I still believe Obama has a chance at cruising to a win in November, but it's going to take a lot more work than it ought to. But if he loses, it will be Hillary's fault.
2008 should be our year - and not just a mere winning year, but an historic blowout, in-your-face save-the-world banner year. But it may not turn out that way and the reason is clear.
As if she hasn't done enough to try to damage Barack Obama's chances (commander in chief threshold, Christian as far as I know, and the list goes on...), Hillary Clinton continues to inflict new wounds and tear off old scabs that are increasingly dividing the Democratic party.
She's sunk to using pathetic victimhood, ridiculously citing sexism, whining about biased media coverage (despite evidence to the contrary), accusing cover-ups, and decrying voter disenfranchisement. All of these tactics have been attempts at convincing superdelegates that she should be the nominee. Unfortunately, the end result is that her die-hard supporters are becoming more (and more rabidly) entrenched.
She claims that she will work her heart out for the party's eventual nominee. She's already failed.
Instead of stirring up a great divide in the party that is dangerously close to being irreparable, Hillary Clinton could instead be in the position to help guarantee success in November.
Instead, she has asked:
Who is the stronger candidate against John McCain? We have not gone through this exciting, unprecedented, historic election, only to lose.
So now she's telling the voters of the nation that if Obama is the nominee, he will lose to McCain. This is as treasonous as the CIC Threshold argument - and more transparently destructive.
An argument she and her camp have made for her staying in the race and continuing to campaign against the obvious presumptive nominee is that "anything can happen". Whether or not that includes the ultimate tragedy, this is not a valid argument. She could have, weeks ago when it was already obvious that Obama was on his way to winning, postponed her campaign, and started working on his behalf. This move would have preserved her option to re-enter at any time and still be nominated at the convention in August. And this would have allowed the healing to begin, rather than continue pouring salt on the wounds. The potential benefits of this magnanimous gesture were discussed by Chuck Todd Tuesday night on Hardball.
...she could have suspended her candidacy...three weeks ago. She could be winning primaries without being an active candidate. She could be actually strengthening her hand and getting an olive branch out to the folks in Obamaland, who right now don‘t like her, very upset with her.
Instead of working for the benefit of the presumptive nominee, instead of working for the benefit of the party, instead of working for the benefit of the nation, she's only working for the benefit of herself. Instead of using her sway with her supporters to bring the party together, she's using her supporters for her own purposes and against their own interests.