I actually mean no disrespect to my preferred candidate, or to Hillary, neither of whom who is anything like stupid. Just misquoting Carville.
1. As Mark Schmitt points out, there’s no way Hillary will get a lead in the popular vote. (Andrew Sullivan: “The logic behind this seems inescapable to me.”)
2. As I pointed out yesterday, that there’s no way she’ll get a lead in pledged delegates.
3. Obvious: There’s no way the superdelegates will override both of those popular mandates.
It’s over.
So Senator Obama, please just ignore her (politely). McCain’s the man. His unremitting campaign against you (he only mentions Hillary out of habit, grudging respect, and desperate hopes that she might beat you) puts you right where you want to be: as the presumptive nominee.
Use it. Turn all your guns (and charm) his way.
Advantages:
- You position yourself as the Democratic nominee.
- You stop doing damage to Democrats, hence yourself.
- You (rightly) cast yourself as the reasonable person (you wouldn’t speak ill of her…), as against a radical Republican.
- You “change the trajectory†that the press and bloggers follow so sheepishly. They start talking about you and McCain, not you and Hillary.
Once you do that, unless things change radically between now and November (ya never know for sure…), it’s over.
The nightmare, the Reign of Terror, will finally be over.