February 24, 2008

Hillary Gets Better Treatment From Dems: Obama

Barack Obama issued a rather strange cri de coeur in Ohio yesterday. The Democratic front-runner claimed that Hillary Clinton has gotten preferential treatment from the Democratic Party, and that he would have been pressured to leave the race after losing 10 straight states:

Hillary Clinton's campaign says it remains upbeat about the New York senator's White House chances, but rival Barack Obama said Saturday he would likely be treated differently if his campaign had suffered a similar string of losses as her's.

Asked in Ohio by a reporter if he would be treated differently had he lost as many contests as Clinton, Obama said, "Yes."

But Obama said he understands why the treatment is different, saying it would require a knockout blow for Clinton to quit because she's "part of the Democratic network in Washington."

"Look, I'm the challenger, I'm the upstart," he said. "I'm the insurgent — she's, she's the champ. She's part of the Democratic network in Washington and, you know, if you're the title holder then you don't lose it on points. You got to be knocked out."

This sounds a little like a pity party hosted by the man of the hour. Obama wants the party to push Hillary out of the race, even though he can't lock up the nomination in the primaries? I thought Obama was the candidate who wants the popular vote to determine the nominee, and not party insiders. What happened to that principled stand on behalf of the voters?

The notion that the Democrats would do anything to push Obama to the curb is frankly ludicrous. They wouldn't have dared to appear anything but warm and welcoming to the man who generated so much enthusiasm -- and so much money. His fundraising prowess guaranteed that he would have been treated with kid gloves all the way to the convention even if he had lost every state on Super Tuesday and every state since.

No one likes it when the loser sulks, whines, and blames conspiracies for their own defeat. It's even less attractive when the one who's winning indulges in the same behavior because their competitor won't quit before the contest is over. (via Memeorandum)

Posted by Ed Morrissey on February 24, 2008 7:46 AM | Comments ()

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Ed Morrissey has blogged at Captain's Quarters since 2003, and has a daily radio show at BlogTalkRadio, where he serves as Political Director. Called "Captain Ed" by his readers, Ed is a father and grandfather living in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota, a native Californian who moved to the North Star State because of the weather.

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