Have you noticed how many people who know Team Clinton the best seem to be supporting Barack Obama?The latest to make the jump was Gabriel Guerra-Mondragon, former Ambassador to Chile. Guerra-Mondragon was appointed to the Ambassadorship by Bill Clinton in 1994. More recently he served as a successful fundraiser for Hillary Clinton. Some say he raised over a half-million dollars for her campaign. Yet, this week, he defected from the Clinton campaign and endorsed Barack Obama. A formal announcement of a role for Guerra-Mondragon on Obama's national finance committee will be made next week. Guerra-Mondragon was uneasy with the tone of the Clinton campaign and was beginning to worry about what this would mean for the general election.
He's not the first to defect from Team Clinton. Some others that come to mind are:
- Nancy Larson (DNC member & super-delegate) - She was initially pledged to Clinton; but recently changed her mind.
- Robert Reich (served in Clinton cabinet) - He announced his endorsement on his blog earlier this month.
- Bill Richardson (served in Clinton cabinet) - Quite possibly, the most important endorsement thus far in the campaign. The Clinton campaign is very bitter over this defection.
- Greg Craig (Clinton's lawyer during impeachment) - This is a 'Friend of Bill' who has known Hillary and Bill for many years. He has been a friend and confidant ... and it surprised many that he came out as an Obama supporter so early in the process.
- Anthony Lake (Clinton's National Security Advisor) - He is a key element of the Obama foriegn policy team.
- David Wilhelm (Clinton's campaign manager - They guy who ran the campaign for Bill Clinton endorsed Obama early in the process.
2 comments:
I believe this is very revealing. Thanks for compiling the list. It's powerful message. Do you mind if I link back to this post from my blog on my.barackobama.com? I think it could be used as a "pondering" point for people that are still undecided or undeclared. (Even though I cannot imagine how one could be undecided at this stage of the game!)
All of those people were Bill Clinton's peers. Hillary - his wife, is a smart woman, but you know what they say about assumptions. Assuming that supporting Bill for president 10+ years ago automatically translates to supporting Hillary - his loving and devoted spouse - seems to have been a long gamble.
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