SarcasticIntellectual asked toward the end of a very interesting diary entry what was keeping the supers from speaking up and ending this thing. I thought of Olberman's comment this week that if Obama had said something (I don't remember what it was) like what Clinton or her campaign had said,
the Clinton umbrage machine would have gone into action immediately. My guess is that he was talking from hard experience, as he had just apologized to the Clinton campaign for saying that someone would take the two candidates into a room and only "he" would come out. I'm always amazed how this campaign, which rarely apologizes for anything, shamelessly demands apologies all the time from others. And gets them from decent people. And how people seem to think that Hillary, the self-declared perpetual victim of smears, press bias, dirty campaigning, is the stronger campaigner. Makes my head spin.
After what Carville did to Richardson, and after the attacks that Kossacks have reported when a Kentucky super endorsed Obama, superdelegates know they'll pay a price for stepping up. Joe Andrews said as much.
There is, moreover, value in their waiting. Hillary has made it clear that she's not stopping on the basis of others' recommendation. Her learning curve doesn't include being told by others that the earth is round. So how will Hillary learn that it's time for her to exit?
Not on her own.
* She doesn't learn from others. She is true to her own compass or gyroscope. Witness her response to myriad criticisms of her gas-tax relief "plan." Experts don't count. Her analysis and viewpoint counts.
* Rather than learning, she ups the ante, telling voters that she'll take this plan to Congress and force people to say whether they're with "us or against us." Triangulating with the people against Congress to support her candidacy. Triangulation can work both directions, but it isn't pretty.
* She discounts any effect her insistence on the gas-tax plan has on her relationship with colleagues in Congress. Despite her Goldilocks jibe, she lacks moderation, doesn't recognize the golden mean.
* She doesn't recognize Clinton fatigue and fatigue with the Bush-Clinton dynasty.
If she cannot learn to step aside gracefully, what will her learning curve look like? As hard as it is for people to bring that lesson to her, it is up to others. Obama endorsers who were formerly Clinton appointees and advocates speak of the difficulty of making that decision.
So she must be defeated. By voters. If she's defeated by supers rather than by voters, she can and will cry foul, back-room deals, sneaky influence-peddling by Obama, and who knows what. Barring some kind of unusual persuasion or lightning bolt of insight, Hillary's defeat will have to occur at the convention. Even then, as a cartoon on The Daily Show indicated, she'll be at the inaugration with a sign, "It isn't over yet."
Her entitlement to the presidency and the energy that she has put into securing this nomination and then the office itself, are so great that it is inhuman to expect her to see that she should step aside. And not only that, but that she is not likely ever to be the first woman president. If I had the chance to make history like that, I wouldn't let it go on my own. So as important as it is for the country that Democrats not nominate her, I think that it's oddly an act of friendship toward her to do all we can to persuade voters say no to her. For well into four decades she and Bill have successfully triangulated voters with themselves and against their opponents. So triangulation will be her downfall.
For me, fortunately, this isn't a vote-against election. We actually have a better choice--Barack Obama.
Let's roll up our sleeves and get to work.