Attention Obama Supporters: Respect is the Word of the Day
By admin. Filed in 2008 election, Barack Obama, Democrats, politics |
According to Dictionary.com, “respect” has 16 definitions. Here are the ones I find relevant to the subject of Hillary Clinton’s withdrawal from the Presidential race:
3. esteem for or a sense of the worth or excellence of a person, a personal quality or ability, or something considered as a manifestation of a personal quality or ability: I have great respect for her judgment.
4. deference to a right, privilege, privileged position, or someone or something considered to have certain rights or privileges; proper acceptance or courtesy; acknowledgment: respect for a suspect’s right to counsel; to show respect for the flag; respect for the elderly.
5. the condition of being esteemed or honored: to be held in respect.
6. respects, a formal expression or gesture of greeting, esteem, or friendship: Give my respects to your parents.
7. favor or partiality.
8. Archaic. a consideration. –verb (used with object)
9. to hold in esteem or honor: I cannot respect a cheat.
10. to show regard or consideration for: to respect someone’s rights.
12. to relate or have reference to. —Idioms
13. in respect of, in reference to; in regard to; concerning.
14. in respect that, Archaic. because of; since.
15. pay one’s respects,
a. to visit in order to welcome, greet, etc.: We paid our respects to the new neighbors.
b. to express one’s sympathy, esp. to survivors following a death: We paid our respects to the family.
16. with respect to, referring to; concerning: with respect to your latest request.
Listen to what Senator Obama had to say about Hillary Clinton on Tuesday:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgO-k3sYsDY]
We’ve spent the last year and a half looking at her as the competition. Many have other reasons for disliking or not wanting Senator Clinton to become our first woman president. But, today, that is irrelevant to our goal of having Senator Obama as the 44th President.
Do we want Senator Clinton’s supporters to now support Senator Obama as the Democratic nominee? Well, I do. In order for that to happen, we need to redirect ourselves at this point in time.
We need to understand that the bitter voters that the media told us about don’t represent all of Senator Clinton’s supporters, and I’d venture to say they are a small minority. I’ve spoken to many of her supporters, and I have yet to meet one face to face that holds that sort of resentment. Many of them are grateful to have been part of her campaign, but are ready to move on with Senator Obama as the nominee. Some of them will join us in campaigning for Barack. Some of them will watch quietly from a distance, and cast their vote for him in November. Some of them will have discussion with us, trying to decide whether they can support Barack.
As we engage in discussion with the Hillary supporters, we need to respect what she accomplished, without bringing any of our negative feelings into it. We don’t need to debate the reasons we didn’t support her. We don’t need to question her supporter’s motives. We don’t need to be negative. Period. Dot. The end.
We need to do as Senator Obama did, and recognize the positive aspects of her presidential run. We need to be gracious about Senator Obama’s win, and the role that Hillary played. If anything, her constant testing of him helped set the tone of the General election - he’s been tried and tested, and come out on top. We wouldn’t be going into the General knowing he’ll succeed against the GOP attacks, if it weren’t for that.
When we do run across Hillary supporters that have not accepted Obama as their candidate, we don’t have to convince them of anything. We do have to respect their opinions, and avoid debates. We don’t need to give the media or the Republicans any fodder for their cannons. Only when those supporters of Hillary feel that we respect them and their goals will we stand any chance of uniting with them behind Senator Obama.
August gives everyone time to gain perspective, and watch as Hillary stands behind Barack’s candidacy. August is the next big date on our timeline leading to January 20, 2009. These are exciting times for us, but we have to focus on the November election, and realize that our hard work during the primary needs to continue into the General election. That is our focus, and we no longer need to work against Senator Clinton.
I think that these two statement summarize my thoughts well:
If we want Hillary’s supporters to respect us and our candidate, we must do so first.
If we want Barack to be our leader, we must follow his lead.
When we see the media publishing crap articles like the op-ed from Maureen Dowd in such an untimely manner, we need to realize that it’s an attempt to create drama that the media thrives on. Ignore it, or deny it, but don’t be sucked into it, and don’t let it affect your ability to have respect.