1st, 2012 at 06:41 am

ImageHillary Clinton delivered a rather odd victory speech in Louisville, KY tonight after her primary win in the state. Part of her speech vowed to fight on, while the other part called for party unity. On one hand, Clinton used her Hillary math to give herself the popular vote lead and vow to fight on, but she also sent some signals that she knows it’s over.

First the fighting on part, “This is one of the closest races for a party’s nominations in modern history. We’re winning the popular vote, and I’m more determined than ever to see that every vote is cast and every ballot is counted.”

She once again made her appeal to the superdelegates, “And so our party will have a tough choice to make. Who’s ready to lead our party at the top of our ticket? Who is ready to defeat Senator McCain in the swing states and among swing voters? Keep working, keep fighting, keep standing up for what you believe is right because that is exactly what I’m going to do.”

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Clinton also explained why she won’t quit, “And, yes, we are in this race because we believe America is worth fighting for. This, this continues to be a tough fight, and I have fought it the only way I know how: with determination, by never giving up and never giving in. I have done it . I have done it not because I’ve wanted to demonstrate my toughness, but because I believe passionately that, for the sake of our country, the Democrats must take back the White House and end Republican rule.

However, she ended her speech with a unity message, “We will come together as a party, united by common values and common cause, united in service of the hopes and dreams that know no boundaries of race or creed, gender or geography. And when we do, there will be no stopping us. We won’t just unite our party. We will unite our country and make sure America’s best years are still ahead of us.”

This is shaping up to be a very odd night in what has been a historic Democratic primary. The early part of the evening has been dominated by a candidate who is in essence eliminated from the race, and the second half of the evening will be dominated by the frontrunner, but it seems to me that a strong frontrunner should not get routed anywhere on a May primary night.

Obama does have a serious problem, but it is one that he created himself by ignoring an entire segment of the Democratic base. If Obama wants to win in these areas, he has to stop ignoring these voters.

I think he is making his path to the White House tougher by ignoring certain groups of Democrats, and no these voters aren’t all racist and stupid. They are doing what all voters do when they are being forgotten by a candidate, they are voting for his opponent. Obama has made very few strategic mistakes during this campaign, but this is a big one.

Clinton’s victory speech:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080521/ap_on_el_pr/clinton_excerpts_1



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