It is time for Hillary Clinton to concede the race. She fought a hard fight, and she has made history by being the first woman to be seriously considered for the White House. It was a fun ride while it lasted. But all good things must come to an end, and so it should be with this campaign. With the simultaneous announcements that Florida and Michigan will not be having their revotes, along with her last best shot at Obama over the Wright controversy going nowhere, it is time for Hillary to admit the obvious -- that Obama is the rightful winner of the Democratic presidential nomination, and that we should support him in November.
The fact of the matter is that the longer this goes on, the more it divides the Democratic Party. When Westly and Angiledes got into their pissing match in the California gubernatorial primary, the Democrats squandered a golden chance to oust Ahnold, who was not very popular at the time. When James Webb and Harris Miller got into their pissing match, Webb seemed dead in the water until the Macaca Moment led to a narrow victory. The same is true here -- the longer this goes on, the more it will benefit John McCain. He is already 4-8 points ahead of both Hillary and Barack Obama. People have to make a fundamental choice here -- do they want the Democrats to win in November, or do they want to follow a scorched earth policy and attack each other?
The American people have already spoken. They have given Barack Obama an 800,000 vote lead, insurmountable even if Hillary were to run the table. They have given Obama a 150 vote pledged delegate lead; I suggest that the superdelegates do not want to see a repeat of 1968, where the elites overturned the wishes of the people by nominating Hubert Humphrey. Obama has been picking up new superdelegates at a 2-1 clip, with John Murtha being the only significant Hillary Clinton endorsement.
What is at stake is very clear -- John McCain has shown that he is too radical for this country. He would abolish the Federal Minimum Wage, leave us in Iraq for the next 100 years, and start a war with Iran. Not only that, he would appoint radical right-wing judges who would overturn Roe, Brown, and Griswold. All of these are interrelated -- John McCain is the polar opposite of John Edwards.
John Edwards, remember, wanted to turn Two Americas into One America by bridging the gap between the rich and the poor. But John McCain would do the exact opposite -- he would create Two Americas -- one where some were born to rule and others to serve. They would be divided by wealth, with no middle class worth speaking of. Not only that, John McCain would create a cheap labor pool where corporations would exploit immigrants by giving them tasks that the American middle class used to do, only with a lot more wages.
There is method to John McCain's twisted policies -- the problem with our occupation of Iraq is that we do not have enough people willing to enlist to fuel George Bush's war of choice. John McCain would fix that by making it so that the only economically viable option for our people would be to enlist in the military. More enlistments would mean more boots on the ground, which means more wars for John McCain.
And John McCain's desire to abolish Roe makes perfect sense -- if single women who are pregnant can't end an unwanted pregnancy, in his twisted reasoning, then these children would grow up in poverty. The end result in McCain's Brave New World? More boots on the ground to fuel his wars of choice.
This is what is at stake here in this election. America cannot afford the risk of a third term for Bush; therefore, we need to get behind Barack Obama, who has won this primary fair and square.