By JAMES TARANTO
Dear Mrs. Clinton,
The Associated Press re****ted yesterday that you say you "will remain in
the
presidential race 'until there's a nominee.' " We were glad to hear it,
but
then we read the very next sentence: "The former first lady declined to
say
whether that meant through the roll call of the states at the Democratic
National Convention this summer."
We hope you're just being coy, because so much is at stake here, and we
hear
lots of Democrats are urging you to call it quits. "George McGovern is
switching his sup****t for Hillary Clinton in this year's race for the
Democratic presidential nomination to Barack Obama, and he urged her to
drop
her bid so the party can unify behind one candidate," Bloomberg re****ts:
McGovern said the time has come for the two top Democrats
to stop fighting each other and for the party to begin
preparing for the general election battle against the likely
Republican nominee, Arizona Senator John McCain.
"We've got to start getting ready for McCain," McGovern said
in an interview. "This is a Democratic year unless we Democrats
defeat ourselves."
Do you think George McGovern really has the best interests of the party at
heart? Think about it. For 36 years he has been known as the guy who lost
49
states, and that's got to grate. For 24 years he has been known as the
first
guy who lost 49 states. George McGovern is 85 years old. He won't get many
more chances to see someone lose 50 states.
The Associated Press, meanwhile, re****ts that other Democrats are not
exactly
profiles in courage:
Apart from George McGovern, a plainspoken man who knows
something about losing elections, not a single Democrat of
national stature publicly urged Hillary Rodham Clinton on
Wednesday to end her campaign for the White House.
They didn't have to.
There was no shortage of other ways to signal, suggest,
insinuate or instigate the same thing. And certainly no need
to apply unseemly pressure to a historic political figure,
a woman who has run a grueling race, won millions of votes
and drawn uncounted numbers of new Democratic voters to the
polls.
Instead, many Democrats instead preferred to say softly what
the party's 1972 presidential nominee said for all to hear.
These chauvinists think that they can "signal, suggest, insinuate or
instigate" you out of the race, and that, being a woman, you'll respond to
such cajoling. We know you're tougher than that. And in any case, do they
really think they'll defeat John McCain, who endured years of torture at
the
hands of the North Vietnamese, by taking such a dainty approach?
Is this the way to sell a nominee who pals around with unrepentant Weather
Underground terrorists and goes to the "God damn America church"? And
that's
only what we know about Obama. What if it turns out that he has other
dubious
associations, exotic middle names, etc.? Does anyone doubt that the
Republican
Attack Machine would use such information against him? If you can unearth
it
before the convention, you can use it for the good of the Democratic
Party.
Mrs. Clinton, you've gotten a bum rap. Exit polls found that only 49% of
primary voters in North Carolina think you are honest and trustworthy, vs.
71%
for Obama. But as blogger Larry Johnson notes, the Obama campaign has
actually
resorted to urging its sup****ters to be dishonest. He quotes from an email
sent Monday by Jason Green, Obama's Charlotte, N.C., field director:
Please join us as we knock on your neighbors doors and bring
Senator Obama's message of hope, unity and change. There is
nothing more effective than connecting with another voter and
expressing your story. Only you can do that. You know how
im****tant this is! I know I don't have to ask, but I will one
last time--please join us tomorrow. Call in sick if you have
to and help us all day by canvassing or offering rides to the
polls.
Bill Clinton in 2000 said, "If you work hard and play by the rules, you
ought
to have a decent life and a chance for your children to have a better
one."
Now the Obama campaign says, "Call in sick if you have to."
We see from this morning's USA Today that you're picking up this theme,
telling the paper: "There was just an AP article posted that found how
Senator
Obama's sup****t among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans is
weakening again. . . . I have a much broader base to build a winning
coalition
on."
This is generally quite good. It's an especially nice touch ending the
sentence with a preposition; it shows that you aren't one of those
pedantic
eggheads who want to take away guns and force them to go to college. You
know
that Mr. Arugula would say, ". . . on which to build a winning coalition."
Just one bit of constructive criticism. You should have left out the
mention
of "white Americans." It makes it sound as though you think black
Americans
aren't hard-working. Even if you do think this, some things are better
left
unsaid. If you do win the nomination, you're going to need the sup****t of
blacks in November.
There's one more reason to stay and fight: to undo the damage Al Gore did
to
the Democratic Party in 2000. That year, he went all the way to the
Supreme
Court in an effort to nullify the results in Florida and steal the
election
from George W. Bush. Florida voters were none too pleased with this, and
in
2004 they gave Bush an overwhelming margin against John Kerry.
Incredibly, Obama is trying to disfranchise Florida voters again--and
Michigan
ones, too. Yes, "the rules" are on his side, but there are limits to that
work-hard-and-play-by-the-rules stuff. Gore assembled a team of Democratic
legal superstars to press his case against Florida; surely some of them
would
be willing to do penance by helping to re-enfranchise Sun****ne and
Wolverine
state Democrats.
Sure, things look grim now, but you've survived worse. Remember how you
and
Bill stared down the vast right-wing conspiracy? They thought they would
destroy his presidency and your marriage. Instead, you're a U.S. senator
and
he's in line to be the first male first lady. So buck up, work hard, and
play
by the rules, bending them a little if you have to. You can still win this
thing. Yes, you can.
Cheers,
James
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