Our New York senator, Hillary Clinton, is widely believed to be on the verge of officially conceding the Democratic nomination to Senator Barack Obama (D-Illinois). In the wake of Tuesday night’s historic speech, in which Barack Obama became the first African-American to assume the role of Democratic Party nominee for president, I spoke to several young New Yorkers about their reaction to Obama’s win and their thoughts on where Senator Clinton will go from here.
Lee Camp, recently featured in my video on the live comedy nonprofitLaughing Liberally, supported Obama prior to Tuesday’s win. “I was ecstatic,” he said of Obama’s nomination. “It really is momentous.”
“I think Hillary has a great future in whatever she does, but she shouldn’t have voted for the war. She made a choice to blow people up, and she has to stick with it.”
I asked Camp for his thoughts on an Obama-Clinton ticket. “I’m ambivalent,” he responded. “I’m not sure if it’s a good idea or the worst idea I’ve ever heard. I always said Obama will never choose anything but a white male as his veep, but that was before Hillary got 18 million votes.”
Rob Lathan was also an Obama supporter prior to Tuesday. I asked him if he would have been disappointed if Clinton had won the nomination. “I actually wouldn’t have been that disappointed,” he said. “I could’ve lived with it. I would just worry that McCain would have a better chance to win.”
Lathan speculated on Clinton’s political future, saying, “She'll definitely stay in the spotlight. I don’t think she’ll be a running mate . . . I could see her running for governor versus [New York City mayor Michael} Bloomberg, and [current Governor David] Patterson if he runs. She’d win.”
Steve Bossous, also an Obama supporter prior to Tuesday, shared what the nomination meant to him as a young black American. “Seeing a black person in charge of the nation can only have a positive effect on younger black people, and it may end up changing some of the perceptions of black men, if this guy is on TV for four or eight years. I think he's done a lot of good so far. There are more people getting involved in politics and more people who think that they can have a say in the way the country is run.”
He remarked about Clinton, “It would feel odd to me if she were VP, just because of the way the whole race played out, but I would be behind them.”
He mused, “I think a cabinet position would be more appropriate. She can be health czar.”
Derek Tutschulte, who said he generally votes Republican, said that he has “a big old soft spot for progress. I would have to say I have been partial to Obama, while holding out for a Republican party that gets the message . . . and waiting for the Obama party train to derail itself.”
Michael Terry, who appeared in my recent videoMuch Ado About Clinton, said he doubted Obama would select Clinton as his running mate. “If I were Barack, I wouldn't want Hill/Bill trying to drive the boat, and it seems like that's their attitude.”
Livia Scott, an Obama supporter prior to Tuesday, said that when she heard about Obama’s win, she felt “totally emotional.” But she also offered apparent sympathy for Clinton, saying the New York senator “was knocked around so hard by the Republicans (and her husband) that my theory is that she has learned that there is no such thing as untainted justice. You must make sacrifices. You must lie a little, you must cheat a little, for the greater good. She may be right, but it is too transparent that she is coming from that place. I also don't think we are comfortable with a female commander in chief yet. It is so sad but it's true. Far greater advances have been made in the way people perceive blacks than in the way they perceive women. We've been told repeatedly to watch out for racism. But sexism? We're repeatedly told to shut up about it and everything's fine. Sexism has become so insidious that we don't even see it anymore.”