Despite the corporate-owned media’s obsession with polls, controversy and the horse-race, last night Barack Obama blew Hillary Clinton out of the water and officially ended any realistic chance of her becoming America’s next President. Not since Woodrow Wilson has 14 points meant so much, and by 14 points, I mean the blow-out in North Carolina which was, as recently as Monday, being paraded as Obama’s last stand.
Hillary’s chances for the Presidency are effectively statistically impossible. It’s essentially to a point where Obama could come out and announce he was a hooker-loving, Muslim terrorist or something and Hillary may STILL lose. The sense that the race is over is stronger than ever and even Hillary supporters like George McGovern have announced that he would take his pledged super-delegate status and switch it to Barack Obama. In other words Hillary’s run for the President died on that fateful Tuesday night.
Can she be productive though? Will she go out strong and with dignity, or will she pull a Jerry Brown and look like a rebel rousing spoil sport at her party’s convention? I’m sure she will choose the former. When you realize that you have the choice of looking like a gracious 2nd place finish or a bad loser, most go with their legacy, even when it means the end of their career.
Speaking of looking bad, not since Hillary’s win in North Carolina has the Media looked so stupid. They beat the drums of war and when the smoke cleared, it was a slaughter. Even in Indiana, where Hillary was being projected as the clear winner on Monday, the votes were still being counted on Wednesday, and her “victory†was so slim that a mere 23,000 votes, out of 1.25 million gave Hillary the edge. A far cry from most polls and a clear indication that the Media and polling organizations like Pew, Zogby and Gallup got it wrong once again. However the ones who truly look ridiculous the day after the pathetic cable news media, who’s absurd predictions and divisive narrative driven, subtext inventing bickering that seems to be wrong more often than not. Today they look about as out of touch as a mobile pager.
I expect that Obama’s closing of this race will put to bed, not only Hillary, but any talk of Rev. Wright and serious doubts of Obama’s electability. However it will likely not deter Hillary, and maybe that’s a good thing.
Many suggest that Hillary staying in the race is a good thing. For one, she will likely win many of the remaining, lesser contests whether she’s running or not. This would make Obama look ridiculous if he lost to a candidate that wasn’t even running (just as Bill Clinton did in 1992 to Paul Tsongas). The other thing is that it creates more drama. It gives a chance for these swing states like West Virginia and Oregon to weigh in on one of the most exciting Presidential contests in a LONG time.
Lastly it gives Hillary a chance to begin winding down. It gives her a chance to exit the race on her own terms and begin to establish her legacy for the future. It gives her a chance to begin undoing the damage she’s inflicted to many voters like me, and further bring her supporters into the fold and begin to prepare them for the inevitable outcome of defeat. This all assumes that she sees the writing on the wall herself.
A united Democratic Party would be a powerful foe in November, meanwhile a divided party could potentially go down the road that Walter Mondale & George McGovern faced