After Obama hit the magic number of delegates to mathematically become the Democratic presumptive nominee, Hillary Clinton gave a speech where she didn't concede as many expected her to, today Democratic leaders set a deadline on superdelegates to choose.
Much news came out yesterday, first that her aides told reporters she would concede the delegation count to Obama, then that she let it be known that she is open to being offered the vice presidency spot on the Democratic ticket, then denials from her camp that she would concede the battle and then people listened to her speech and it almost seemed as if she had won the contest to hear her speak.
I want to start tonight by congratulating Senator Obama and his supporters on the extraordinary race that they have run.
Senator Obama has inspired so many Americans to care about politics and empowered so many more to get involved. And our party and our democracy is stronger and more vibrant as a result. So we are grateful.
In her speech she made it clear that she thought she had won the popular vote and it was being ignored, which was guaranteed to keep her supporters angry and feeling she had been mistreated and that Barack Obama wasn't the "legitimate" winner, therefore even on the day he won the nomination technically, she was asking people to question whether he deserved it.
Her supporters yelled "Denver! Denver!" as she spoke, trying to get her to take the fight to the convention floor, but many understand that she is really positioning herself to force Barack Obama to offer her the vice presidency position on the Democratic ticket.
As news comes out that Hillary is trying to arrange a private meeting with Barack, other reports labeled "breaking" are saying that Democratic leaders, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Howard Dean are setting a deadline and telling the superdelegates they must choose and announce by Friday.
Democrats must now turn our full attention to the general election. To that end, we are urging all remaining uncommitted super delegates to make their decisions known by Friday of this week so that our party can stand united and begin our march toward reversing the eight years of failed Bush/McCain policies that have weakened our country.
Clinton has left herself a couple days wiggle room to try to get what she wants from Obama, but the Democratic leaders want the general election campaign against John McCain to begin without having to look over their shoulders to see what damage Clinton is going to do to their presumptive nominee.
As it is, the GOP and John McCain are already using Clinton's words, via video, to launch their campaign against Obama. The Republicans are focusing on Obama and the Democrats are still trying to force Hillary to officially stand down and get out of the way and to help unify their party.
The superdelegates will probably heed the suggestion from the Democratic party leaders, but as Pelosi, Reid and Dean all know well, committing is not equal to voting for Obama at the convention.
The superdelegates are allowed to change their votes at any time up until the convention, which may be why Clinton has not officially conceded the race as of yet.
Cross posted at Digital Journal.
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