Forks or Knives

Demosthenes rudely stole the planned title of this post, so I had to make revisions. Hmph. Anyway, the primaries last night pretty much remove any doubt by all but the totally delusional that Obama is going to be the Democratic nominee. While the mathematics of the situation pointed to a prohibitively high probability that Obama would be the nominee, last night turned them into a certainty. There just aren't enough delegates left on the table for Clinton to secure the nomination, even with Florida and Michigan counted. Clinton needed to come close in North Carolina and win big in Indiana, and the reverse happened. She's not going to lead in the national popular vote, and there is no way superdelegates will break for her now. Forks, indeed.

The question remains what to do next. If the Clinton people decide to keep going and pray for a miracle, her political career and any influence in the party will abruptly end. The media will portray her as desperate, the party leadership will become disgusted, and Obama will start portraying her as an ally of John McCain. In short, the knives will come out, and she will be carved up.

I don't want to see that. I admire her determination, but such an eventuality would be bad for all concerned. I do not subscribe to the "devil theory" of Hillary Clinton. I think that she's been doing the best she can to secure the nomination, but now that it's over, I think she'll drop out. Maybe not now, but soon.

Which brings me to what happens next. I think that Clinton has demonstrated enough support in the party, and still possesses enough ability to make trouble if she were to choose to do so, that Obama has to give her pretty much anything she wants. A place on the ticket, Secretary of State, whatever. Obama should make the offer soon, himself. If Clinton accepted it, they could start running for the general election tomorrow, and send that faker McCain and his contemptible party to political oblivion forever. Heck, from the point of view of having a scrapper who will attack the other side, she is the perfect running mate. I think it would reconcile a lot of her supporters to Obama that much more quickly, as well as make Obama look extremely magnanimous.

End it. End it now. We're all very tired, so please give us a break.