Many people have made very compelling arguments for why Senator Hillary Clinton should drop out of the race for the Presidency. They say it is divisive to the Democratic Party. They say she can’t win. They say that any supervoters that support her are usurping “the will of the people.”
I look at the situation from a different perspective; although I admit to some bias. I am an elected Alternate Delegate, committed to Hillary Clinton. The role of the alternate is rather like an understudy in a Broadway production, just waiting for someone to die or at least eat some bad egg salad. I have also volunteered many hours to help her win in Pennsylvania.
I know the math is working against her. I know that Senator Barack Obama has more “committed” delegates and I know that he leads in “total” delegates. With all of this being said, I also know that in politics all things in politics are open to interpretation.
Looking objectively at the primary campaign from a different perspective begs an important question. What good can come of Hillary Clinton staying in the race? I say there are many good reasons why she should stay in until the convention.
Putting all negatives aside, Senator Obama is a strong candidate to win the nomination. But as we look forward to November the stakes are much higher.
If Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama can work separately to undermine John McCain, we will have a wonderful three months leading into the Democratic Convention. Picture a tag-team wrestling match with McCain stuck without a partner.
By using the mainstream media’s obsession with “Clinton vs. Obama” to our advantage , we can devastate our common adversary. This scenario requires Hillary Clinton to understand that Senator Obama will likely be the nominee and that Barack Obama respects Hillary’s experience. But most of this entire scenario requires that they lay off on each other.
For this plan to work, both Democratic candidates and their most vocal supporters must put their egos aside at work against the Republican machine. If we all focus on beating John McCain, we will undoubtedly have a stronger Democratic candidate in November. Hillary can pound McCain on his lack of an economic recovery plan. Barack can pound McCain on his support for the war in Iraq. Together, they can push the message that McCain is wrong for America.
Bottom line, whichever candidate can deliver the most compelling wallop to Senator McCain deserves to be the nominee.
excellent points
Personally, I’m an Obama supporter. I like your underlying point here: John McCain is the opponent, not Clinton or Obama. As you say, Clinton and Obama supporters need to act as if this is the case. When I read comments like this from Clinton, “Senator Obama’s support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me,” I’m not convinced that she’s willing to play the way you described. Likewise, the story about the super donor putting preasure on Nancy Pelosi about delegates in Fla and Mich doesn’t show me that supporters are willing to play along either. In order for her to actually play tag team, she needs to stop taking shots at Obama.
So yes Clinton should continue to fight. But she needs to stop fighting Obama. Obama has stopped fighting Clinton and has his aim fixed on McCain. And as my dad always told me when I was growing up, it takes two to fight. If one has stopped fighting you, it’s no longer a fight you have. It’s picking on somebody.
Hillary should continue to fight Obama
Obama didn’t convincingly nail the blue collar voters in any of the last three elections despite an incredible Glitzkrieg of advertising. If the Democrats want to win in the fall, they have to find some pretext for picking Hillary Clinton. Popular vote? Maybe but she’s going to have to fight to get it.
this race is over
reality and simple math ell us that the race is over and it is time for the democratic party to com together. i think hillary and obama both ran an excellent race. i would love to see a obama -gore, or obama-edwards ticket. thats the ticket to win.
Alternate Reality
The news networks would never cover a contested convention in the way you say they would, as a tag-team attack on McCain. The way to build excitement and ratings for them would be to focus on the fight between Clinton and Obama, even if both were being nice to each other and attacking McCain.
A tag-team could occur, however, if Hillary drops out and endorses Obama. Then she could be one of his attack dog surrogates, which, given her high national profile and skills in the down and dirty business of politics, is a role she is supremely suited for.
There are two dates to look out for. May 20th she could exit gracefully, as Obama will sew up the majority of the pledged delegates on that date. Or, conversely, she could wait till June 3rd, after the final primaries, and concede defeat then. Past then, and she simply drives the wedge further into the Democratic Party, weakening our chances in November.
However, expecting the traditional media to not run with the “Divided Democrats” story and instead focus on McCain is a political fantasy.
Re Should Hillary continue the fight?
I support Hillary Clinton’s right to stay in the race until she wins (now near-impossible) or when Senator Obama holds enough delegates to be nominated.
At the same time, I am troubled by her continued negative campaigning which only gives the Republican machine ammunition for the general election campaign.
Worse yet, Clinton has never once denounced the right-wing Rush Limbaugh’s attempts to get Republicans to vote for her in the Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Indiana primaries as a delibrate means to subvert a democratic election by creating “chaos” in the Democratic Party.
When asked about Limbaugh’s low-ball tactics by ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, Hillary’s only comment was a lame: “He’s always had a crush on me.”
Worse of all were her recent comments to CNN on the difficulty Senator Obama has with winning over “whites” (taking the trouble to state his problems with “whites” twice within 30 seconds). This was nothing more than low road pandering to the racists out there.
It should be now clear to anyone that the Clinton game plan is to severely damage Senator Obama to an extent that he will lose the general election to John McCain who will be a 75 year-old incumbent in 2012…opening the way for a second chance for Hillary.
Matt Thomas
Will Hillary become a pariah?
Hillary is flirting with the possibility of becoming a pariah in the Democratic party if she continues helping McBush by tearing up Obama, the most likely Democratic nominee. She will be a spoiler like Nader was! Hillary needs to allow Obma to switch his attention to the general election instead of an endless primary.
Start picking on McCain?
Perhaps it is likewise time for Obama’s supporters to stop picking on Hillary Clinton—to turn the sexism, egoism and arrogance toward another outlet. I’m not sure what anecdote the followers of Obama will come up with for prevailing against McCain – his record of service, past misteps across a lifetime – perhaps question the extent and truth of his time being tortured … dig up interrogation logs from the Vietcong?
This nasty campaign is due in large part to Obama’s campaign tactics as well as Clinton’s. So now do we all kiss and make-up?
I kind of doubt it.
United against McCain? Some of us are going to vote for McCain rather than see someone in office whose experience and followers we hardly trust.
Better the old standard than the ‘change,’ when change could mean anything at all. The truth is – no one really knows enough about a President Obama and many of us are tired of listening to him talk. We are tired of his campaign of ‘change’ and generalities.
Pitting die hard Obama supporters against McCain’s could be interesting to watch, however.
A real sweet season of civility awaits…
Hillary should stay in & win
Almost heaven, West Virginia . . .
Ya gotta be able to carry WV to win the White House . . .
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