I'm a little more sanguine now that I've had a few hours to digest what happened last night in the Texas and Ohio Democratic primaries. Hillary succeeded in changing the goalposts and as I had expected, she won Ohio and won the popular vote in Texas. At this early in the morning it looks like she might get a net gain of 4 whole delegates out of this.
You're going to hear a lot about how it's increasingly improbable that Hillary can win the nomination. The reality is, Obama cut her 20 point leads down to nearly nothing and at this point, the goalposts that really matter-- that is, the delegates are not just in Obama's favor; there's pretty much nothing Clinton can do to win the pledged delegates.
Here's why I'm happy. Had Obama won tonight, he would be the nominee and McCain and the Republican's would begin an all out assault. Right now, they don't have to because they have Hillary to do it for them. Somebody would be going after Obama and I'd rather it be Hillary. She can continue to throw the "kitchen sink" at him, if she's lucky pick up a delegate or two here and there and at the end of the primaries, still be behind.
But what about all the damage she's doing? Bollocks. She's not saying or doing anything McCain wouldn't be doing or saying. In fact, the tow of them look more like a team every day. The upshot of this is that all indications are Hillary & Co. will do anything to win and as her tactics become more aggressive and dubiously ethical, her critiques of Obama will seem more and more repugnant, weakening their effectiveness by McCain in the general. This lady is going to burn the house down with herself and still, there's just no way for her to win.
For all intents and purposes, Obama will be the nominee. Hillary's continued presence in the race manages to keep Republicans at bay while also, let's be honest, help draw a distinction between Obama and the liberals of the past. McCain will have a far harder time drawing Obama as the classic liberal after Hillary's self-immolation. Obama's continued to conduct himself with grace and dignity. Even after Hillary refused to acknowledge Obama's wins in the 11 primaries after Super Tuesday, Obama congratulated Hillary on her wins, as one example. And for someone who wants to win the general election in November, his focus on going after McCain now is the right move. I'd be standing by him even if he wasn't winning, but he's actually already won. Let Hillary destroy her house finding plumbing to throw at Obama. At the end of the day, he'll still be the nominee and she'll have a real fixer-upper.
Labels: politics
