Clinton is Obama's Most Important Endorsement

Symbolically speaking, one of the more important endorsements Barack Obama received in his bid to become the Democratic Party candidate came on the eve of Super Tuesday I, from JFK's daughter, Caroline. It was moving, honest, and impacting. In terms of producing palpable results within the establishment, we can say that perhaps John Edwards' endorsement last week, or former DNC Chairman Joe Andrews' endorsement in Indiana, or Bill Richardson's "Judas" endorsement, have been the most significant endorsements Obama has picked up. Then, of course, there are the various unions, labor interests and women's groups that have come out in favor for Obama.

However, all of these endorsements pale in comparison to the one that Senator Hillary Clinton has been giving, day in and day out, to Obama, starting more than a year ago. The only different between Clinton's endorsement and those others one is that it is indirect, unofficial, and unstated. However, it is a form of constructive and active endorsement, because it benefits Obama in ways any other endorsement doesn't.

An endorsement is composed of two parts. The first part is the thumbs up approval sign. The second part is the benefit that the recipient receives from being able to link himself up with the endorser. Obviously, in the case of Clinton for Obama, the first part is absent. However, for anyone -- including Obama supporters (which I am) -- to understate the importance that Clinton's sustained presence in the primary race has had in making Obama's name familiar to the average American voter is completely unfair.

Truth is, when Obama first entered the Democratic primary he was, at best, a novelty item, and otherwise, completely unknown. Most people that encountered Obama during the early part of the primaries weren't exposed to him because they were somehow interested in him or could predict that he would be the frontrunner, but because he was a good side-act to Clinton. My own experience is illustrative. I saw Obama for the first time in February of last year at the Healthcare Symposium in Las Vegas. While I could pretend prescience and say that I went to the symposium because I knew Obama would be the presumptive nominee a year later, the reality is that I went to see Clinton.

By staying in the race, through the entire 50 states, Clinton, whose name recognition, star power, and history with voters, far exceeds Obama's (until recently), made certain that the otherwise unknown candidate that the Democratic Party's voters were leaning towards, would become better known. This is certainly unintentional on her part, but it is something that the rest of us cannot overlook (or downplay). In fact, at a time when people might be tempted, as John Aravois of Americablog recently did, to completely disown, denounce and denigrate Clinton, Obamanation might do well to remember that every time Clinton campaigns in another state, she doesn't just promote herself, but indirectly, because he is her opponent, also creates the conditions for her opponent's name to be better known.

It wouldn't be wrong to say that Clinton's unwillingness to give up -- to go from town to town in America, from Appalachia to Puerto Rico -- is going to benefit Obama in the general election far more than any other endorsement. The simple reason is that Clinton's campaigning promotes Obama's name, and for a candidate whose biggest challenge, being the new guy, has been to become a household name, Clinton's indirect contribution cannot be understated. In many ways, it's almost touching, in the same kind of pitiable way that any other act of inadvertent altruism is touching. In many ways, aside from Obama himself, the most crucial element of Obama's 50 state strategy is his bigger, better known, and attention-mongering opponent. The more the cameras follow her, the more air time Obama is able to generate, which is, I reiterate, perhaps the single most important thing for an unknown candidate to acquire.

If the Democratic Party has any hope of coming together over the next few months, it is going to have to create a new narrative -- one that explains Clinton's reasons for staying in the race this long. The best way to do this is for everyone to start saying that Clinton had no ill will towards Obama, she was just trying to get him vetted, and also -- this is the important part -- get the candidates she was running against, better known.

In this way, Clinton might be able to salvage a lot of the dignity that she has lost over the last few months. She might be able to back out of the race as the benefactor, as a saint, as a helper.

Many people may think she is not deserving of such treatment, but if you were to ask Senator Obama, this is probably how he'd recommend that her run in the primaries be described.

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