The New Republic

Barack Obama is an African-sounding name. That doesn't make him Robert Mugabe.

Hillary has lost her mind. I am convinced she will not drop out of the race until after the convention. She is that deluded, that crazed. It's fine for people to question Obama's positions or even his experience. But at what point will Hillary's diehards say enough is enough? Is there even a threshold?

- rozenson

May 21, 2008 at 10:12pm

The link is no longer available. It says it's broken. What did she say?

- scire

May 21, 2008 at 10:13pm

Isn't time NOW for the rest of the supers to just end this thing?  And for Gore to finally speak up for the good of the part AND the country and tell her to just drop it?  She lost.  Go gracefully or else she and her husband's legacy will suffer in the end too.  No one wins by her 'fighting' for something she already lost.

- tnmats

May 21, 2008 at 10:30pm

Issac,

I think you are spot on.

It is time that Obama takes his gloves off and simply KO (that's right: knockout) his opponent. This no longer has the dignity of a conventional prize fight. HRC has no intention of following the Marquess of Queensberry rules nor those of the DNC.

There is little to be gained (at this point) in complimenting and pandering to her further. He will not gain any more of her supporters than he might otherwise by doing so any longer. Her diehard "bitter", "hard working white" and disappointed women voters won't respond to this tactic. They may arguably find it condescending; which it is.

I thought after Amy Poehler's parody on SNL this past Saturday Hillary would find the closest exit. It was so spot on that it tragically wasn't even funny.

- puppins

May 21, 2008 at 10:36pm

But Jon, that's exactly what HRC supporters expect - they want Obama to grovel and praise her to the skies prostrate himself at the Altar of Hillary. He has to kiss their collective ass and turn a blind eye to her lies, distortions and sleazy maneuvering. He must take all their crap, smile and say "Thank you, may I have another?" She must be allowed to rip the Democratic Party to shreds by whatever means she deems necessary, and he alone must heal the party and bring everyone together.

It's really odd - HRC supporters are constantly sneering at the foolish, naive Obama fans who allegedly treat him like the Messiah, but they're the ones who expect him to act like a saint.

- WoodyBombay

May 21, 2008 at 10:38pm

What is Obama supposed to do, trash her?  What would be more unseemly would be to go on Larry King and say something like "I got into this race to kick ass and chew bubblegum. I think I'm going to go have some bubblegum now." Obama is in an impossible situation. Clinton is clinging to hope long gone and sounding increasingly deranged; only the poorest of poor sports would choose to rub it in.

Forget about political expediency, how about common decency? I suppose Isaac would rather Obama haul out a trophy pant suit at his rallies and have his crowds tear it to shreds on CNN. I personally think a little graciousness in the face of an incredibly irritating situation speaks well of the man.

- marcellusw101

May 21, 2008 at 10:53pm

Yeah, he doesn't have any option other than to behave graciously, really, and I suspect that characterologically, it's what he's going to do anyway.

And here he thought that Wright was going to end up being the craziest person in his life.

- miceelf

May 21, 2008 at 11:00pm

Hillary is simply hanging herself.  Everyone except her most blinded supporters can see this.  Let her.  This is one of those train wrecks that are either fascinating, or sickening, to watch.  Maybe both.

First the DNC on the 31st, and then the supers on June 4, are going to end this thing.  For now, let's either ignore this or sit back and watch the show.  Or change the channel if you're revolted.

The real question is, will HRC destroy her own future?  Either someone gives her a valium, or she ends up finishing her term and that's it.  Period.  Senate majority leader, whatever, over.

- timteeter

May 21, 2008 at 11:07pm

well, I was able to read the article finally. Her hyperbole is . . . I don't know what to say. I'm flummoxed. Flabbergasted.

She's been wearing me out for weeks. I've said it before and I'll ask it again -- how does she keep going like this? Doesn't there come a point when even she's exhausted by her rhetoric?

- scire

May 21, 2008 at 11:13pm

Don't take the gloves off yet people, her "window of opportunity to do as much damage as possible" is still open until June 3rd or there-abouts when (presumably) the supers will be super and give Obama the magic number of 2025.

After that news cycle, with Al, Ted, Nanci, Howard and John weighing in with their collective "Wisdom of the Elders" then it will be high time for Hillary to move on, even as her calls to count all the votes are all but drowned out by the cheers of "Yes We Can" and assurances from Bill Burton, Howard Dean and Michigan and Florida party leaders that a compromise is in the works..  Preferably to be announced some time around June 15th.

But until he reaches the magic number of 2025 he must at all costs resist answering this fight that she is picking.  He must be nice and respectful of "all that her candidacy represents" and he (and we) have to take everything she can dish out and more without saying anything more than "Wow, she has run such a tenacious campaign!  It really is remarkable.  She has paved the way for a future generation of women in politics...." who hopefully won't be as nasty and cynical as she has been (sorry LR).

Let me reiterate - any confrontational engagement with this narrative of "count all the votes" just feeds the perception that there are two sides to the issue, and then the press turns into Howard Cosel... in this corner we have..... and in this corner we have.... now lets watch them duke it out.  Whereas, if you refuse to engage the implicit message is that it is simply not a debate worth having, which it isn't, and everything will get taken care of in due course... after the nomination has been decided in the publics eye, not before.

Hang tough Obaman's we are almost there!

- Gavriel Meir-Levi

May 21, 2008 at 11:16pm

marcellusw101,

Not trash her. Counter her precisely and as efficiently as he'll have to counter every punch the Republicans will throw at him the second this insanity ends. He need only tell the truth. His elected delegate lead is insurmountable. He has won. His surrogates should declare victory, suggest/insist she stand down for the good of the party.

And speaking of the party, Where is their leadership? Could you imagine Republicans tolerating this nonsense. they want power.... and power will go to those not afraid of winning.

My only concern about Obama was one that I did have in 1992 about Bill Clinton. He intention to win was clear. His campaign unwithering. Obama has failed to KO HRC....even as she stumbles around the ring insisting to the referee the she has six fingers.

- puppins

May 21, 2008 at 11:18pm

ps- Obama's ability to stay above the fray probably drives her nuts. But in the long run, he'll come off the better for it. Think superdelegates. Think convention. The crazier she acts without ruffling his feathers, the more unconvincing her (slim) case becomes if she takes it all the way to the convention. Can you see any of the superdelegates voting for her at the convention if she continues in this vein? I'm convinced she keeps going like this because she thinks she'll be handed another Wright controversy. This speaks to the reasons for her poor managment of her campaign: Hillary can't see the forest through the trees. She lacks Obama's vision, his ability to see the long term. She's in it for whatever tally marks she can make on the score card in the short term (sorry for all the idioms). She can't see the cumulative effect of her schizophrenic behavior and arguments.

Which is another reason I want him to be my president and not her: he has vision. He can see the big picture. She can't.

There comes a time when fighting stops being a virtue and becomes self-destructive. I think Hillary has clearly reached that threshold.

- scire

May 21, 2008 at 11:23pm

and why take away Harry Reid's position from him for her? That would be wrong. Let her earn senate majority leader. Just because she lost a nomination doesn't mean she has the right to take away other people's positions.

- scire

May 21, 2008 at 11:25pm

Honestly, I think Hillary saves her most ridiculous arguments for when Stewart and Colbert are on vacation.  I checked in to see how Stewart would savage this, but alas it's a repeat week.

- LDuncan

May 21, 2008 at 11:27pm

Gavriel,

Hillary doesn't acknowledge 2025 as the threshold. I think her new magic number is 2209 or something similar. Last I checked, anyway - it's probably changed a couple of times in the past week and will do so again soon. So she won't end it there.

Otherwise, your post is wise and spot-on.

- WoodyBombay

May 21, 2008 at 11:42pm

scire: Is there a point at which even Hillary would be exhausted by her rhetoric? Obviously not. Does George W. Bush stop being an a-hole because he reaches a point where being that much of an a-hole is just too exhausting? No. Did Oral Roberts ever get exhausted by his own hypocrisy? No. While we're on the subject, does Robert Mugabe ever get exhausted by the depths of his own evildoing? No.

You make the fundamental error of ascribing to Hillary both a capacity for shame and a regard the welfare of her party. It's been clear since at least 2006 that she possesses neither. As long as you think the worst of Hillary -- just say to yourself, "What would George W. Bush do in this circumstance, if he were a Democrat?" -- she will never surprise you or fail to meet your expectations.

- rhubarbs

May 21, 2008 at 11:47pm

Some Clinton fans I know find this kind of stuff she's doing a real turn off.  They've said she makes it easier every day to vote Obama in the fall.

I'm not sure Obama has to go out of his way to praise her either, but it doesn't sound like this is hurting him.

- jet

May 21, 2008 at 11:51pm

At this point, it's just 13 more days.  After June 3, the primaries will be over, there will have been a Florida/Michigan decision, and regardless of the outcomes of any of those events, Obama will still be well ahead, either having clinched or being a handful of superdelegates away from clinching.  Then Clinton will concede, and Obama can get on with the business of facing McCain, hopefully with Clinton's help.

- AlanSP

May 22, 2008 at 12:07am

Moveon should run an ad with a refugee from Zimbabwe savaging her.  Mention his/her murdered, tortured loved ones, have them ask Hillary to apologize and leave the race.  Why aren't they stepping in to end this race?

- Maxblum13

May 22, 2008 at 1:23am

Dear Hillary: I quit. I am through. I have been defending you out here, in a highly qualified way, but still defending you. The Zimbabwe remark tears it. I am done. Finished. I have loathed Robert Gabriel Mugabe for years and years. I have observed as he has disfigured Zimbabwe and for you to compare the electoral process of the Democratic Party to the brutalitarian tyranny that said Mr. Mugabe runs is beyond obscene. Exit stage left before you soil yourself further and turn yet more people against you. Barack Obama has not been my candidate but he is trying to be conciliatory and you pull something like this. Be gone, Lady Macbeth. Exeunt. And don't come back.

- liberal reformer

May 22, 2008 at 1:54am

Hillary Clinton and her supporters are blatant racists. What a shame they insist on hiding behind Women's Rights. Clinton would throw women under the bus too, just as she has thrown Black under the bus, if it was to her advantage.

Clinton supporters are all racist pigs.

- sabatia

May 22, 2008 at 6:57am

On June 4th, after the superdelegates have overcome their fear of Clinton revenge, and they have let their intention to make Obama the nominee be known, Hillary will start saying that the race isn't decided until the actual votes and that she is going on to the convention. All summer long she will be running an underhanded and negative campaign against the presumptive nominee, feeding info to her friends at Fox and in the McCain campaign. At the convention, Hillary will then say that Obama is damaged goods and that she must be the nominee.

In fact, there is only one possible outcome here: Hillary Clinton will be the nominee. Clinton rules absolutely dictate that result. "Whatever it takes". "I'm a fighter not a quitter. And I will never quit."

Pit Blacks against Whites, educated against uneducated, rural against urban, young against old, women against men: "Whatever it takes."

"I will never quit."

- sabatia

May 22, 2008 at 7:03am

Combined comments (in less than a day) on Hillary/Florida-Michigan -- over 100

Comments on Peretz' vaunted "how to solve health care" plan over three days -- 3

PS -- to repeat a comment on another thread, I'm not going to defend Hillary for this over-the-top analogy, and Barrack Obama's class in this campaign has been to me the most appealing thing about his candidacy, but get a grip people, she's not saying the DNC is Mugabe, and the idea that the Dem primary is just a "private/internal" thing ignores the reality of how our democracy has become a two-party system.  

- Lymon1

May 22, 2008 at 7:06am

Obama is wisely not rising to the bait.  Instead, he is killing her with kindness.  Perfect.

- JackR

May 22, 2008 at 9:16am

Hey JackR - just like you!

- Wandreycer1

May 22, 2008 at 10:04am

Clinton placed her fight for the state's delegates in the context of the 2000 recount, the civil-rights movement, and the disputed election in Zimbabwe, and suggested she may go all the way to the convention.

- Anonymous

May 22, 2008 at 11:35am

I have a theory: Hillary is actually doing this to ween her supporters from her to Obama (just look at this thread).

- DocOptimal

May 22, 2008 at 12:11pm

Right now she's embarassing herself and alienating anyone with a brain and a scrap of honesty. If she keeps going she's going to drive away all her supporters, and the feminists will get it that she really does give us all a bad name, actually, and this is not, in fact, good for our cause.

They don't need Obama's help to figure this out.

- psantillana

May 22, 2008 at 4:24pm