I just received an email from Barack Obama celebrating his loss in Kentucky.
What? Celebrating? That's the only way to describe it. Perhaps the best title for the email blast is "Hillary WHO?!" There's no mention whatsoever of Clinton. Instead, Obama explicitly tackles the General Election against McCain with these words:
Unfortunately, our opponents in the other party continue to embrace yesterday's policies and they will continue to employ yesterday's tactics -- they will try to change the subject, and they will play on fears and divisions to distract us from what matters to you and your future.
Obama may not be "declaring victory" tonight, but he's certainly acting the part of the de facto victor of the Democratic Presidential nomination. (As well he should.) As much as I and others would love to see this "definitively" over, and to see the Democratic Party unite, I admire the way Obama's handling this. There's no need to declare victory, to be perceived as "pushing" out Hillary Clinton.
I'll repeat what I said in a comment earlier tonight: I'm stoked that I will have, in my lifetime, a President I can be proud of. A President who knows that strength isn't always about fighting. A President who shows you can be both a General and a gentleman.
Here's the full email:
Jay --
The polls are closed in Kentucky and votes are being counted in Oregon, and it's clear that tonight we have reached a major milestone on this journey.
We have won an absolute majority of all the delegates chosen by the people in this Democratic primary process.
From the beginning, this journey wasn't about me or the other candidates. It was about a simple choice -- will we continue down the same road with the same leadership that has failed us for so long, or will we take a different path?
Too many of us have been disappointed by politics and politicians more times than you can count. We've seen promises broken and good ideas drowned in a sea of influence, point-scoring, and petty bickering that has consumed Washington.
Yet, in spite of all the doubt and disappointment -- or perhaps because of it -- people have stood for change.
Unfortunately, our opponents in the other party continue to embrace yesterday's policies and they will continue to employ yesterday's tactics -- they will try to change the subject, and they will play on fears and divisions to distract us from what matters to you and your future.
But those tactics will not work in this election.
They won't work because you won't let them.
Not this time. Not this year.
We still have work to do to in the remaining states, where we will compete for every delegate available.
But tonight, I want to thank you for everything you have done to take us this far -- farther than anyone predicted, expected, or even believed possible.
And I want to remind you that you will make all the difference in the epic challenge ahead.
Thank you,
Barack Obama