Hillary Clinton and her supporters are relying on the argument that the primary process isn't fair and that, if it were a fairer or more rational process, she would in fact be the nominee.
And maybe they're right. Maybe. At the very least, it is apparent that the "system" by which the Democratic Party selects its nominee -- a patchwork of primaries and caucuses and primary/caucuses that has grown up state by state over the years -- is hardly an example of straightforward and systematic logic. Compared to the simple and appealing rubric of "one person, one vote", the Democratic nomination seems positively byzantine.
So maybe the nomination race isn't fair or simple. But here's the thing: neither is life.
Moreover, neither are the massive problems the Bush administration is bequeathing to our country's next president: a disasterous occupation in the Middle East, a looming financial crisis, and the threat of global environmental meltdown. All of these are incredibly complex, inherently "unfair", and they require a response that begins with accepting the facts on the ground first and coming up with an intelligent response plan.
If the nomination process means anything, it is an opportunity for us to get some insight into how our candidates will act when and if they are elected president. As a candidate, Barack Obama didn't complain that the Democratic primary process was designed to favor the candidate with the highest name-recognition and the biggest starting war chest. Moreover, he didn't pretend to his supporters that his nomination would be inevitable. He didn't try to write off his defeats as "irrelevant", instead he took them as opportunities to remind his supporters that we all need to work harder to bring about our desired outcome.
That's the kind of president we need, now more than ever. We need a president who recognizes complexity and comes up with a plan for dealing with it. Not one who cries foul, spends precious time and resources managing perceptions and lobbying for last-minute rules changes, plays the victim, or badgers the refs. Because in the real world, facing the real challenges that we face, the "refs" don't care. And all the lawyer-ball in the world won't change the final score.
(Cross posted at TPM Cafe.)