If Hillary wins Texas and Ohio, and the race drags on for months, the Democrats will have squandered one of the greatest revivals in history.
The Republicans are in the worst possible position to
keep the White House in 2008. They are expected to lose Senate seats and House seats. They are expected to lose state and local elected offices. Recent history suggests that only the Democratic Party could take such an incredible
opportunity and muck it up.
The race between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton has been competitive. Early on, it appeared as though Hillary was still the front-runner, and would put Obama away on Super Tuesday. The fact is, she didn’t.
The race remained close, until Obama racked up 8 primaries in a row with convincing numbers. Since Super Tuesday, Maine was the only state where Clinton was within 20 points of Obama. She lost 59-40.
Hawaii and Wisconsin look like they may bring another two big wins for Obama. If Ohio and Texas votes big for Hillary, it will be a disaster. It is not that I dislike Hillary, it is that for her to win means it will take at least until June until we have a nominee, and the turnaround would have to be complete. She’ll have to win convincingly from March 4th on. Since that won’t happen, and she'll lose big in Mississippi and Wyoming, it means a brokered convention or a deal in July, where Super-delegates pick the winner.
All the while, John McCain will be traveling the nation as the GOP nominee. He will get a four-month head start. He will talk about how divided the Democratic Party has become, and how that makes them dysfunctional to lead the U.S. in the War on Terror. He will say that the Democrats denied Democracy by picking their nominee through political favoritism.
While McCain gains momentum, Democrats will be at war with each other. Without a Presidential candidate to rally behind, Democratic candidates in competitive Senate races and House races will suffer.
We all know that if Hillary is the eventual nominee, not only will it have given McCain an enormous head-start, it may also galvanize Republican voters. Republicans are praying that Hillary is the nominee. They won’t have to talk about issues. They will be able to rely on their base and independents by blasting her and bringing up all the memories from the Clinton Administration. The Democrats may fail to gain Senate and House seats that they could have with a consensus national candidate. This will be amplified due to the little time she will have to get the Party and the country to rally behind her.
The fact is, the race is over. Obama has surged, and we have to rally behind him. I know some of you love Hillary, but the fact is, we are running out of time. If we act soon, Obama has the chance to unite the country and the Party, and focus his energy on McCain. Let's just put our differences behind us and get behind his campaign.
We have to win this time. Can you imagine another 4 years of fear-mongering, Iraq, energy crises, recession, and partisan bickering? Why should we subject ourselves and our country to that mess? Do you really think McCain will do the right thing? Whatever integrity he had, he lost a long time ago by pandering to the right-wing and following the politics of self-destruction.
Remember when Al Gore won in 2000, and had it taken away? Imagine if we had 8 years of Al Gore instead of Bush? Imagine how much better it would have been for the country!
A vote for Hillary on March 4th is a vote for a broken Democratic electorate. It is a vote for risking Democratic victory in November for the White House, Congress, and State and local races. It is a vote to let McCain get a wider head start and give the GOP the advantage they could only have dreamed about one year ago.
Hillary has run out of time. Only Obama can save us now, and he has the Republicans shaking in their designer boots!