Offering frequent news and analysis from the majestic Evergreen State and beyond, The Cascadia Advocate is the Northwest Progressive Institute's unconventional perspective on world, national, and local politics.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Clinton on Richardson's endorsement of Obama

By now most everybody has probably heard that New Mexico Governor and former presidential candidate Bill Richardson has announced his endorsement of Barack Obama.

People are saying this matters because Richardson, being probably the nation's most prominent hispanic political figure (and a very well respected man in politics generally) can do a lot to help Obama's perception among hispanic voters. Which may be true, but at this point in the primary cicle when most of the states with large hispanic populations have already voted, may also be moot in determining our party's nominee.

What I wanted to point out, however, is the Clinton camp's response to the endorsement. Richardson has long had close ties to the Clintons--realistically, he probably wouldn't be quite who he is on the national stage today if not for Bill Clinton tapping him as Secretary of Energy--so his endorsement of Obama must also be viewed in that light. Trying to minimize the damage, Clinton spokesman Jay Carson had this to say:


"Both candidates have many great endorsers, but the voters, not endorsers, will decide this election, and there are still millions of voters in upcoming contests who want to have their voices heard."

Which is a noble and populist thing to say, but at this point it it is simply not credible to believe that the Clinton campaign actually means this. It's that pesky hard math problem her campaign faces: at this point there just aren't enough delegates left in the states that haven't voted yet for her to take the pledged delegate lead unless she wins by truly unimaginable margins. Thus, her only remotely plausible path to the nomination lies in convincing the superdelegates to give the nomination to her, despite the clearly expressed sentiment of the voters.

It's completely disingenuous and two-faced for Hillary Clinton's campaign to at once say that the voters will decide while simultaneously courting the superdelegates who are her only hope.

Any arguments that dropping out now amount to dis-enfranchising the remaining states ring hollow, too. Those voters are more discriminated against by the insane primary lineup than by whether Mrs. Clinton drops out of the race or not. I hope in future elections Howard Dean can come up with something fairer, but for this election we're stuck with the schedule we've got and the remaining states' voices have already been minimized by that irrefutable math, and by nothing else.

This has gone on too far. Hillary Clinton, I am publically calling on you, today, to admit what the rest of the nation has known for about a month now. You gave it a heck of a run, but you've come up short. Your campaign is, for all practical purposes, over and can serve no further purpose than to provide fuel for future attacks on Barack Obama. I call on you to honor the proper sentiment expressed by your spokesman: respect the judgment of the millions of voters from left states and right states, big states and small states, states that matter and those that--well, all of them matter, really.

They have judged you, and found you wanting. It is time for you to withdraw.

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