Watch out! And they called Howard Dean crazy…
The Bill Clinton who met privately with California’s superdelegates at last weekend’s state convention was a far cry from the congenial former president who afterward publicly urged fellow Democrats to “chill out” over the race between his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Barack Obama.
In fact, before his speech Clinton had one of his famous meltdowns Sunday, blasting away at former presidential contender Bill Richardson for having endorsed Obama, the media and the entire nomination process.
“It was one of the worst political meetings I have ever attended,” one superdelegate said.
According to those at the meeting, Clinton – who flew in from Chicago with bags under his eyes – was classic old Bill at first, charming and making small talk with the 15 or so delegates who gathered in a room behind the convention stage.
But as the group moved together for the perfunctory photo, Rachel Binah, a former Richardson delegate who now supports Hillary Clinton, told Bill how “sorry” she was to have heard former Clinton campaign manager James Carville call Richardson a “Judas” for backing Obama.
It was as if someone pulled the pin from a grenade.
“Five times to my face (Richardson) said that he would never do that,” a red-faced, finger-pointing Clinton erupted.
The former president then went on a tirade that ran from the media’s unfair treatment of Hillary to questions about the fairness of the votes in state caucuses that voted for Obama. It ended with him asking delegates to imagine what the reaction would be if Obama was trailing by just 1 percent and people were telling him to drop out.
Apparently Bill took the Richardson endorsement of Obama very personally. My question to him: why? This is a democracy. He has no allegiance to you, and especially not to your wife. So what, you nominated him Energy Secretary. That means that, even after having run against her, he should support your wife to become president? I don’t think so. As Bill Richardson pointed out himself, his loyalty to party and country comes before personal loyalties. It appears Bill Clinton has the same whiny sore loser attitude that James Carville has. Unfortunately, he didn’t seem to care too much when Al Gore lost in 2000 thanks to his scandal plagued White House.
Posted in General
Tags: bill clinton, california, super delegate