A Hillary Clinton fan comes to Invesco, waiting to be converted

DENVER -- Debbie Diver of nearby Englewood, Colo., so wanted to attend the Barack Obama show at Invesco Field today that she not only came early, she dragged along her 83-year-old, wheelchair-bound father, who was visiting from Los Angeles.

But don't mistake Diver for an Obama fanatic. In fact, she's precisely the demographic that will be among those uppermost in Obama's mind as he embarks on his stemwinder tonight -- a middle-aged (52), hard-core Hillary Clinton backer for whom the new Democratic presidential nominee hasn't yet sealed the deal.

"I'm leaning Obama, but I'm still mad. It's a childish mad, but there it is," she said before heading to her seat at the stadium.

So why was she even here? "I wasn't going to let my disappointment stand in the way of being at what is an historic event," she said.

Obama's selection of Joe Biden as his running mate -- widely praised by many party leaders -- actually made the sale harder for Diver, an office manager for a commercial furniture company.

The reason? Clinton's oft-touted 18 million votes compared to what Diver calculated was about 9,000 for Biden before he quickly pulled the plug on his presidential candidacy. "She deserved it," Diver said. "I wanted (Obama) to pick her."

-- Don Frederick

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Comments

[Paul]

"'I'm leaning Obama, but I'm still mad. It's a childish mad, but there it is,' she said before heading to her seat at the stadium."

Finally, some HONESTY. Instead of a Clinton supporter saying they are mad because "Obama doesn't have enough experience" or "he stole the election" or "he is sexist," they admit that they're holding onto their anger for childish reasons: because their choice didn't win.

I'm not saying that it's not ok to be angry. What I am saying is that don't blame your anger on another politician or party. Clinton supporters are hurt because their candidate lost and that hurt leads to anger. It's ok to be angry, but don't let your anger control you so much that you become self-destructive in the process and vote against your best interest.

"So why was she even here? 'I wasn't going to let my disappointment stand in the way of being at what is an historic event,' she said."

Now THAT is the right attitude to have. Don't let your anger keep you from being impartial. Don't let your anger keep you from really looking at the issues and deciding what is in the best interest of you and your country. Make a LOGICAL decision, not an EMOTIONAL one.

Had Clinton come out of the primary as the nominee in as close as the democratic race had been, there would be a lot of Obama supporters feeling hurt and angry that their choice lost. Clinton supporters would be asking Obama supporters to make a logical decision and not an emotional one.

If you look at Obama and McCain and you believe that McCain's stance on the issues is more in tune with your stance, then you should vote for him, that's the logical thing to do. Yet, if a Clinton supporter, who presumably supported her based on her stance on the issues, decided that McCain's stance on the issues was more in tune with them, that would imply that McCain and Clinton have similar stances. Given that McCain and Clinton have been virtually polar opposites when it comes issues like the Iraq War, Economy and Healthcare, I would question whether that supporter voted for Clinton based on her stance on any of the issues or if it was for some less relevant reason.