I couldn’t make myself listen to the campaign returns Tuesday night after I got home from working in a polling place, so I just read and went to sleep. And thus found out Wednesday morning that Barack had lost to Hillary in Ohio and Texas. Though the loss in Texas will likely turn into a delegate win when the caucus results are in.
I have been dismayed by the Obama campaign’s behavior since. Even though the attacks from them to the Clinton campaign are much milder than vice versa, I can barely stand to even know about them.
I am sure Clinton supporters will pretend ignorance when oddities turn up on her yet-to-be-disclosed tax returns, and be appalled at the donors to Bill’s library – but the fact that those documents weren’t simply disclosed months ago is very telling.
And yet – Barack needs to keep the high ground, stay focused on running his own campaign. Several New York Times editorials (one by a prominent conservative) are saying the same thing, with the conservative suggesting that Barack should be more clear about how the politics of hope will play out on specific issues.
That’s the campaign we all want to support. If we wanted business as usual, we wouldn’t be donating our time, money and energy in support of the calm, collaborative and compassionate Senator from Illinois.