Hell No, HRC Won’t Go

Should Hillary Clinton pull out of the race after her anemic victory in Indiana and her loss in North Carolina? A lot of people think she should. These are, as you might imagine, generally Obama supporters like Bill “Judas” Richardson and George “I’m Still Reeling from that Beating I Sustained in ’72” McGovern or media embedded Obama campaign operatives such as MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann. But even these cretins may have a point.

Although neither Obama or Clinton can win the nomination now without the help of the superdelegates, the likelihood of getting them to support Clinton is not good unless Obama says something extraordinarily idiotic, a la Bittergate, or we find that Jeffrey Dahmer or John Wayne Gacy, Midwesterners just like Obama, were close associates of the man who wants the thankless task of running this country.

I wrote near the end of March, with an eye on the Pennsylvania primary in April, that HC should stay in the race at least until after the May 6 primaries in Indiana and NC and reassess her chances at the point.

Well, she didn’t do terribly well in Indiana or North Carolina, but given the deconstruction of Obama that is already in full swing, I am glad I hedged my bets. It’s not so much because I believe Obama will fall on his face before the primaries are over in July, but because I believe that HC is the better candidate and, while she still has any chance at all, should stay in the race. West Virginia and Kentucky are coming up on May 13th and 20th, respectively, and by all measures she should do very well in both. Voters in these states as well as Oregon, Montana, and South Dakota, where Obama is expected to do well, deserve to weigh in. Puerto Rico, too, which is the final Democratic contest in this campaign, should have its say, infrequent as this is anytime else for Puerto Ricans.

And speaking of having their voices heard, who knows what kind of shenanigans Clinton may engage in concerning the voters of Florida and Michigan who have been treated so shabbily by the Party Poobah. I wouldn’t mind hearing HC wax righteous about the Democrats disenfranchising the voters from these states that are certain to be crucial in the general election or watching Obama walk the razor’s edge of appearing respectful of such voters while doing everything he can to ensure that their votes will not be counted, at least as they are currently tallied.

More important, though, I want the race to continue because I’ve learned a hell of a lot about the Democratic nominating process. Things I and my drinking buddies would never have known had we not become so embroiled in this process and the 2008 Democratic campaigns in general, and had we continued every evening to watch, instead, Wheel of Fortune and reruns of Three’s Company.

So let the games continue. There is still much free advertising to be had, the bloodletting has not yet reached the ankles, and the Democrats are likely to get their collective populist arse kicked by a decrepit little martinet in November anyway.

So HC, here’s to you, as you put it in your speech before the returns from Indiana were even in, as you follow the “path straight to the White House;” however it is you might come to get there or even if you will soon be comforting yourself with sentiments like a “man’s reach should exceed his grasp,” and “it isn’t about the destination but the journey.”

Vanna, we hardly knew ya.