Barack Obama blinks in Hillary face-off

Barack Obama blinks in Hillary face-off
Thursday, August 14th 2008, 8:13 PM

Hong/AP Hillary Clinton may not get her party's nomination, but her roll call at the convention means she's stealing the show from its presumtive star, Barack Obama (below).

Rothenberg for News Russia rolls over Georgia, Hillary Clinton does the same to Barack Obama. Now we know who's boss.

Obama blinked and stands guilty of appeasing Clinton by agreeing to a roll call vote for her nomination. That he might not have had much choice if he wanted peace only proves the point that he's playing defense at his own convention.

What does he get out of it? Not much and not for long.

The fleeting sense that he is a magnanimous nominee won't get him a single vote he wouldn't get anyway. Ditto for the idea that he's going the extra mile to unify the party. Those who refuse to accept him as the legitimate winner aren't likely to do so just because he caves into her demands.

It makes him look weak and ratifies Clinton's sense of entitlement to share party leadership and the convention spotlight.

It was supposed to be his party. Now it's theirs. His and hers.

The substantive problem for Obama is that he is already underperforming against John McCain. He limped across the finish line in the primaries and, since Clinton conceded in June, his poll numbers have flat-lined.

In the face of that lackluster showing, his choices have been curious. The time spent in Europe and now in Hawaii might have been better spent courting the white, working-class voters who have proved immune to his charms.

Trying to bring them into the tent by agreeing to Clinton's growing demands is a poor substitute for direct appeals. She might not be able to deliver them, even if she tries.

Yet already the list of what Hillary wants and what Hillary gets is unprecedented for somebody who lost the nomination. She gets a prime-time address where she will be introduced by daughter Chelsea. She gets her own team to produce a hagiographic video of her.

Hubby Bubba gets a prime-time speech on Wednesday night. And Hillary gets a platform plank that uses "glass ceiling" language right out of her speech to suggest she would be the nominee if not for sexism.

A few more big-ticket items and she'll be the co-nominee. Maybe that's the point.

It reminds me of a Cold War joke about how the Russians view a compromise. They come to the table and announce the rules: What's mine is mine, what's yours is negotiable.

How would President Obama respond?

I think we just found out.

mgoodwin@nydailynews.com

 

I was going to post something along these lines, as my own observation. It varies from what's written above.

The similarity is that it sure looks like Obama caved, and for no good reason. Hillary tries something funny, and she looks terrible.

The difference is that as it is now, Obama's giving the Hillary campaign free field over several days to lobby for the super delegates to vote for her. And he's allowing her name on the ballot to boot.

Shake my head in disblief.

Remember, Obama didn't win the required number of delegates to be declared the winner. She and her husband and other pro-Hillary speakers can make the case for a few days before that vote.

I don't see how this can turn out being a unity thing. It's going to open wounds.

 

I fail to see any benefit for Obama this way.

If he didn't cave, anything Hillary might try to pull would reflect bad on her, not on him. He could take the high road, politics not like usual, route.

This way, gallup and the other pollsters are likely to come out with polls saying the people want Hillary over Obama. Maybe not, but why risk it?