Party leaders say it's time to close ranks

The Democratic voters are 50/50. There can only be one way to unite and that is for the President and Vice President to be Obama and Hillary. Otherwise, Obama is only 25% the total U.S. Voters.

This primary was an epic battle between the Washington establishment and the fresh ideas and passion of a relative newcomer. The candidate of fresh ideas and passion came out on top, and even though it was very close, it would be a mistake to link up now with the establishment candidate. Obama should continue to look forward, not backward, and select someone other than Clinton. Her negatives and baggage outweigh what she would bring to the ticket.

Hurrah
It looks like USA has at last got a "vice" candidate for President, though he in many issues he seems to buy himself support by deniing himself to speak out.
We outsiders have been wondering how it can happen that men like
Bush and his Dicks can be elected to lead this once great nation.
We might have a hope for the future. Among things we cant understand is your unconditional support for the criminals in Israel. You newer talk about the the threth of them having nucflear weppons. You do not seem to learn anything from experiance. Which nation is the only one that has used nuclear weapons on humans? Which is the real reason for what Bush calls terrorists? I say your politc.

So you're saying Hillary's supporters would rather vote for McCain than Obama?

As a registered democrat, let me state that an Obama/Clinton ticket will not unite the party but will drive voters like myself away from the party. These two candidates campaigned on two diametrically opposed platforms and I cannot support Clinton. The union that you envision happening if they are on the same ticket wil not come to fruition. Just my two cents.

yes it would be good if we had obama and clinton. if obama doesn't select clinton, than i have to vote for mccain ok

Typical Clinton behavior. Only with a figurative gun to her head will HC acknowledge that she lost. She did NOT win the popular vote unless you count the two renegade states including Mich. where she 'conveniently' forgot to remove her name from the ballot as did every other candidate at the time, and she continues to ignore his massive victories in in the caucus states INCLUDING Texas where his overall pledged delegate count was higher based on their wacky hybrid process. The best place for her would be as VP where she can do little harm attending 3rd world despot funerals. Otherwise why would Obama or anyone else want such a running mate. Her performance last night was despicable and only served to remind us all of why her trust ratings continue to be so low across the country. Any doubt why the party leaders see it that way too?

what a foolish comment Karen. Obama claims to bring a fresh look and approach to Washington. Clinton is far from fresh and far from honest. He does not need her . . . and deep down Obama knows that Clinton would never stop hounding him /trying to do his job. Either way, he will lose in November.

I'm annoyed by this, but I'm biased (I want Hillary to win). I am slightly insulted that even though I voted for her, and the majority of voters did too, these delegates are the people who ultimately decide who the candidate is. Why not just skip the public voting and go right to the delegates?
Blah blah blah.

PLEASE Obama do not include Hillary on the VP ticket. For her not to concede is ridiculous. You are now looking more and more Presidential with your own views. She has only weakened the party and it`s time for unclaimed delegates to back Obama. He has a great shot in November. Choose your own VP Obama. Hillary needs to just concede....Yesterday....

DNC STOLE VOTES FOR OBAMA!!!!
VOTE OUT!!! THE USELESS Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Joe Manchin and LAME DUCK Howard Dean
SUPPORTERS URGE SENATOR CLINTON TO RUN AS INDEPENDENT
MILLIONS AND MILLIONS OF CLINTON DEMOCRATS WILL NOT VOTE FOR OBAMA! HE WILL SURLY LOOSE IN GENERAL ELECTION, THANK THE BIASED CHEATING DNC WHO STOLE VOTES TO SUPPORT OBAMA!!!!

THEY PURPOSELY TOOK DELEGATES FAIRLY WON BY SENATOR CLINTON AND GAVE THEM TO OBAMA!!!!

WE ARE CHANGING OUR PARTY AFFILIATION

VOTE THEM OUT NEXT ELECTION!!!!

DNC Committee awarded to Senator Obama not only the delegates won by Uncommitted, but also delegates won by Senator Clinton. This decision violates the bedrock principles of our democracy and our Party.

SUPPORTERS URGE SENATOR CLINTON TO RUN AS INDEPENDENT

Obamas have Set Race Relations Back Decades
In general is Obama has used Poor Judgment REPEATEDLY! Obama proved Rev Wright was correct!!! Politically correct, that is. The fact that it is "painful" and took 20 years suggests he agrees with these racists "under the covers". He resigned not necessarily because he wants to but because it is the only course open to him. Imagine if the roles were reversed and John McCain had attended a white separatist church for twenty years. Would his resignation after two decades cure the concern that he had lived some sort of weird double life, cavorting with racists but talking about equal opportunity in his public life? He’d have been forced out of the presidential race by now. So the question remains: was Obama the least observant church congegrant on the planet (racism and anti-Semitism at Trinity? No!) Or a hypocrite.
WE DO NOT ACCEPT OBAMAS POLITICAL DAMAGE APOLOGY!!!

SHOCKING Obama words: what he really thinks of white folks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI77cU3jsFs

http://www.dontvoteobama.net

what a foolish comment Karen. Obama claims to bring a fresh look and approach to Washington.

Get real! Everyone knows that there will be no fresh look and approach in Washington. It will be business as usual no matter who is in office.

There are options for Obama and the Democrats and there is no hurry to make the VP decision. To start by listening to the governors and advisers Obama will carefully make the correct decision. Conflicts are avoided with careful planning. The primary should be considered over.

If Obama selects Hillary as his running mate, he better sleep with one eye open should they win the general election.

I started out liking both Hillary & Obama but gradually moving towards Obama. Someone that will do "anything" to win is not the quality that I am looking for as US president. I felt that Hillary is holding her army of voters as hostage so she can negotiate the VP position - this tactic I don't like. So why must she serves her country by being the VP? Yes, I think the dream ticket would be a disaster. When McCain praised Hillary last night, did u hear anybody applause? Obma & Hillary has such different style and personality, I don't see how it would work out if they both get to the white house.

It's becoming clear that many of the most vocal Hillary supports are Republicans in disguise, hoping Hillary got the nomination because they saw her as more beatable than Obama.

Anyone who really supports Hillary will have an easy time voting for Obama over McCain -- it would be petty and small-minded to vote for McCain, who is against everything the Democrats wanted, just because your candidate in the primary didn't win.

If Hillary, aka the most qualified candidate, is not on the ticket, I will not vote for Obama and will cast my vote for Hillary in protest.

George Bush and Condi Rice has congratulated Obama on his win and Senator Clinton has not. What does this say about Senator Clinton?

To add Senator Clinton to the ticket would be a total disaster. She would undermine everything that Obama does and he could NOT, in any way, trust her. She is conniving and deceitful. She comes with way too much baggage (Bill).

Senator Obama: As one of your staunch supporters from the beginning, I beg you not to forget how we feel. We did not work hard for you to include or be strong armed into having Hillary on the ticket. We worked hard for you, not her.

Pamela, your words scare me. Obama and Hillary's views are so much closer aligned than McCain. Why would you vote for McCain if Hillary isn't the VIce?
Unless of course you are one of those fools who only voted for Hillary because she is a woman... one's gender does not necessarily make someone a better candidate.
Same goes for black people that only vote for Obama because of his racial makeup.
Vote for the person who you think would best serve our nation!

-white, college educated, guy for Obama

Too bad that the Clintons cannot put their absurd egos aside for once.

The notion that last night was somehow "about her" when it should have been about Obama and coming together, merely serves to indicate once again what a petty, mean-spirited woman she really is. It's never been about the country or the Democratic party, but rather all about her -- and also a reflection on Bill Clinton's legacy.

I'm sure it's been a very trying campaign for both Bill & Hillary. They were all set to plan her coronation this past winter & early spring....then an upstart from Illinois came along (much as a certain governor did from Arkansas several years back) -- and beat the Clintons at their game. Better organization, better fund-raising and in the end, a message that resonated more deeply across the US.

If her campaign had an iota of decency or class, they would have reached out to Obama last night.

It would have been the "right" thing to do, as opposed to the petty way they are behaving even today.

Hilary, I think, is somewhat poisonous to Obama's message of change. Clinton supporters are smart enough to cast their vote for Obama, not McCain, in November.

I myself am a conservative voting (for the first time) for a democratic presidential nominee (come november). There are many others like me. My entire voting life has been centered around two houses: the bushes and the clintons. I would like to see America taken in a new direction.

Obama does not need Hillary as VP. Not only will he have her trying to tell him what to do but she brings the additional baggage of Bill Clinton. They are not what the new generation of voters want in terms of change. I would like to see him chose John Edwards.

Obama would be foolish to select Hillary for his ticket. She would be a massive liability to his general election campaign and not to mention would try to overtake the office when he is innagurated in January 2009. She is a disgrace to the party with her refusal to concede. She is nothing but a winy, self centered, arrogant and manipulative witch who needs to concede and face reality that Obama has secured the nomination.

I supported Clinton and I will vote for McCain over Obama. Obama is a pandering a-hole with absolutely nothing of substance to recommend, yet his idiotic supporters keep sipping his Kool Aid. This country will be in DEEP DOO DOO if he gets elected.

Sen. McCain was formerly a Democrat; Sen. Clinton was raised as a Republican. Both fairly moderate, she actually is more conservative than he. He should reach across so called party lines right now and make it official - McCain/Clinton is the ticket.

Obama, a bright and promising star, needs to learn to temper his radicalism, drop some of his militant radical associations, and become a little bit more mainstream. We don't need a leftist radical right now as head of state.

McCain/Clinon - you know it woud be the winning ticket, don't you.

Barack's supporters will just have to be adult about it and make room for Hillary and her supporters on the ticket if they would like to have Mr. Obama move in to the White House come January. This is no time to alienate half of the Democratic base, and there is no other way to pull in the Hispanic, women and blue collar workers with one running mate. Suck it up, kids. Hillary is our best bet.

What I can't fathom are the Clinton supporters who threaten to vote for McCain over Obama. They may disagree with Obama on some things, but the real differences between Clinton and Obama on key issues are insignificant compared to the vast gulf between Clinton and McCain. If they're doing it just out of spite against Obama, they're undermining any progressive future for America for the foreseeable future. And this includes for women! Can't they see that McCain is a true conservative? It's not as if he's hiding it, but is flaunting it to court the Right Wing.

Right now the democrats are (perhaps bitterly) divided. It would therefore seem logical to try to unite the party by giving Hillary the VP ticket. The risks to this are...

1. Hillary's negative baggage will sink the campaign.

2. Hillary (and Bill) will get in the way of Obama's presidency.

3. After all the time Obama and Hillary spent differentiating each other (and tearing each other apart) during the primary campaign, a joint ticket seems incongruous.

To answer this.
1. Generally, people don't vote against VP's. However, Hillary has a unusually large amount of baggage, so this is a real concern.

2. Again, hard to say if this will be a problem. The vice-president has very little actually power, so Obama should be able to reign the Clintons in. I can't say for sure, though.

3. Reading the comments here, this seems to be a big deal. Personally, I don't get this. Rhetoric aside, the actual proposed policies of the two candidates aren't that different. Most of the real difference is in style or personality. Clinton sold herself as experienced, and Obama sold himself as a fresh approach. To me, having both on a ticket provides balance, not contradiction.

I think it makes sense to give Clinton the VP ticket, but I can see why it isn't a slam-dunk.

You have yet to ever publish a comment of mine. Is it because I am 81 years of age. Can you see a state dinner? I am pleased to announce President and Mrs Obama and President and Vice President Clinton. Her speech last night was typical..I I I me me me Get wiuth it Hillary the Fat Lady has sung. Obama pack your bags and run as fast as you can from the Clintons.

This Hillary supporter would rather vote for McCain than Obama. Remember, Obama may have the delegates, but Hillary has the popular vote. If Hillary supporters cross over to vote for McCain Obama is toast.

Of course Hillary supporters will vote for McCain. She wants to obliterate Iran, he wants 100 years in Iraq. Hillary's people will take the second most bellicose candidate in the race now that Hillary is gone.

The saddest thing about Hillary Clinton is that she has struck such a serious blow against our collective notion of honesty.

I admit that I don't see the appeal of Hillary to begin with, but of course we should support whomever we like best. But we degrade ourselves when we repeat Hillary's lies and double speak, internalizing them, turning our exchanges of ideas into low level campaigns. pcaldarella says "Hillary has the popular vote". Sure, if you accept the absurd idea (which, sadly has been rendered almost acceptable) that Michigan and Florida votes count, in other words that it's okay to change the rules mid-contest. To use a sports analogy, imagine, in the NBA finals, that the referee decides that every shot Kobe has taken in pre-game warm up counted toward the score. This is what Hillary has argued and some of us repeat, as if it were not a terrible distortion of any notion of fair play.

Even in throw-away lines, Hillary lies to us. Last night: "South Dakota has had the last word", said when the polls had not even yet closed in Montana. But we're so used to this nobody (except Maureen Dowd, in her column) even bothers to call her out for it. And so we lie for Hillary. Ardent feminists say they would rather vote for the pro-life McCain than for Obama, sacrificing the truth in an apparent attempt to give Hillary a little more leverage to get whatever deal she's trying to wrangle.

So support Hillary Clinton if you like her, vote for her, tell her to force a vote on the floor of the convention (even though for many years the event has been a mere campaign rally) but please, spare our language, spare our integrity, spare the truth, spare any possibility or real dialog with one another.

Please explain the appeal of Obama... I'm concerned about his lack of experience (if he were white, would he be in this position?) and his associations with people that are, at best, unfriendly to America (if my minister said anything derogatory towards blacks, I would immediately gather up my family, leave the church and never go back... Note that Rev Wright is just one example).

The line I hear most is "change!" I ask, what does that mean? I understand nobody wants to continue the travesty of the current administration, but, really what's he going to change? I've heard nothing of his policies and I presume that’s because we as Dems just don't care about policies, just keywords. Is that true?

I hate to say this and please prove me wrong, but are we voting for him just because... he's black?

Well, he won the nomination but he's not going to win swing states and the White House without Hillary - unless there's some better idea to win these voters - Obama people should show some respect like your candidate did last night. Truth is they need eachother. Winning voters in Southern Ohio, Central Pennsylvania and seniors in Florida requires Hillary be on the ticket, either as VP or as President. And Mass doesn't matter, Ohio, Penn and FL are the only states that matter in the general. Mind you, she can still take this to the convention too.