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.”
The older white feminists who were Clinton’s hard-core supporters are going to get over it. No way they are voting for McCain or sitting November out. (Her softer supporters–the ones who voted against Obama rather than for her–are another story.) But some Clintonites, according to the story, find the “get over it” line condescending. Assuming that Rep. Clarke has quoted Obama accurately, though, what is more interesting is that Obama regards “women” as a monolithic interest group.