Read "Clinton Effect in the West - 'a dirty little secret'?" from The Denver Post [by Stephen Keating], an article about a letter John Millin, Wyoming Democratic Party chairman, sent to the Post titled "Wyoming's Hillary Dilemma."
Consider the source..Mr. Millin's a firmly pledged Barack Obama supporter. How much fairness can you expect from a fellow who, as blogger Jane Hamsher has pointed out, gushed like a schoolgirl, "Oh my God, this guy should be president" after Obama had been given the enviable opportunity to make his national coming-out speech at the DNC convention in 2004?
Millin's current rant seems nothing more than Mr. Millin abusing his power as party chair to do intentional political damage to Senator Clinton. Regardless of what you may think about Senator Clinton, this one has got to make you think about truth and fairness. Millin's broadly unsubstantiated opinion can easily be construed as a hatchet job on one candidate to buoy the chances of political success for the candidate he not-so-secretly desires to win with an "Oh God"-valued emphasis.
As a New York resident who saw the effects of the electoral college on the corruptibility of the presidentaial election process in 2000 [when Wyoming went for Bush by a wide margin; 2004 was no different], I personally feel that I have to be more concerned with the overall national politics than with a Wyoming Dem Party Chair's pettiness and favoritism. Do you honestly expect that Wyoming will deliver electoral success to the Democratic presidental nominee in 2008?
I think most Americans, whether they're from the Eastern or Western states, understand the value of experience [after eight years of Mr. Wrong in the White House] when they are examining the 2008 candidates, whether from the Democratic or the Republican side. Particular concerns about Mr. Obama, a gifted and inspirational orator, are usually related to the experience factor.
Obama may eventually be destined for the Presidency, but I am not personally ready for him in 2008. Other people (perhaps younger than me) may feel differently, but I've been around too long to lay out the welcome mat and give the keys to our Oval Office to such a fresh face when I see others in line who are so familiar and still attractive. I know what to expect from the others. No one candidate's perfect. All have flaws. It's rather scary when you don't know a Presidential candidate well enough to have had a chance to evaluate his flaws. If he should win the nomination, I'd support him because he'd still be a superior alternative to any GOP candidate, but I'll know, in my heart, that knowing a candidate (flaws, strengths, and all) is a natural advantage to promoting, defending, and supporting him (or her).
I could be wrong, of course. I didn't vote for Bill Clinton the first time around ('92) and look what happened.
The bottom line on Millin's hit-piece on Hillary, for me, is that Millin's opinion sounds politically foreign... like it could've come straight off the transcript of a Rush Limbaugh show segment.
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