Obama to Female Clinton Supporters: Get Over It

Posted on June 21, 2008

Barack Obama made some female members of the Congressional Black Caucus pretty angry. When asked about what he was going to do to reach out to Hillary's supporters, he said that it was up to them to help him heal the divide and that women should really just "get over it."

A Thursday afternoon meeting between Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus grew tense and emotional for a moment -- perhaps illustrating that weeks after Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., suspended her presidential campaign, some nerves remain frayed.
Sources at the meeting said that Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, a Clinton supporter, expressed the desire that Obama and his campaign would reach out the millions of women still aggrieved about what happened in the campaign and still disappointed that Clinton lost. Obama agreed that a lot of work needs to be done to heal the Democratic Party, and that he hoped the Clinton supporters in the room would help as much as possible.
According to Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., Obama then said, "However, I need to make a decision in the next few months as to how I manage that since I'm running against John McCain, which takes a lot of time. If women take a moment to realize that on every issue important to women, John McCain is not in their corner, that would help them get over it."
Rep. Diane Watson, D-Calif., a longtime Clinton supporter, did not like those last three words -- "Get over it." She found them dismissive, off-putting. "Don't use that terminology," Watson told Obama.

Good grief. "Get over it??" Somehow I can't imagine John McCain (or Bill Clinton -- or even George Bush for that matter) using that line on a room full of angry women. They would know better. It sounds to me like the Messiah needs to work on his "female community organizing" skills. Because this is one community that's not happy.