Stop the hand wringing and whining

A lot of energy is being expended on demanding the party step in to reign in Hillary or that the super delegates must step in and put a stop to this  before it destroys the party, or that Hillary must do the right thing and step aside. You are wasting your time.

Obama is standing between Hillary and her life long ambition. She does not give a crap what the party elders think, what you think, she is not going to be reigned in, she is not going to quit and she is going to do what ever it takes to win. The only way to stop her is to beat her. The super delegates will not step in until there is an absolutely clear winner. A TKO won't do it, it needs to be a knock out. Expend all that energy on PA. An upset win by Obama there could end the race. And if that does not happen it's on to the next 9 primaries.

Expect it to get nastier and expect the race baiting to get worse. Whining won't put a stop to it. Crushing Hillary in the primaries will.

No one said change would be easy. The DLC and the Clinton's weren't just going to hand over the keys to the kingdom just because Obama asked nicely. Getting the nomination will be bloody and winning in November will be to. There will be a price to pay. The party will sustain some damage but it's only through this swamp that victory lies.

So direct all that energy not to lobbying super delegates. Not to moral outrage about how mean and nasty the Clinton's are. Convince voters, send money, volunteer. Don't demand Hillary quit, beat her and beat her so there is no wiggle room and no question about who will be our nominee.

•  She shouldn't quit

  ...she should remain open to running with Obama in whatever capacity, though .. and she should stay as positive as possible.

  That goes for Clinton campaign surrogates, too.

  Mean never wins.
  Racism never wins.

  by Iddybud on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 12:25:24 PM PDT

  •  She is going to get as nasty as she needs to

    to win. If that means destroying Obama and fracturing the party so be it. Once she has the nomination she will worry about picking up the pieces.

    by hankg on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 12:28:32 PM PDT

    •  That's not what I've heard from her

      She's the one who offered a vision, however preliminary it might be, of a unity Dem ticket. Her husband did the same - quite boldly.

      So I don't buy your cynicism here.
      Sorry.

      by Iddybud on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 12:33:19 PM PDT

      •  She only mentioned "unity" ticket to make inroads

        Hillary only mentioned the possibility of a ticket with Obama. I don't expect her to ever follow through on it.  Now is not the time to pick out a VP, now is the time to decide who is best to run the country, and the whole country, not just who votes for the president.

        Hillary is using whatever she can to bring Obama supporters to her side by teasing them with a 'possibility' that she may offer this to him, so graciously.

        If you don't see through her pandering, sorry for you.  Wake up and smell the coffee.  This country needs change and Hillary cannot offer that!

        by cookeee57 on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 12:46:21 PM PDT

        •  I expect them both to come together

          For the sake of our nation and for winning clearly and indisputably this November, I suggest you not only join me in that desire, but that you pray for it if you're the praying kind.

          No need to be mean spirited or condescending here. You don't have to pretend you feel sorry for someone who sees the great good it would do for our party to have unity and harmony among us when we face McCain.

          by Iddybud on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 12:57:39 PM PDT

      •  funniest thing about that "unity"

        ticket of goodwill only applies if the guy who is winning gets the bottom of the ticket...

        And she also denied saying anything when asked how Obama could be a heartbeat away from President and yet being less ready than McCain or her.

        by housesella on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 12:48:23 PM PDT

        •  Doesn't matter to me which way it goes

          ...the important thing is that they show they're grown-up enough to stop fighting and come together.

          There's be a lot less bickering and a lot more joy right here at Kos if the two campaigns settled this, however they decide to do it .. before throwing such an importnat decision to the instability of a superdelegate-vote.

          by Iddybud on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 01:00:11 PM PDT

•  But online forums EXIST

  for hand-wringing and whining.  It's like telling a dryer vent to stop venting.

  I mean, I come here for a good dose of get-it-off-my-chest, most of the time.  OK, once a while I'm looking for action diaries to suck up my time and money, but it sure as heck ain't the daily motivator.  Maybe I'm weaker than average. But I doubt it.

  by lgmcp on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 12:26:13 PM PDT

•  okay to lobby superdelegates

  Particularly if your congressman is a superdelegate representing an overwhelmingly Obama district, or if you live in an Obama state and your party chair or vice chair has yet to endorse, I think it's perfectly fine to lobby them.  Don't whine, don't threaten, just lobby.  The narrower the superdelegate lead is between now and PA, the better off for Obama longterm.

  AND volunteer, donate, convince voters.

  We likely won't win Pennsylvania.  But if we can keep the popular below 10% (a big uphill climb) or less, and then trounce in NC and IN, this one is pretty much in the bag.

  by jakester on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 12:26:34 PM PDT

•  since you can read her mind

  Can you tell us what she wants for dinner tonight?

  by sunshineonthebay on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 12:28:26 PM PDT

  •  Baracks head on a silver platter

    by hankg on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 12:29:21 PM PDT

    •  i thought she liked babies

      Didn't realize she was into adult meat as well.

      by sunshineonthebay on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 12:33:05 PM PDT

•  GOOD ADVICE!

  by VClib on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 12:29:34 PM PDT

•  i think she needs protesters who scream about

  DEMOCRACY in primaries.
  1 man 1 vote et al.

  by stagemom on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 12:36:08 PM PDT

•  Obama's not going to win PA

  We don't need to play into Hillary's "big state" meme. It's absurd and false.

  Obama is very unlikely to win PA. He doesn't need to win PA.

  What Hillary needs is some more fucking delegates.

  by Oothoon on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 12:43:32 PM PDT

  •  Exactly

    And any Obama supporter who thinks he can is just buying into Clinton spin. The more the Obama campaign acts as if it likes its chance in PA (it won't), the easier it will be for the media to portray Clinton as the "comeback kid" when she inevitably wins it big.

    And she will win it big. Bill Clinton just came out and said Hillary needed a "big big win." He's setting up the momentum narrative.

    Don't fall for it. The best Obama can hope for out of PA is to keep the delegate bleed to a net 20 for Clinton.

    by plum on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 01:35:10 PM PDT

    •  Keep expectations low but fight like hell

      If all she picks up is 20 delegates and 150,000 more in the popular vote Hillary is screwed.

      by hankg on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 02:27:22 PM PDT

•  Delagates don't matter at this point

  Unless Obama gets to 2025. Until then he need to keep winning. Pennsylvania does matter. So does North Carolina and all the states after that. The thing thats hurting him the most right now is he is in a postion where he has to keep responding to clintons attacks. That keep him off message and makes him look like a regular politican. And we're going to have six long weeks of this. He will probably win NC. But Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia, I'm not so sure. At this point super delgates matter more than pledged delegates.  

  by Alex116 on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 12:58:14 PM PDT

  •  Not quite true

    The more pledged delegates Obama has the less supers he needs to take the nomination. Hillary will have to win over 65% of the supers if current trends continue.

    by hankg on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 02:28:42 PM PDT

•  Well put...

  ......................... put your gear on and let's get ready for a street fight.

  The good guys will triumph!

  by MutantPop on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 02:32:33 PM PDT