Today, Hillary Clinton finally told us what we've been waiting to hear: that she is suspending her election campaign, fully endorsing Barack Obama, and asking all of her supporters to fight as hard for him as they have for her. This brings to a close the extremely long, potentially damaging primary cycle that we have endured for some time now.
Understandably, many people are focusing on Hillary and her speech at the moment. But, disturbingly, even after Obama won the nomination, most of the discussion -- whether here or in the mainstream media -- was not on Obama and his accomplishment, but on Hillary instead: whether she would be picked as the Vice Presidential running-mate, if she had or had not been a service for women, and so on.
Yes, this race has been historic. Never before have we had as viable a woman or an African American. This is the first black American Presidential nominee in history. And never before has a woman come so close to clinching the same. Doubtless, Barack and Hillary should be lauded for the amount of support they were able to cull, and the tremendously strong campaigns they each fought.
But that leg of the election is over now, and we have a real fight ahead. John McCain represents an abhorrent possibility. Imagine it -- four to eight more years of George Bush policies. Civil liberties eroded. The war in Iraq escalated, and new wars begun. A failing economy, collapsing education system, and belligerent diplomacy policy. The environment neglected, perhaps beyond the point of no return. Extreme conservative judicial appointments across the board. Social programs dismantled, gas prices unchecked, political-business cronyism run rampant, and the hijacking of government at all levels by the Christian right. I need not detail what McCain will do to our country, because we have seen it for the past eight years, and you all know enough to know the amount of damage he would cause to this country, not to mention the decades back he would set the Democratic party.
The time has now come for us to focus our efforts. Please, unless Obama picks her as his running-mate, let's let up discussing Hillary -- the gendered analyses, fond recollections, messages of anger, speculations of all sorts, and all -- and narrow to the two people who matter most: Obama and McCain. As Hillary herself said:
I ask all of you to join me in working as hard for Barack Obama as you have for me.
So, please, let's heed that message. We need to attack McCain -- not for his teeth, his arms, his wrinkles, but for his substance, which is plenty bad enough. At the same time, we must focus on supporting Obama in every way we can. This election is no longer about who will be running against John McCain, it is about who will be assuming the Presidency in January. And that is not decided by focusing on the past, it is done by looking forward to the future. November is much closer than it seems, and I have no doubt that it will be a long, difficult, and arduous journey -- but a critical journey to make, because the well-being and future of Americans, both present and yet to be born (and, indeed, the lives of those the world over) are what is at stake. We need to gather all the energy we can, beginning now. Are you ready?