PUMAs, put away your claws
by Cameron Contois
Published: August 25, 2008
On August 16th, 2008 in Beijing, China, American swimmer Michael Phelps competed in the 100-meter butterfly at the Summer Olympics. At the 50-meter mark, Phelps pushed off the pool wall in seventh place. Phelps muscled his way into second, behind Serbian Milorad Cavic. At the 5-meter mark, it looked as if Phelps would not be able to overtake Cavic. However, Phelps gave it his all and somehow ended first. Cavic lost an Olympic gold medal by one hundredth of a second.
According to the Politico, Hillary Clinton’s staff has created a “whip team” to keep her supporters in line at the upcoming Democratic convention. A person involved states, “If people get down there on the floor and want to start blowing kazoos and making a scene, we want to make sure we’ve got people who stand in front of them with Obama signs.”
Come on, fellow Hillary supporters - is this what we’ve come to? Kazoos?
The person quoted above also asks, “Is it typical for a losing candidate to have their own whip team? No. But it’s also not usual for a losing candidate to get 18 million votes either.” Yes, 18 million of us voted for Senator Clinton, and had she clinched the nominee, I honestly believe she would have become the first female president of the United States. But like Cavic in the 100-meter butterfly, being so very close is not enough for gold.
“Party Unity My Ass,” a.k.a. PUMA Democrat, it’s time to accept whom you really are. You call yourself a PUMA Democrat - well, the key word in that is “Democrat.” What purpose would it serve for a Democrat to vote for McCain? The Democratic Party needs all of us, Clinton and Obama supporters, more than ever.
According to a Reutger/Zogby poll released on August 20th, McCain now holds a 5-point lead over Obama. Sure, it was fun to hate Obama when it seemed Democrats were guaranteed a November win. However, as election day draws closer and more and more conservatives inevitably accept McCain, the Democratic Party faces a sobering realization that Obama may very well lose this election.
Yes, we Clinton supporters are still furious about the blatant sexism in the media. But instead of taking out the anger on Barack Obama, why not join the group called New Agenda? Founded by Clinton supporter Amy Siskind, the nonpartisan group’s first business is to call for the removal of Chris Mathews. Siskind asserts, “the kind of language [Mathews] uses and the kind of behavior he exhibits in the public domain toward women objectifies them and leads to bad things for our society and to domestic violence.” Why not focus our anger on holding Chris Mathews accountable instead of sabotaging the Democratic Party?
Fellow Clinton supporters, it’s time to put down your kazoos and start working together. Does Hillary really need to create a “whip team” to keep her supporters in line?
After the 100-meter butterfly, the Serbians immediately filed a protest of the results. There was one person, however, who graciously accepted the defeat; Milorad Cavic stated he was “completely happy” with his finish.
Perhaps we could all learn a thing from Cavic.
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August 26th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Cameron,
It’s suprising to see you take up the cause of O. But you do have a point.
August 26th, 2008 at 11:47 pm
Hillary Clinton said it best:
“NO WAY, NO HOW, NO MCCAIN!”