Obama and Clinton: Together at last

By Jennifer J. Foster

Published: June 27, 2008

Barack Obama united with his former foe, Hillary Clinton, today in an appearance that was—for me, at least—just as awkward to watch as it must have been for Clinton to do.

Bill Clinton must have known how weird it would be: He didn’t even show up.

If you missed it, the watchword this week has been UNITY—UNITY in the Democratic Party, UNITY between Obama and Clinton , how UNIFIED the Democrats are against John McCain and the GOP.

First, there were those grainy cell phone pictures Thursday that were smuggled out of the joint appearance the two candidates made with Clinton’s top donors in Washington. Someone recorded part of the candidates’ remarks with a device that produced sound like it was leftover from one of Gueglielmo Marconi’s experiments.

Just as we were breaking out the secret decoder rings to make sense of the audio/visual from that event, word came down that Obama had written a $2,300 check to Clinton’s campaign, doing his part to help with her $20 million campaign debt.

“OBAMA WROTE THE CHECK TO CLINTON PERSONALLY!!“ CNN breathlessly panted in a banner below the “Breaking News” graphic.

SIDEBAR: Isn’t there just a little bit of irony in the fact that Clinton ran up that incredible debt with television spots, most of which attacked Obama—and he’s now helping to pay them off? Yes, of course he was doing it to set an example for his supporters to help do the same, yadda yadda yadda. But it’s still ironic. You gotta love politics. END SIDEBAR

Clinton followed by writing a $2,300 check to Obama’s campaign, presumably as an example to her followers to do the same.

Someone throw me a lifeline. I’m drowning in irony.

And that brings us to today’s all-out lovefest. It began with an hour-long flight to New Hampshire, where the two appeared at an outdoor rally. There were the niceties on the tarmac, the chit-chat between the two, the handshakes and a little laughter. Before the plane took off, videographers were permitted to come and film the two sitting side by side—but with no audio. Ooh! Finally, some suspense! What could they be discussing? Her thoughts on his VP—and whether she’s interested? A Supreme Court nomination? A spot on the Cabinet? Universal health care? It had to be something like that, something super sensitive and top-secret, for the campaigns to require no audio!

Actually, it was just the opposite: A videographer reported that the the nominee-to-be and the almost-nominee were discussing ... the plane. It seems that Clinton had used it during her excursions throughout campaign season. No word on whether they were discussing maintenance records, engine noise or overhead bin space.

And that brings us to the actual event ... which was in, of all places, a town called UNITY!!

You know, why didn’t they just wear those sandwich boards: Hey, national media! HILL-A-RY SUPP-ORTS ME!!!

Unity, New Hampshire. I’m serious. You can’t make this stuff up.

Actually, what is cool about it is that the town split its votes, 107-107, between Clinton and Obama.

Copy editors had a field day with the headlines. “Obama and Clinton Sing Kumbaya in Unity, N.H.,“ said the Wall Street Journal. CBS offered, “Welcome To Metaphor, New Hampshire.“ “Ex-rivals Obama, Clinton appear in unity display,“ the AP wrote. “Obama, Clinton bury the hatchet in Unity,“ said AFP.

NOTE: To whomever came up with this idea for this event: I’m glad you’re out there. My family thinks I’m was the hokiest person on the planet. Wait until I tell them about this.

The event itself was carefully scripted. The people, however, were not. In the midst of Obama’s remarks (which he delivered directly from a script, one of the only times I’ve seen him do this all campaign) (the other was the other day when he was talking about energy policy), someone yelled out something like, “Hillary rocks!“ And Obama, who is known for his playful banter with the crowd, felt compelled to yell back, “She rocks!“

Hillary Clinton rocks?

Hillary, of the much-maligned pantsuits and cackling laughter and sometimes-Southern accent—she rocks?

Groundbreaking, yes. Tough, certainly. Tenacious, absolutely.

But, “she rocks?“

That’s just plain weird.

Hillary referred to the contentious primary campaign this way: “I’m proud that we had a spirited dialogue. (pause) That’s the nicest way I can think of phrasing it.“ (laughter)

Then, the pitch: McCain and President Bush “are like two sides of the same coin, and it doesn’t amount to a whole lot of change,“ she said.

SIDEBAR: Did the rally organizer also write this speech? Just wondering. END SIDEBAR

For their part, not everyone at the rally was convinced. From the AP:

The reunification of these campaign rivals wasn’t without its awkward moments.

Despite the praise and smiles between the two, some in the crowd still sensed a space between them. Their embraces were slightly awkward, and Clinton stood with her hands clasped formally in front of her as Obama spoke.

Eileen Quill, a 64-year-old retired teacher from nearby Sunapee who had supported Clinton, said: “I think she’s usually a wonderful public speaker, and so is he, but she looked a little stiff and the whole thing wasn’t entirely comfortable.“

What about behind the scenes?

Aides said the atmosphere on the bus from the airport to the rally was “festive,“ but said the two avoided talking about the campaign for the 90-minute ride. As they and their staffs ate a lunch of sandwiches and salads, Obama and Clinton made small talk, at one point commiserating and comparing stories about how difficult it is to live life under a microscope, as public figures do.

Oh, yeah. Downright “festive,“ for sure!

So that was that. As I was writing this post, I thought of a song my sister and I used to sing when we were kids: “I don’t need anything but you,“ from the 1982 film Annie. Check out the lyrics here, and watch a clip here (to about 2:15).

Now, tell me, doesn’t that seem like what the campaigns were trying to show us today? And there’s all sorts of irony here—how about the line where Annie says, “I’m poor as a mouse,“ and Daddy Warbucks responds, “I’m richer than Midas?“

“I’m $20 million in debt,“ Clinton would say.

“I’ve ditched public financing,“ Obama would reply.

Oh, for the folks at JibJab to rewrite the lyrics to that song for these two. Now that would be something worth seeing!