Hillary Clinton: the Voices of Her Supporters Will Be Heard

I’ve been mentally composing my letter to the DNC this week as events continue to unfold in the 2008 presidential campaign. Essentially, I want to let the Committee know that the despicable sexist and misogynist behavior by party leaders and the media throughout this campaign will no longer cut it for Hillary Clinton’s supporters; we do have other options as independents, Green party members, etc.

In the meantime, the Caucus (NY Times) offers word from Sen. Dianne Feinstein about the secret meeting at her house between Obama and Clinton last night:

‘“I can speak, I think, for Senator Clinton. She wants to do everything she can to bring the party together,” Mrs. Feinstein said. “She wants to do everything she can to see the people who voted for her have their voices heard and that’s reflected in credentials, platform. And she wants to have a working relationship with Senator Obama, and I think it’s a very positive thing.”’

‘“Reporters in the Capitol pressed for every last detail. “They talked for about an hour,” she said. “Just them. No staff. There were no press, no staff. They had one person from each campaign that was in my study separately and I guess the security people outside. They got along very well.”’

Sen. Feinstein is no doubt right on target in describing what Hillary wants to do at this point, including making sure the voices of her supporters are heard. If Hillary accomplishes that particular goal, then Dems will certainly know better than to ever again treat a female presidential candidate as dismissively and arrogantly as they have at times treated Hillary Clinton in this campaign – I’m speaking specifically of those several occasions when Democratic leaders joined forces with media allies to pressure Clinton to drop out of the race months before the primaries were over.

Despite that shoddy treatment, Clinton went on to win the popular vote. To put it bluntly, she’s still got 18 million supporters covering her back.