Bill Clinton's Chief Of Staff "Disturbed" By Some Hillary Backers

[carpe diem]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/18/bill-clintons-chief-of-st_n_119499.html


The UK Times profiles Lady de Rothschild, a wealthy Hillary Clinton supporter considering voting for John McCain. Bill Clinton's chief of staff is quoted on the difficulty of satisfying such people:

Leon Panetta, Bill Clinton's former White House chief of staff, was tasked by the Obama campaign this summer with soothing ruffled feelings and helping Hillary loyalists to get over their sense of loss. It has been a demanding assignment.

"There is a sense of entitlement that almost seems to be inbred," Panetta said. "They are convinced Hillary is the one who should be assuming the mantle and it's tough to crack that."

Rothschild is the founder of Together4Us, a group formed to "honour" Clinton and the nearly 18m voters who supported her in the primaries. Among its demands were a state-by-state roll-call of votes - a final show of muscle by the vanquished Clinton - and a prime speaking slot for her.

They got what they wanted after Obama caved in last week. Seasoned advisers fear the convention is shaping up to be a divisive Bill and Hillary psycho-drama. "It's not something that I would have recommended, but they're trying to bend over backwards as far as they can to accommodate her," said Panetta. "I'm a little disturbed that this keeps playing out."

[still_one]

1. Maybe Lady de Rothschild didn't hear mccain when asked who he would NOT appoint to the Supreme court

Ginsberg, Souter, Breyer, and Stevens

Maybe Lady de Rothschild, should get her head out of her ass, and realize that voting for mccain will put gender rights back AT LEAST 60 years

[KittyWampus]

9. she has enough money it wouldn't matter, she could always just jet to Europe or Canada

or pay her private physician

[Arugula Latte]

17. That arrogant @#$%& Lady Rothschild had the nerve to call Obama an elitist!

Unfreaking believable.

[Joe Chi Minh]

2. This entitlement business gets more and more bizarre. The Bush's

really started something with this "My grand-dad was a rich man so now we're in politics, we're a royal dynasty" thing, didn't they?

[Cassandra]

3. I wish they had tasked a woman for that job.

[Bake]

16. I wish they would stop using "task" as a verb.

Seriously.

Bake

[Bucky]

4. Why is someone named "Lady de Rothschild" voting in an American election?

Last I checked, we don't have a House of Lords or hereditary peerage.

If we did, I wouldn't expect too many of them to vote Democrat anyway.

[Beacool]

5. She's American. n/t

[Bucky]

7. (addendum after reading the whole article)

Check out the unintentional irony from the Times article:

Although Rothschild shuttles between London and New York, she shares Penn’s assessment. “Barack Obama can use the words ‘the American dream’, but they don’t resonate,” she said. “He magnified the problem by going to Berlin and calling himself a citizen of the world.” She also resents a lack of effort to pay off Clinton’s $20m campaign debt. “He has provided her with a pittance compared to what the Clintons have given Obama,” Rothschild said. “Her debt could have been cleared within 10 days. It’s ungracious.”

Okay, Obama who worked his way up from poverty to the US Senate does not represent the American Dream. But the wife of Lord Rothschild faults Obama for being a citizen of the world. Riiiight....

[yardwork]

23. This lady's got a lot of nerve. Why should Obama pay off Hillary's campaign debt?

As a white woman 100% behind Obama, this woman's attitude frosts me.

[Prophet 451]

15. Doesn't matter

There's nothing in the British constitution saying that peers must live in this country. There a few who inherited peerages before or after they moved to the States.

[Ian David]

6. Really? Which ones would that be?

[Spazito]

8. "There is a sense of entitlement that almost seems to be inbred,"

That says it all in a nutshell.

[greguganus]

10. Those damn inbreds!! n/t

[nichomachus]

11. So, a multi-billionaire corporatist

has her nose out of joint. Tough shit.

Screw Lady D. and the private jet she flew in on.

[loudsue]

13. A multi-billionaire corporatist has her nose out of joint

because her candidate ..... another corporatist..... didn't win. So, I guess she'll vote for the OTHER republican, John McCain.

2 + 2 = 4

[windbreeze]

14. you do know

that "tptb" we speak of....well, this person just happens to be one of that particular group...never underestimate THEIR power, OR their intentions..wb

[SurfingAtWork]

12. My head almost exploded with irony when I read that one of the beefs

Lady de Rothschild has with Obama, is that he is elitist. To say it is an instance of the pot calling the kettle black, would understate the hypocrisy by miles.

[Metric System]

18. Very poor choice of words. This will go over about as well as a fart in church. With friends like

this...Of course, many here think Panetta's comments are great, but this won't win over others who are on the fence. And it could turn off tepid Obama supporters. Since when is pissing off potential voters a good idea?

[yardwork]

24. Anyone on the fence about whom to support in this election is either stupid or greedy or both.

Take that to church.

[gal]

25. Unless you voted early were all potential voters

If something Panetta said chases a voter away rather than the candidates actions or views then I really doubt they would have voted for him to begin with. There is a time to tell the truth and stop coddling people. He spoke the truth.

[Metric System]

27. No, he gave his opinion. What is it with people around here who confuse truth with opinion?

[TexasObserver]

19. I find titles inherently annoying, and titles of royalty even more so.

Lady, my ass! The notion of titles is repugnant to modern civilization.

Why not simply call them "people who come from a long line of inbred crackers who specialized in stealing the wealth derived from the toil of others"?

[Growler]

20. That's too long a moniker

> Why not simply call them "people who come from a long line of inbred crackers who specialized in stealing the wealth derived from the toil of others"?

Let's just cut to the chase and call them "Republicans"....

[TexasObserver]

21. or ...

... "fuckheads" works, too.

[Growler]

22. Any synonym for Republican is good! n/t

[AtomicKitten]

26. A precautionary warning from a Clinton insider.

Bill Clinton: "One could argue no one is ready to be president."

Hillary Clinton: "I bring a lifetime of experience, Senator McCain brings a lifetime of experience, Obama brings a speech he gave in 2002."

[Number23]

28. Mr. Panetta, join the FREAKING club

Gonna need a much bigger rec room soon with all of these new members....

The comments on that Huff Post piece are absolutely SCALDING. I have no idea why this "Either Hillary's the VP and/or treated like an Empress at the convention or I vote McCain" mess keeps surfacing and when it will die, but I pray for Obama's sake that it is soon.