Obama/Clinton Tension

I hate to bring this up but someone else will start a thread eventually. It's early, but I don't think Hillary, Bill and many of their high-dollar supporters will ever live this down and move on. The wounds from their primary battle will be an ongoing story and will extend past the vote in November.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25411295/



Fineman: Big donors aren't in Unity
Insiders tell Fineman that there's tension between Clinton, Obama funders
ANALYSIS
By Howard Fineman
MSNBC
updated 3:17 p.m. CT, Fri., June. 27, 2008

UNITY, N.H. - I know this is supposed to be a marriage, but behind the scenes, it feels more like a divorce.

There's a lot of sadness and hurt between the Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton camps, with both sides fighting over money and loyalty.

Before the unity fest to began here in Unity, N.H., I was on the phone with some top Clinton supporters who attended a big gathering of major donors in Washington, D.C. last night.

It was hosted by Clinton's team, and to many in attendance, it didn't feel like a reunion. It felt like the arrival of a repo man.

"Hillary was sad, even pitiful I have to say," said one of her top donors.

"It was like, this guy is coming to take my family away."

But most of the right things were said.

Obama expressed a determination to help with Clinton's whopping campaign debt.

Clinton praised Obama in an earnest, if undramatic fashion. Most of the donors seemed minimally satisified.

But no one was thrilled, and the body language was odd.

Pregnant pause
Clinton campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe was responsible for the introductions, leading to one of the more awkward moments of the evening.

Welcoming Clinton to the stage, he said, "And now, the next...speaker!" It seemed as if the word "president" was on his tongue — and the pause was just long enough to raise some eyebrows.

For his part, McAuliffe assures me he was joking.

Clinton and Obama came out separately. They took only three questions. One was about whether Obama would consider Hillary for vice president.

She whispered in his ear, and he didn't answer the question — apparently at her suggestion.

"A lot of us were upset that she was making things easy for him," said one donor.

But it's not the only evidence of some underlying tension between the camps.

Obama has made two phone calls in recent days to a good source of mine who is also a top Clinton supporter and fundraiser.

Neither call went particularly well.

Obama's message was clear: He wanted this person to join his campaign and get her donors to "max out" to him.

You see, even though some funders have given all they can to the Clinton effort, they are still free to donate another $4,600 to Obama's presidential campaign.

Her answer was guarded and angry: I'll help you, she told him, but only if you help Hillary erase her campaign debt.

Clinton, she told him, will absorb the loss of the $12 million she loaned to her own campaign, but she will need help with the other $10 million in vendor debt.

'Cool with that'
My source found Obama to be haughty.

She asked the candidate whether he would reach out to former President Bill Clinton. Obama reacted positively — sort of.

"I'm cool with that," he reportedly told her.

She found that outrageous. "'Cool with that?' Are you kidding me?"

Some Clinton people think that Obama owes them at least an effort to erase her debt.

His people generally find it outrageous that she mismanaged her campaign and, in their view, stayed in the race too long. Now she expects Obama to set her financial house in order.

"Hillary said during the campaign that Obama didn’t have enough managerial experience to be commander-in-chief," one top Obama fundraiser told me.

"And then she spends herself into debt and we are supposed to help her?"

Pageant of togetherness
As for me, like I mentioned, I'm here in New Hampshire, a witness to the ironically named "Unity" event.

Here, Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton performed in a pageant of Democratic togetherness in the damp backyard of a local school.

In a town that some Granite Staters can’t find on a map, Obama and Clinton tried to convince the world — and, more importantly, each other — that their clans can play nice.

But despite the talk of unity in Unity (where Obama and Clinton each got 107 votes last in January’s primary), things have proven rough and emotional behind the scenes.

The phone calls and fundraisers really speak to the post-nomination tension.

Clinton threw around her weight early on, and the Obama people haven't forgotten.

A year ago, here in New Hampshire, experienced Democrats with access to money were told that, if they supported Obama, they would be shut out in Washington once Clinton became president.

"Now these same people who were threatening us want us to pay off Hillary’s debt!" said another Obama funder. "This is what my husband calls 'delusional chutzpah.'"

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/new...Obama-must-'kiss-my-ass'-for-his-support.html

Bill Clinton says Barack Obama must 'kiss my ass' for his support
By Tim Shipman in Washington and Philip Sherwell in New York
Last updated: 5:02 PM BST 28/06/2008

Bill Clinton is so bitter about Barack Obama's victory
over his wife Hillary that he has told friends the Democratic
nominee will have to beg for his wholehearted support.


Mr Obama is expected to speak to Mr Clinton for the first time since he won the nomination in the next few days, but campaign insiders say that the former president's future campaign role is a "sticking point" in peace talks with Mrs Clinton's aides.

The Telegraph has learned that the former president's rage is still so great that even loyal allies are shocked by his patronising attitude to Mr Obama, and believe that he risks damaging his own reputation by his intransigence.

A senior Democrat who worked for Mr Clinton has revealed that he recently told friends Mr Obama could "kiss my ass" in return for his support.

A second source said that the former president has kept his distance because he still does not believe Mr Obama can win the election.

Mr Clinton last week issued a tepid statement, through a spokesman, in which he said he "is obviously committed to doing whatever he can and is asked to do to ensure Senator Obama is the next president of the United States ".

Mr Obama was more effusive at his unity event with Mrs Clinton on Friday, speaking fondly of the absent former president, who attended Nelson Mandela's birthday celebrations in London instead. The candidate told the crowd: "I know how much we need both Bill and Hillary Clinton as a party. They have done so much great work. We need them badly."

But his aides said he has so far concentrated on cementing relations with Mrs Clinton first. They say they are content to let relations with Mr Clinton thaw gradually.

It has long been known that Mr Clinton is angry at the way his own reputation was tarnished during the primary battle when several of his comments were interpreted as racist.

But his lingering fury has shocked his friends. The Democrat told the Telegraph: "He's been angry for a while. But everyone thought he would get over it. He hasn't. I've spoken to a couple of people who he's been in contact with and he is mad as hell.

"He's saying he's not going to reach out, that Obama has to come to him. One person told me that Bill said Obama would have to quote kiss my ass close quote, if he wants his support.

"You can't talk like that about Obama - he's the nominee of your party, not some house boy you can order around.

"Hillary's just getting on with it and so should Bill."

Another Democrat said that despite polls showing Mr Obama with a healthy lead over Republican John McCain, Mr Clinton doesn't think he can win.

The party strategist, who was allied to one of the early rivals to Mr Obama and the former First Lady, said Mr Clinton was "very unhopeful" about the nominee's prospects in November.

"Bill Clinton knows the party will unite behind Obama, but he is telling people he doesn't believe Obama can win round voting groups, especially working-class whites, in the swing states," the strategist said.

"He just doesn't think Obama will be able to connect with the voters he needs."

Joe Klein, the author of Primary Colours, a fictionalised account of Mr Clinton's 1992 election, who has known the former president for 20 years, said he also heard that he was "very, very bitter", from people who have spoken with him.

"It's time for him to get over it or go off and do his charitable work. He knows the rules of the road. What's going on now is kind of strange. I think his behaviour is really, really shocking."

 

If I could do it all over, I would have changed the thread title to indicate the tension was between Obama's and Hillary's supporters, not each other. From everything I've read, it seems like she is doing all she can for him. But the nastiness until the bitter end contest may have poisoned some of her supporters beyond salvageability, include old Bill himself.

I honestly didn't mean this thread to be another shot at Hillary (which I'm never hesitant to take ) but a discussion about Dem party unity going forward. I think a thread on GOP unity towards McCain is also deserved but few people here want to discuss him or his campaign unless he or a staff member commits a gaffe.

 

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.co...ll-clinton-and-obama-to-talk-within-48-hours/

Bill Clinton and Barack Obama will talk soon,
according to Terry McAuliffe.


June 29, 2008
McAuliffe: Bill Clinton and Obama to talk within 48 hours
Posted: 04:36 PM ET

From CNN's Jake Lansburgh

(CNN) — Clinton campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe assured CNN’s Candy Crowley that former President Bill Clinton and presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama will be discussing Clinton’s role in the campaign within the next two days.

“I believe that in the next 24 to 48 hours they will talk and off we will go,” McAuliffe stated on Sunday’s Late Edition.

Clinton has remained behind the scenes so far during the general election. He was not present at the Democratic event in Unity, New Hampshire on Friday and has only released a one-sentence statement saying that he will do whatever he can to help the Illinois senator win the election.

Many analysts have said that Clinton’s not-so-subtle absence from the campaign is because he is angry and bitter about his wife losing the nomination.

McAuliffe defended the former president, saying that he has been taking time to let his wife finish up her campaign and secure her relationship with Obama.

“She was the candidate, she got 18 million votes, she’s the political leader of the Clinton family now,” McAuliffe said.

Obama asked to talk to President Clinton on Friday and Hillary Clinton told him, “Absolutely,” according to McAuliffe.

Now that President Clinton is back from a five-nation tour during which he attended Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday party, McAuliffe predicts that they will be speaking shortly—but stressed that the attention should be on Hillary Clinton and Obama coming together.