My rationale for bringing the Democratic primary to a close
The time has come for the Democratic Party to collectively recognize that our primary election process for the nomination to be President needs to end soon.
Why? Because Senator Clinton cannot hope to surpass Senator Obama without taking the low road and running a vicious campaign intent on tearing him down. At this point in the contest, there is simply no other viable strategy available to Clinton and her advisors. Obama leads the race by nearly every metric: pledged delegates, popular vote, states won, and fundraising totals.
Hillary Clinton cannot possibly overcome the Obama lead by cheerfully talking about her health care plan, or by charming us with happy talk on the environment and education. She can only close the gap by throwing mud at Obama, thus making him apppear to be unelectable in the contest against McCain in November. She has already demonstrated that she will ruthlessly advance her personal agenda at the expense of the Democratic Party by stating that the Republican McCain would make a superior Commander in Chief to her fellow Democrat, Senator Obama. She has also alienated a large segment of our Party by taking a dismissive attitude toward Democrats who live in states that vote by caucus.
It requires some extremely creative math to imagine a scenario where Hillary Clinton might take the nomination outright. Nearly all the political experts who have analyzed the numbers have concluded that she can only win if the superdelegates decide to throw the race to her in spite of the clearly expressed intent of the voters. Should that happen, our Party will suffer consequences too drastic to contemplate.
I don't worry about Obama's ability to fend off the slings and arrows of a political campaign. He's a big boy and can take care of himself. But if our objective is to put a Democrat in the White House, we do ourselves no favor by battering our likely nominee and providing the Republicans with talking points they can use to attack him.
The present state of affairs does not serve the best interests of the Democratic Party. It's a long way to Pennsylvania, and the tension within our Party is likely to get considerably worse if we allow the race to drag on. Hillary Clinton had her chance; she began the contest with every conceivable advantage, but she has been outdone by a brilliant 50-state populist campaign funded by small individual donors. The incompetent management of her campaign is reason enough to doubt her ability to serve as our President.
I urge the leadership of our Party to exert their influence on the process and bring it to a close sooner than later. Settling on our nominee now will give the Party ample time to come together and focus our energies and resources on taking the Presidency back from the GOP.