If Clinton Wanted to do What’s Best for America…
She would step aside.
On January 25th The New York Times endorsed Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential candidacy. The paper acknowledged that both Clinton and Obama were excellent choices, but they went with Clinton because they thought she had a better “here and now” record. But they also cautioned her:
As strongly as we back her candidacy, we urge Mrs. Clinton to take the lead in changing the tone of the campaign. It is not good for the country, the Democratic Party or for Mrs. Clinton, who is often tagged as divisive, in part because of bitter feeling about her husband’s administration and the so-called permanent campaign. (Indeed, Bill Clinton’s overheated comments are feeding those resentments, and could do long-term damage to her candidacy if he continues this way.)
Today The New York Times has had enough of Clinton’s destructive campaign:
It is past time for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to acknowledge that the negativity, for which she is mostly responsible, does nothing but harm to her, her opponent, her party and the 2008 election.
If nothing else, self interest should push her in that direction. Mrs. Clinton did not get the big win in Pennsylvania that she needed to challenge the calculus of the Democratic race. It is true that Senator Barack Obama outspent her 2-to-1. But Mrs. Clinton and her advisers should mainly blame themselves, because, as the political operatives say, they went heavily negative and ended up squandering a good part of what was once a 20-point lead.
That’s from the most widely read paper in the country, located in Clinton’s state – the same paper that endorsed her three months earlier. They are now calling for an end to the fight that has dragged her and her opponent into the gutter, and made both candidates appear less electable.
Late Tuesday afternoon, the Times put up an interactive tool on its front page that illustrates just how unlikely it is, given the mathematics of the remaining contests, for Clinton to win the nomination. If she does well and wins 50% of the remaining delegates, she would need 75% of the remaining super delegates to capture the nomination: 75%!
What would happen if that’s how the votes go for pledged delegates and somehow, someway the superdelegates were to go against the will of the people who participated in the state caucuses and primaries and voted to give the runner-up the nomination? It would be 1968 all over again – A complete meltdown of the party. They have to know that.
If Clinton cannot recognize the damage she’s doing and do the right thing by stepping aside, then she is not fit to lead this country in a new direction.
As Eric Liu and Nick Hanauer put it so well in their excellent pamphlet, The True Patriot:
“America deserves leaders who insist that politics isn’t about the promotion and protection of self-interest, it should be about promoting the interest of all Americans.”
and…
“America deserves leaders who help us understand one another, not drive us apart.”
It’s time for the Democrats to accept that the people have chosen Obama, and that there is a long difficult battle ahead against the Republicans and their not-so-nice, but extremely well funded proxy organizations. Democrats need to unite behind their candidate now and organize a campaign to win the presidency so that they can begin to rebuild our country for all Americans and repair our image abroad. By doing so, our country will regain its stature as a beacon of liberty and leader of the free world.
We’ve got a lot of work to do. Let’s get started.
Very good and well put. But I don’t believe she will “do the right thing.” What needs to happen is that the Super delegates must throw their support behind Obama once all of the primaries are over. In the meantime the party’s elders need to make their views heard that they do NOT want any more negativity from either candidate directed at each other.
The worst part of all this is that her campaign seems to have revealed a real weakness in the Obama candidacy. If he can’t change the minds of working class Democrats in places like Pennsylvania who really do see to see him as elitist (and black which is another issue) or at least convince them to look beyond their prejudices, we really do have the prospect of a McCain win - although I would still be flabbergasted at the stupidity of it if it happened.
I heard what you are saying during the NPR interview with the campaign managers for Obama and Clinton.
I think Obama’s appeal to the working class is a valid concern, and I also think that is why, now that the PA primary is over, he has turned his sights on McCain. As the frontrunner he must point out the differences between the Republican and Democratic agendas and convince people that the Democratic agenda is much more in line with the majority opinion of Americans on most all major issues. Obama is the best person to deliver this message. He has proven in the past that he can reach across boundaries and, once he is done battling Clinton, he can do it again.
I will be very disappointed if his campaign becomes nothing but negatives directed against McCain. What I am expecting is an outline for a positive new direction.
We’ll see…
I don’t think you need worry on that point. Obama’s campaign has been pretty savvy on the whole and I think they’ll play to his strengths which is laying out the choices and the vision of a different future rather than primarily negative stuff against McCain - although there will have to be some of that if only to point out how idiotic his economic prescriptions are and his endless war-war policy. Obama will be liberated once he’s put HC in the rear-view mirror. Can’t come soon enough - and I say that as someone who supported her and still thinks that she would make a much better president than she has a candidate.
The point is boys that if there is weakness in the Obama campaign, they (and I think you know who “they” are) will find it.
Remember Karl Rove (he is still alive)
Clinton wins Pen by 10% and you tell her to quit (or at least stop pointing out any Obama weaknesses or being too agressive - a characteristic that just infuriates the likes of you and other closet bigots)
Apply any sports analogy you can think of and tell me they suggest Hillary should quit (except for the Alexander approach of falling to the ground if there is not a giagantic hole to run through)
This site was a lot better when Jack Handy was on it.
- Z
Where to begin…
Both candidates have weaknesses that will be exploited by the Republican attack machine. I don’t know whether or not Karl Rove will be enlisted to run it again this time, but I think it’s unlikely given the latest signals from McCain. Of course that won’t stop the Republican hate machines from turning to Rove for input on their strategy.
As I have said before, I will vote for the candidate that gets the Democratic nomination, and it’s obvious that I would like Obama to win it. That said, there isn’t that much that separates these two when you look at their proposed policies. Either one will lead our nation away from the failed policies of the Bush administration. I just think Obama would do a better job. You disagree. I will vote for whoever wins.
Sports analogies? I love sports analogies… I don’t use them enough on this blog.
Here I go. I’ll even throw in a little rock ‘n roll for good measure.
Given the score so far in this excruciatingly long, fifteen-month race for the nomination, it looks to me as though we’ve entered into garbage time. Every time Obama gets the ball, Hillary goes into “hack-Obama” mode and throws an intentional foul (I know you’d like me to use bowling, but I just don’t know enough about it) to prolong the game. Sometimes Obama sinks both free-throws, sometimes he sinks one, and sometimes none. Hillary sometimes counters with a two or even a three, but she can’t close the gap.
What it would take for her to win would be the equivalent of a Music City Miracle. I don’t think we’ll see such a miraculous outcome to the race unless Obama falters in a huge way. Like say he gets caught in an airport restroom giving a blow job to a drag queen while he gets a reach-around from Tila Tequila as a lunatic street priest in the next stall condemns them all to Hell.
Not gonna happen.
So Hillary will continue on in this contest and try to find a way to kneecap him – try to make him appear not “So Fresh and So Clean, Clean.” I’ll just sit back and watch… I do wish she’d change her theme from “Rocky” to “(you’re not) Rid of Me,” then I would like her a whole lot better.
For now I’ll go buy myself another $7.50 beer and watch the game until the end, because you know how much I hate to leave early.
Where to end…
You are correct. This site was better when the Jack Handey’s “Deep Thoughts” were in the sidebar. But that was before WordPress “upgraded” their system. As a result of the upgrade, we lost Jack Handey, we lost the Amazon ads (not sure if that’s related yet), all our Technorati tags disappeared, the archive page is empty, and the “previous page” link goes nowhere. We are still trying to recover from the upgrade. We have future plans for the sidebar, and your comment is duly noted.
I agree with the Zipster. Here is my favorite sports comparison about Hilary and Barack or Barry or whatever his name is. Jack Tatum and Daryl Stingly. Hilary is “the Assassin” and Barack the weanie guy in the wheelchair. And I’m sorry Brad, but I can’t afford an elitist $7.50 for a beer that probably does not even have one grain of rice in it, but I will sit down and have my $1.00 a glass light beer and enjoy the rest of this game. A game that, even though one of the contestants won’t walk out of the stadium, is good for the game as a whole. This is good for the democratic party. This is good for the country. This will produce a clear winner in November, because this is the kind of country that if you can’t win fairly and honestly, you can win with cheap shots and by crippling your opponent! YEAH! So Brad, go have another shade-grown-fair-trade latte, while Zippy and I head down to bowling alley to watch the rest of this, and by God I hope it keeps going! It can’t be long before Hil starts using LAPD tactics! YEAH!
P.S. Did I mention that the clear winner is going to be John McCain? Did I mention that Gorby is a Republican? Ooooooppss!! Must of slipped my mind! Go Hilary! Take this all the way to the convention!