WSJ, pg1: Obama Faces Resistance From Top Supporters of Clinton

[DeepModem Mom]

Obama Faces Resistance From Top Supporters of Clinton
By JOHN R. EMSHWILLER and CHRISTOPHER COOPER
July 7, 2008; Page A1

Sen. Barack Obama, the presumed Democratic presidential nominee, faces dissent from dozens of top fund-raisers and other supporters of former rival Sen. Hillary Clinton, who are angry over how she was treated during their bruising primary battle and are hesitating to back Sen. Obama.

Some leading Clinton supporters are starting new Web sites or political action committees aimed at prodding Sen. Obama on issues or pressuring him to give Sen. Clinton a big role in the general-election campaign. People familiar with the matter say the effort involves dozens of the roughly 300 Clinton "Hillraisers," individuals who raised at least $100,000 apiece for her campaign.

The Clinton holdouts are typically most angry about what they say was the media's sexist treatment of Sen. Clinton during the campaign. And though few, if any, blame Sen. Obama directly, they fault the Illinois senator and other party leaders for what they say was failing to do enough to stop it....

The impact of such efforts could extend beyond the hurt feelings that typically emanate from losing campaigns. Sen. Obama has built a formidable fund-raising machine that has scooped up money from donors large and small. But his general-election bid could suffer if he fails to mobilize a group that raised tens of millions of dollars for Sen. Clinton. Sen. Obama took a gamble on his ability to raise private funds by becoming the first presidential candidate to opt out of public financing, surrendering the chance to use $84 million in taxpayer money. And he is coming off one of the worst fund-raising months of his campaign....

Meanwhile, an analysis of campaign-finance records conducted for The Wall Street Journal by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics shows that in May, when Sen. Obama was widely believed to have clinched the Democratic nomination, only one Hillraiser had switched allegiance to the Obama campaign. And while 115 individuals who had donated at least $1,000 to Sen. Clinton made their first donations to Sen. Obama, another 115 former Clinton backers made their first big donations to Sen. McCain....

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121539354782631403.html

[NJmaverick]

1. Those people (the Hillary supporters that refuse to back Obama)

are complete and utter ASSHOLES. They are trying to destroy our nation with their pettiness and bitterness. They are worse than republicans, because they should know better.

[Captain Hilts]

2. They should be - VERY - angry at the sexist media. Not at Obama. nt

[DeepModem Mom]

3. That's what I don't understand. Withholding support from Obama does nothing...

to hold the media accountable.

[Captain Hilts]

Exactly.

Did the Obama campaign benefit from it? Hell yeah.

They should be angry at Howard Dean for not going after the sexist shit on MSNBC, not at Obama. Dean's "I don't watch cable news chat shows" claim just doesn't work.

[MannyGoldstein]

4. Maybe They're Waiting For Bill Clinton To Endorse Our Nominee

It's been more than a month since Obama became the undisputed nominee.

If Bill Clinton can't even endorse Obama, then why should the Clintonistas support him?

[TwilightGardener]

5. "Angry at how she was treated"? What, like the inevitable nominee, up until

she lost 12 in a row? What bullshit. Fuck them, Obama can raise money without them.

[Captain Hilts]

7. The press was consistently rough with her.

Sometimes rightfully so, other times not - but she got rough treatment.

More importantly - her candidacy was ridiculed and denigrated - by conservative radio, liberal radio, sportstalk, MSNBC.

The standards - and what was fair game - were very different for Clinton, otherwise Russertt would not have asked about the Lewinsky episode in the 'debate' he hosted.

[TwilightGardener]

10. Bullshit. Once Obama started winning, the media decided to even the

playing field with endless Rev. Wright, "bitter", and played all of Hillary's ads and attacks on Obama ad nauseam, with very little negative coverage for her. They tried to make a closer horse race, and they almost succeeded--the relentless bashing and the "kitchen sink" took its toll in the last two months of contests. Obama suddenly didn't become a worse candidate, Hillary didn't suddenly become a great candidate with a winning message--the goal of the media, Hillary, and the GOP since March was simply to tear Obama down and stop him. I will never forgive her for that.

[wtmusic]

8. Don't take the bait.

Another in a series of media ploys to divide the Democratic Party.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/07/04/clinton.poll/index.html?iref=newssearch

[TheDebbieDee]

11. Ding! Ding! DING!

I think you hit the nail on the head!

How many times will we, here at DU, fall for this $hit!

[ComtesseDeSpair]

6. This makes no sense

What did Obama ever do to Hillary except be respectful of her? They are misplacing their anger and they are fighting against everything that Hillary was supposed to have represented by refusing to embrace Obama. They need to realize that there is a much greater battle that needs to be won in November and join the party.

[antigop]

9. She lost. Get over it. n/t

[JaneQPublic]

12. Obama didn't do enough to stop it?

True feminists would address sexixm themselves and not expect a man to do it for them.