Bill and Hillary's Florida Win*

POSTED BY Malcolm Ray, 30 January 2008

In Iowa, when the caucus was called for Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton made the choice to give a victory speak rather than a courteous yet rallying concession. In South Carolina, Bill and Hillary Clinton made the choice to not only belittle the accomplishments of Barack Obama but in so doing diminish the incredible achievements of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and President John F. Kennedy; and when that didn’t work and it seemed as if Barack Obama might win South Carolina Bill and Hillary Clinton made the decision to write off an Obama victory. When asked by a reporter in South Carolina why it took two Clintons to fight Obama Bill said “Jesse Jackson won South Carolina in ’88 and ’84”—essentially, “’the guy is black’. That evening when Hillary lost South Carolina in a deep and resounding defeat the Clinton campaign in an act of political theater made the decision to go back on a pledge not to campaign in Florida and hightailed off to the sunshine state for a symbolic victory. Now there is the appearance that Clinton has won in Florida.

The pledge not to campaign in the sunshine state was not some whim but a penalty to Florida’s Democratic Party for violating DNC rules in moving their primary election before February 5th. This is a decision that has been upheld in federal court. The Democratic primary last night in Florida was not one at all. On MSNBC, last night, Tom Brokaw compared it to the football game where the traveling team gets caught in a storm and 15 minutes after the game was supposed to start the home team declares victory. Last night was not a contest, not a win for Clinton, and not a loss for Obama.  Witness Bill and Hillary Clinton playing their steady hand at Politics as Usual to save face in a race she's already losing.