March 23, 2008 6:00 AM
Dear Hillary,
I hope this finds you in good spirits on the campaign trail. In spite of your busy schedule, I want to thank you for the countless phone calls you, President Clinton and your legions of surrogates have made to me, my wife, our three kids (6-month-old Johnny smiles when he hears your voice on the answering machine) and to our cats, Dagwood and Licky. We all appreciate the TLC you've showered upon us, especially the invitations for dinner at the White House next year.
I found the most recent call from the campaign about Barack Obama's problem with Rev. Wright instructive. I hadn't given the doomsday scenario they outlined as much thought as I might have.
I know the last time we talked, you asked me to put any type of decision of support on hold. I feel I let you down last year when you were inevitable and you told me it was time to jump on board because the train to victory was leaving the station — and there were only a few vacant seats left.
I wanted to take my time because inevitability was a fleeting thing, and my good friends Bill Richardson, Joe Biden, Chris Dodd, John Edwards and Obama were in the race as well. Out of respect to everyone, I felt it wise to take my time.
And frankly, Hillary, I'm glad I did because the race turned out a lot differently than we all thought. I remember you told me all of our candidates were fine human beings and politicians who would make fine presidents — but then you were leading in all the polls. Funny how those things work in politics, don't you think?
I'll get right to the point. I've decided to support Barack Obama. As a politician whose first goal is to continue my incumbency, I think he will help me better than you.
Which isn't to say I don't admire you or still believe you might make a good president. I didn't give you much of a chance to win that Senate seat in New York in 2000, but you proved wrong by a lot. You are one of the most diligent, most thoughtful and policy-knowledgeable politicians I've worked with. I've always admired your toughness and the hard work you've put in for your constituents in New York. You even showed me a thing or two when you matched vodka shots with John McCain on the trip to the Far East a few years ago.
I'm proud that our party is going to nominate its first woman or African-American candidate. The bottom line is this: I can count votes, and while I admire your ability to keep those older women and working-class whites earning under $50,000 without a college education in your camp, I see your size of the Democratic voting pie shrinking. I can't ignore the sheer volume of new people who are turning to vote and caucus across the country — in my district alone, it tripled from 2004 when we also thought excitement was high.
And this brings me to a few sore points, Hillary. I haven't appreciated the manner with which you and your campaign PUBLICLY played the sour grapes routine with states that didn't support you. It's the first time I've seen a politician running for office publicly demean their opponent's election victories — and the voters who supported him — in such a cavalier manner.
And complaining the way your campaign has about caucuses, such as the record-setting one in my state, as being "undemocratic" and unworthy of mattering is bad form. I heard from a few of my constituents who were hopping mad to be dismissed as so much general election road kill — these are people we need to make my state a little bluer and perhaps snare extra House and Senate seats across the country.
I understand your "big state" strategy, but I think if your campaign had put more effort into the caucuses, you might not find yourself in the bind you do. I was surprised to see you violate a cardinal rule of politics — if you don't ask for a vote, you won't get it. And to whine about it afterward or to watch your campaign act as if Obama's 11 victories in a row was some kind of statistical aberration — well, it left me wondering just what was going on. Do you know what people in my district are calling you? An excuse monger.
I've scratched my head many times as I've watched you ignore good manners and not offer concession remarks on a night you lost — or to have President Clinton, a man I like and admire greatly, denigrate Obama's win in South Carolina as equal to what Jesse Jackson did in the '80s. Did you have any idea what an insult it was, given that Obama had actually had been elected to the U.S. Senate and had won Iowa? You said goodbye to the African-American vote and for what?
Do you know what other Democrats are whispering to me about President Clinton? He's squandered almost all of his stature when he played your attack dog. I almost fell out of my chair when I saw him say on Charlie Rose that voting for Obama was "a roll of the dice." It was a poisonous thing to say in a primary and ignored the fact that he was a real roll of the dice in 1992.
I'm not sure if you know what you are doing at times and, frankly, it disappoints us to no end. I saw you on "60 Minutes" give a grand-jury answer to the straightforward question regarding the idiot rumors about Obama being a Muslim. I was shocked because I've seen you at prayer breakfasts with him in Washington — and the best you could say was "as far as I know"? It sounded and looked as though you were concerned he was a brother from another planet. You could have engendered so much good will by simply giving a straight answer.
And do you have to say that John McCain is more qualified to be president than Barack? If you want to create a fake "commander in chief" threshold, that campaign trick of the trade is fine with me — but for goodness' sake, Hillary, don't say the other guy has it and ours doesn't, especially when he's shown he can't keep track of the players in the Iraq sinkhole without a scorecard. It made you look foolish by declaring him so viable. We have an election to win, and if I didn't know any better, I'd think you were giving the Republicans every bit of ammunition they need in the general election.
I know you told me last year that Obama was a passing fad that wouldn't last past Iowa because he was a pretty boy with the good speech — and that voters were hungry for "35 years of experience" and "ready on day one." (Always thought that one was a stretch because no one's ready on day one, but hey, it was catchy.) You bet and bet wrong to this point.
I admire the detail and the breadth of your policy proposals. There's more thought and commitment to the future in the first few paragraphs of any of your economic and energy proposals than Bush has shown in more than seven years. But people hardly vote on policy details as President Clinton knows and when you mock Obama for his inspirational style, you hurt us all. Maybe I'm a sucker for a good speech, but details don't drive people to the polls — and I've never seen people this excited about an election.
What does drive people to the polls is past votes that piss them off, and I told you last year I was concerned about your Iraq war vote in 2002. I told you that prattle about voting for diplomacy and being duped by Bush wasn't going to cut it in my district and it didn't — especially when people discovered you didn't bother to read the National Intelligence Estimate about Iraq and instead were briefed by a staffer. What were you thinking? It was a war authorization vote, for goodness' sake.
I know you won't like hearing this, but if current trends hold, it might help heal some of the hurt. You've run a good, tough campaign and been mostly a superior candidate despite my handful of gripes. But you know politics is cruel and sometimes you just end up on the wrong side of history. You weren't the only one who underestimated Barack and what he sensed was going on out there with voters.
I know how campaigns work. You can throw the kitchen sink at him, but it may end up hurting you the worst if you manage to win the nomination — and, frankly, he's proven to be tougher and more resourceful than I imagined. The Wright mess is a minefield, but he didn't dodge it and looked downright presidential in handling it. It may hurt us badly in the fall, but don't you think it's time for Democrats to stop being scared of our own shadows and the Republican Big Bad Wolves? Yes, I know the stakes are incredibly high, but being afraid of losing isn't a campaign strategy.
Sorry to say it, Hillary: Barack has the best chance to win in November and to win that governing majority he's been fussing about.
Anyway, I wanted to share my honest assessment about my choice. By the time you get this, I will be on my way to Iraq on a congressional fact-finding mission. I've heard that some places of Baghdad are safer than certain spots on the campaign trail these days — where the sky is raining kitchen sinks.
P.S. Of course if you do make a miracle comeback, you will have my full support — and I hope the White House dinner invitation still stands.
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