The Ending drags on

Everyone seems to know that Barack Obama will be the nominee, everyone except, it would seem, Hillary Clinton and friends. I don't normally look to David Brooks for insight, but in a piece today he notes that Obama endured his worst period of the campaign, and didn't get taken down. There is no way she'll catch him in delegates, and the Super Delegates seem to be coming around to the position that the leader in pledged delegates should be the nominee. As in November, you don't get to pick which states count. You go with what you have, and Obama has the numbers.
But, and as a Democrat, this is the problem. If Hillary continues this Quiotic quest, she won't win but she''ll so poisoin the waters that she could seriously damage the party's nominee without getting any closer to her goal. I wish someone could get through to her. It's time to give it up. She had a good ride, did her best, but the numbers are against her.

No wonder the Clinton campaign feels impersonal. It’s like a machine for the production of politics. It plows ahead from event to event following its own iron logic. The only question is whether Clinton herself can step outside the apparatus long enough to turn it off and withdraw voluntarily or whether she will force the rest of her party to intervene and jam the gears.

If she does the former, she would surprise everybody with a display of self-sacrifice. Her campaign would cruise along at a lower register until North Carolina, then use that as an occasion to withdraw. If she does not, she would soldier on doggedly, taking down as many allies as necessary.

And that would be unfortunate. We need to have a strong Democrat in November, not one wounded by the current fray, to stand with John McCain and have the kind of debate on issues this nation needs.

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In her column "Hillary or Nobody?", Maureen Dowd offers some clues as to what Clinton's real agenda is:

"If McCain only served one term, Hillary would have one last shot. On Election Day in 2012, she’d be 65."

"Some top Democrats are increasingly worried that the Clintons’ divide-and-conquer strategy is nihilistic: Hillary or no democrat . . . Hillary is going for 'the Tonya Harding option' — if she can’t get the gold, kneecap her rival."

"And even Clinton supporters know that Bill does not want to be replaced as the first black president, especially by a black president with enough magic to possibly eclipse him in the history books."

If this is true, then it's time for the Democratic leadership to step up the pressure for Clinton to step down.

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