For the record: I've been an Obama supporter since his Boston convention speech in 2004. I told my mom that night, "That man is gonna be our president one day." I've donated more than I can really afford to the campaign -- and when I see my money going to put up ads like this, proud to have done so. Made phone calls, proudly cast my vote for him in the Virginia primary, forwarded YouTube clips, followed every in and out of this campaign since before Iowa and already planning to take the day off on January 20, 2009, to see my man Barack take the oath of office up on Capitol Hill.
My message to my fellow Obama supporters: let's get real. Hillary ain't gonna quit anytime soon....and I don't think she should.
No matter how much some of us might jump up and down saying Hillary should pack it in, she ain't gonna. And as much as some of us might say, "If only some magical 'party leader' would step forward and tell her the road has come to its end", we all know only one person in today's Democratic party has anything approaching that type of stature. And that Big Dog also happens to be the only person who will be more disappointed when she does eventually have to pack it in. So that ain't gonna happen either.
So let's get real. Hillary Clinton isn't going to quit this race as long as there is any chance in her mind she can win the nomination. Operative words there: "in her mind". That isn't a slam to say she is out of her mind or she is unrealistic or she is delusional or any of those things. Let's be generous and magnanimous and say its because she is "pugnacious" or "determined" or "committed" -- In it to win it, taken to its logical extreme.
I believe that in Hillary's view, as long as there's another election day in the primary process to be held anywhere in the nation, there is still a "chance" for Obama to implode, for something horrible to come out which does some real damage, not the "conventional wisdom" damage all the talking heads predicted RE: Rev. Wright. Now while its not saying much about the quality of her campaign that the only remaining hope is for her opponent to fall on his face, that's really the only hope they have remaining. And if it does happen and it leads to her winning even one of the remaining primaries or caucuses -- ANYTHING -- by a huge spread, something like 70%-30%, then maybe her gambit pays off. (Not saying its likely -- but nobody can sit there after witnessing this incredibly unpredictable primary season and tell me its "impossible".)
So if that "perfect storm" where to happen -- even if it comes during the very final votes during the last few days on the primary calendar, in Puerto Rico or Montana or South Dakota -- if she were to pull out a 40-point margin at some point, the Clinton team would spin like crazy. Even a single win by those margins would allow them to throw fuel on the "buyers remorse" fire, which up until now, has been a pretty weak ember, considering Obama stubbornly keeps, you know, winning.
I'm not saying any of this is likely......I"m just saying from the Clinton perspective, as long as its possible, this is the tact they are going to follow between now and June 3.
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I say specifically "between now and June 3" because I believe we've seen a bit of a shift these last few days. Since the the middle of this past week, is it just me or have the Clintons softened up their attacks a little bit?
During her economic speech on Wednesday, she spent most of her time hitting Bush and McCain and laying out her economic vision...and didn't really attack Obama that much (if at all?). Then on Thursday, she was telling Democrats who might consider voting for McCain in November,
"Please think through this decision. It is not a wise decision for yourself or your country. There are, in my view, significant differences between Sen. Obama and myself, but those differences pale to the differences between us and Sen. McCain. I intend to do everything I can to make sure we have a unified Democratic party.
Also during these past few days, we've seen the Clinton team throwing out a new argument with great consistency, which is essentially:
"Why call off the contest before all the voters have a chance to have their say?"
Unless I'm mistaken, a heightened focus on this talking point -- let the remaining 10 contests play out -- is laying the groundwork for the beginning of the first steps toward discussing the basis for their exit strategy.
In other words, "Just give us until June 3, then we'll talk."
So what happens on June 4? I'm guessing when the Clintons wake up on the morning of June 4, they're going to wake up to the reality that the voting is over and quite simply, she's lost. (I'm not buying all the panicky "she'll do anything to win" BS. I think even Hillary and Bill will realize by then that Markos' now-famous "coup by superdelegate" scenario is the quickest way to hand John McCain the keys to their former residence on Pennsylvania Avenue....and seal their joint fate in Democratic Electoral Infamy.)
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Now lets all step back for a minute and set aside our personal preferences on who we want to win this thing, who we think can win, who we hope can win. I'm going to assume everyone who reads DailyKOS believes in democracy, so who among us can really disagree with this statement:
"Why call off the contest before all the voters have a chance to have their say?"
As I said, been an Obama supporter since his speech at the 2004 convention. And my confidence in him has only grown with each passing week of this process. I've been amazed at his learning curve, his ability to improve in his debate performances, virtually before our eyes, his campaign's slow-but-steady improvement at managing expectations and rolling out endorsements to maximize impact, etc. In short, I think overall, he's run a kick-ass campaign and is nowhere near even hitting his stride yet. I'm also confident that on June 4, he's gonna have at least the same lead in pledged delegates and popular vote as he has now, and will likely pull up to even with Hillary on superdelegates at that point.
And for those who love fretting that she is hurting the party -- how about we follow Barack's example and....SUCK IT UP!!! Any attack she throws at him now absolutely pales in comparison to what the Republicans will throw at him and if he can't survive it from her, he ain't gonna be able to survive it from them. Have some confidence in your candidate's strengths and the team he's assembled around him: he will continue to catch the kitchen sink with both hands, and proceed to build a whole kitchen, (hell, a whole house!) up around it. :-)
Put simply: I'm confident Obama is going to win, so I'm not at all worried about letting the remaining ten election days play out. (Now if I'm wrong and the Clintons don't wake up and smell the coffee on or close after June 4 and wanna take this fight to the convention floor, then the gloves will come off. No more Mr. Nice Vet4Dean at that point. :-) )
In the meantime, as much as we Obama supporters would like to "put this thing to bed" and turn our sites 100% onto John McCain, we have to face the fact that simply isn't in the cards anytime soon. We all know the Clintons are going to fight hard until that "last dog dies" on June 3. And if the tables were turned and Obama was vowing to fight to the end and the Clintons were saying we should quit -- we'd all say "screw you", and rightly so.
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The take-home lesson from this diary to my fellow Obama supporters: let's stop wasting our time complaining and bitching about why Hillary won't "JUST QUIT ALREADY!!!!!!!" Instead, let's put our energies into helping Barack wrap this thing up strongly and on a positive note.
Instead of bitching and whining in these diaries about things you can't control (such as, oh, I don't know, the entire Clinton campaign......):
* How about making a few more phone calls for Barack?
* How about trying to educate a few more friends about why you think Obama's the man?
* How about writing a "letter to the editor" to your local paper why you think people should vote Obama?
* If you're anywhere near a state that still has a contest upcoming, how about doing something to help Barack get some actual VOTES in that state?
* If you have a few extra dollars at the end of this month, how about thumbing our collective noses at the super-donors who tried to pressure Nancy Pelosi this week and make a donation to the DCCC?
Simply put, complaining & fretting here on DailyKOS is going to have ZERO impact on this race. Getting out and working to help Obama wrap this up is a much better way to expend your energies and save your sanity, not to mention the best way to help our party and help our country.
Let's make it real.