It's unity time

I have two things to say about this story concerning some still-existing divisions within the Democratic Party after Hillary Clinton's exit from the Presidential race.

Obama clinched the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday, and Clinton is supposed to endorse him today in Washington, D.C.

But the wounds of their bruising battle were still obvious at the Texas convention, even though delegates spoke of the need to come together against presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain in the November election.

In the March Texas primaries, Clinton carried 60-69 percent of the Hispanic vote and more than 55 percent of the vote in rural white areas of the state. Obama carried urban black areas by more than 60 percent of the vote.

Many Clinton delegates Friday said they will not be satisfied unless Obama gives Clinton the vice presidential nomination or something of importance in his Cabinet.

"It would be totally awesome if Senator Obama would pick her as a vice president. We would really win hands down," said Rosalinda Pena Hinojosa of San Antonio.

Denise Barbour, an anglo Clinton delegate from Lubbock, said Obama doesn't have to name Clinton as his running mate to suit her, but she wants to make certain Clinton has an important role in an Obama administration.

"I want Hillary to be at the table. To not do so is to dismiss all of us. That's the feeling," Barbour said. "What's going to happen to us? Is our voice going to be carried on?"

Jack Whittington, 22, a delegate from Lubbock and recent graduate of Texas Tech University, said Obama will need to work harder to get rural people to vote for him in Texas and elsewhere in the country.

"Either he himself is going to have to change his strategy to reach out to those people or he's going to have to bring in a vice presidential nominee who can do that for him," Whittington said.

Whittington said he believes Obama also will have trouble getting some white voters to cast ballots for him.

"People are still stuck in a 1950s frame of mind. That's something he'll have trouble overcoming. I'm not sure he can overcome that," Whittington said.

Nolen Holcomb, 68, a Clinton supporter from Abilene, said he doesn't want to see Clinton as Obama's running mate.

"We think she may be more powerful as a person in the Senate or as a Cabinet member or even a Supreme Court judge," Holcomb said.

"That's why the Hillary folks are sticking together and not giving up on our support of her because we believe she has a major role to play in the new administration."

Clinton supporter Mike Martinez of Fort Worth said some Clinton supporters will be slow to embrace Obama.

"When you work so hard for a candidate, it's awfully difficult to let go right away," Martinez said. "A great majority of the Hispanic supporters will jump over and support Obama actively. I just don't know about some of her supporters because they are so passionate and so endearing of her. For some, it might take several months until some of these folks come around."

I'm already seeing plenty of signs of people moving past the primary and on to the general election. Most of the Clinton supporters I know were, very much to their credit, doing that as soon as the initial reports of her suspending the campaign were hitting the 'nets. While there will be some lingering emotions - perfectly understandable in such a close, hard-fought contest - I think the fact that Hillary Clinton herself will stop making a case for herself and will start making a case for Barack Obama will make a world of difference. People followed her lead when she was running to be the candidate, and they'll follow her lead now that she's supporting the candidate who's running. Some people will need more than that, and some people will never really be convinced, but I feel very optimistic about this. I think in a few weeks' time, we'll have forgotten most of what we were fighting about in the first place. There's nothing like a common goal to get people on the same page.

I also wonder if, when the Republicans get together for their convention, we'll see stories about how John McCain still has some work to do to convince members of his own party to unite behind him. McCain's been the nominee since March, yet he's had a hard time getting more than 75% of the vote running basically unopposed in his primaries. Ron Paul supporters aren't going anywhere, and the likes of Richard Viguerie are sounding an alarm about McCain's conservative credentials. Yet somehow it's the Democrats who are divided. Maybe that was true before this week, but it won't be so much longer. Will the story line change with that, or will it be more of the same through November?

Posted by Charles Kuffner on June 07, 2008 to The making of the President