C'mon Hillary. Please Give It Up

Lookit. I like Hillary well enough. I was skeptical but voted for her when she first ran for Senator of my state. I enthusiastically cheered her reelection. With a few exceptions she has done an admirable job for NY. Yet with each passing day, my admiration for both Hillary and her hubby declines dramatically.

With or without superdelegates, Hillary's quest for the White House is fraught with obstacles. The Tuzla flap aside, her campaign posture has become a major turnoff. Even worse, it's disrupted Democratic voters' unity and our singular sense of purpose: to take back the White House. The Boston Globe has this:

A Gallup poll released yesterday indicated that 28 percent of Democrats supporting Clinton said they would vote for McCain over Obama in November, while 19 percent of Obama's backers said they would vote for McCain over Clinton.

That's just the acrimony (and mebbe the whisky) talking. I'm confident this is only temporary. No Democrat worth his or her salt would vote for crazy John McCain come November -- He's only gonna get crazier too as we near the election. Though through this infighting we do risk losing the so called "Obamicans" who would never vote for Hillary. Regardless, this poll is indicative of the divisiveness the Obama/Hillary war has caused. The Globe sums it up:

Clinton's campaign has been under pressure from some Obama partisans, citing his lead in delegates, total votes, and fund-raising, to give up because she has almost no chance of overtaking him in the contest for pledged delegates. With 10 contests remaining until June 3, Clinton trails Obama by 122 delegates, according to the Associated Press tally. Clinton holds an edge among the more than half of all superdelegates who have declared their allegiance.

The Clinton campaign, however, continues to send strong signals that it will not fold. Clinton said this week that voters do not want to "shut this race down."

Senator Clinton's chief surrogate, her husband, former president Bill Clinton, told voters in West Virginia yesterday, "My family's not big on quitting." He also downplayed concern over the campaign's tone, saying: "Let's just saddle up and have an argument. What's the matter with that?

Plenty, Bill, plenty. It reflects poorly on you both. Why give the Republicans the blueprint to weakening our nominee's candicacy and doing the early work for them? This is analogous to George Bush's stance i.e. putting yourself above party and party above country.

I disagree too with Hillary's contention that we voters don't wanna "shut this race down." If that were true, it would still be for the betterment of our party for her to step aside. Instead focusing on defeating the Republican nominee, this infighting is not only weakening our nominee(s) but also the party as a whole. More from The Globe:

...Some major Democratic fund-raisers who support Clinton sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi chiding her for publicly suggesting that the superdelegates should follow the will of the voters as reflected in pledged delegates and the popular vote - two measures on which Clinton faces long odds to catch up.

Chastising Speaker Pelosi for stating the obvious, right attitude is an unneeded distraction from her pressing business such as, oh I don't know, ensuring that the telecoms do not get the immunity they and the Bush Administration seek. While it may be in just some small way, this "chiding" does diminish Pelosi's standing. This comes at a crucial time in history when our party needs strengthening not weakening.

So c'mon Hillary. Please give it up. If you won't do it for your party, then do it for your country. Go back to where you can do the most good as the junior Senator for the great State of New York. Do it now before any more damage is done. Please.

-AF

+Update (3/28): Josh Marshall adds his two cents on Hillary, Bill, calls by Sen. Leahy & Sen. Dodd to step aside, the Clintons' fuzzy delegate math, shark-hopping. etc.

++Update #2 (3/28): TPM has deets on Sen. Leahy's call for Hillary to drop out.