Presidential candidates switch seats this week

By Carol Gee

The Democratic Party's campaign has come to an ending and a beginning during the past few days. This momentous week that is now coming to a close. Saturday will mark the official end of Senator Hillary Clinton's historic bid for the U.S. presidency. The presidential election will be contested from now until November by Senators Obama and McCain.

What do we know? We know an awful lot. A search on "obama" in my Bloglines aggregator returned 3, 155,000 posts. Memeorandum.com leads with the best and most prominent current info about the changes with the Democratic campaign. The news that Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton had a meeting somewhere in Washington, D.C. Thursday night was the most intriguing. The New York Times reported much of what is known about the event, headlining "Clinton meets with Obama, and the rest is secret." To quote the story's conclusion:

Finally, as Mr. Obama was headed back to Chicago on a private plane and Mrs. Clinton had returned to her home, another rarity took place. A joint statement was issued by representatives of the two senators, but sent out by Mr. Obama’s staff. Those words, perhaps, were the first cooperative undertaking since the presidential race began six seasons ago.

“Senator Clinton and Senator Obama met tonight and had a productive discussion about the important work that needs to be done to succeed in November,” the statement said.

Mrs. Clinton’s farewell from the race comes Saturday. When she offers her endorsement, Mr. Obama said he intends to be in Chicago with his family. Unless, of course, he isn’t.

Because Obama and Clinton were clever, the media did not see their secret meeting coming until it was well underway. Many of us get a secret kick out of the mainstream media sputtering away about failure to disclose, etc. But I got an even bigger kick out of this little gem from Firedoglake (6/5/08) - "We Should've Seen This Coming," by Blue Texan. The clever short post cascades a number of mostly Republican quotes (Dick Armey, Tom DeLay, Dick Morris, Karl Rove, Newt Gingrich, Rush Limbaugh and George W. Bush) on how Hillary Clinton was going to win the nomination. To quote the blogger's conclusion: "I predict that Republicans will continue to be wrong about everything."

My favorite conservative blogger Andrew Sullivan of The Daily Dish at The Atlantic (6/6/08) writes an interesting blurb about -"Obama The Post-Boomer." Sullivan has often been right on point with his posts. This short piece focuses on the important generational differences between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, and between Obama and John McCain.

We know a bit about how Obama's win is viewed by people in other nations. Aljazeera reports that he is "the favourite global candidate." Philip Stephens says in The Financial Times that "the world wants a vote in an epic presidential contest." Matt Frei of the BBC News says that "Obama now has a mountain to climb." This neat little story comes from a post at Make it stop! Make it Stop (5/31/08) - "Obamacan Bridging," by Bucarooskidoo. To quote:

. . . I have been overseas . . . I did see convincing evidence that Barack Obama is not just a candidate for US President, he is now a worldwide cultural megastar.

In virtually every major city in Europe and Asia, Americans and locals have been gathering near the big river in solidarity behind the slogan, "Yes We...SPAN!" They refer both to the bridge they are standing near or on and Barack Obama, who first coined the term "yes we CAN." Both groups see Obama playing the same role as the bridge does, i.e. linking peoples, providing a means of transition, just bridging the gap generally. In Hungary, they gathered on the famous Chain Bridge, built in the l830s to link Buda and Pest and launch Hungary into a new, dynamic era; in London, it was the bridge between St. Paul's Cathedral and the Tate modern art gallery, the symbolism unmistakable. There were similar gatherings in Paris, Tokyo, Berlin, Strasbourg, basically anywhere there is a river and bridges. I have never seen anything quite like it in a Presidential campaign.

It got me to wondering whether Obama is even bigger abroad than he has ever been here, where he is a candidate...in any case, a bona fide extravaganza, an Event, a human Happening!

As of this moment Barack Obama has moved into the driver's seat of the Democratic campaign. And Hillary Clinton is going to have to learn how to ride in the back seat without getting carsick. So far it has not been an easy switch for this amazing and gutsy candidate, who still has much to give to the nation.

(Cross-posted at South by Southwest.)