Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Maybe She Shouldn't Quit Just Yet

There is some logic to her staying in the race, if only to bring the tensions down within the Democratic party, to allow wounds to heal and tempers to abate.

Josh Marshall's the voice of reason:

  • "One concrete reason is that among the three contests to come over the next two weeks -- West Virginia, Kentucky and Oregon -- two are among the best for Hillary in the country. So having him become presumptive nominee just before losing the West Virginia primary doesn't necessarily allow him to hit the ground running. And as Obama's speech last night signaled, his campaign seems intent on giving Clinton the space to make the decision on her own. The eventual nomination he has in hand; what he's got to work on is deescalating the tension between himself and Clinton's supporters. That's the necessary prelude to building the party unity he needs to win in November."
Makes sense. Watch the tone of the race in the coming days, and I think we'll know if he's right.

3 comments:

Dan said...

Haven't been here lately, but I think the tone of the race went down the proverbial shitter yesterday with Hillary talking about "hard-working... white Americans." Up to this point, I thought she had every right to stay in the race. But she wants to call Obama an elitist one week, and then raise the specter of race the next. Give me a break! The Democratic party and the nation deserve better.

Dan said...

Haven't been here lately, but I think the tone of the race went down the proverbial shitter yesterday with Hillary talking about "hard-working... white Americans." Up to this point, I thought she had every right to stay in the race. But she wants to call Obama an elitist one week, and then raise the specter of race the next. Give me a break! The Democratic party and the nation deserve better.

Christopher Hess said...

You got that right. It's still amazing to me what the Clintons are willing to do to win. It's terribly shortsighted, for the party and for them. At this point, the thing that matters most is avoiding a joint ticket. She (they) need to disappear for a while, and her name in the VP slot would be the worst thing that could happen to Obama.