Obama is the presumptive nominee. We've all gotten used to wishing and hoping that the party leaders would step in and expedite things and Clinton would see the light and back off. But now, who needs 'em? Time to move on to McCain.
The "party leaders" say:
Democrats must now turn our full attention to the general election. To that end, we are urging all remaining uncommitted super delegates to make their decisions known by Friday of this week so that our party can stand united . . .
Meanwhile, everyone waits on pins and needles for Clinton to concede.
But what's the point, now? He won. He didn't just pass some mathematical point of probability, he accumulated all the delegates he needs. (Granted, he won't actually win until the convention, but I'd say he at least won the "presumptive" title.) So, why pressure the rest of the superdelegates? At this point, coming out for Obama is unnecessary; coming out for Clinton isn't helpful. If they wanna remain uncertain and/or uncommitted, fine.
Plus, if they're really looking for unity they wouldn't just encourage people to endorse whomever they choose, they'd encourage them to coalesce around Obama. It's a pretty weak statement at this stage of the game.
Same goes for the concession. It would have been valuable before because it would cut short the primary season and end the useless attacks. Now, there are no more contests. He doesn't need her concession to declare victory. And he didn't wait for it to do so last night.
I realize that the concession would be a good sign that Clinton is about to become less destructive. But what we need is for her to, in fact, become less destructive, with or without a concession. She could have done that weeks ago too, but didn't.
I say we move on. Obama seems to be doing that, at least publicly. Right on.
cross posted at yazilikaya