Hillary, Don't be a Nader

Dear Senator Clinton,

I like you. A lot. I admire your efforts for children and in health care, and I think you might well be better than Senator Obama in making day-to-day policy decisions. Honestly, I think you'd make a great president.

But this is not your year. Obama's got you beat on delegates, on states, and on the popular vote. I'm sure that in your own mind you'd make a better president, but at this point, you can't win.

And when I say that, I don't mean the nomination, I mean the presidency. The problem here is not the delegates; it's the perception. To get the nomination, at this point, you'd have to do one of two things: trade favors with superdelegates or litigate your way into getting states like Florida to count.

Either way, the Democratic Party would lose. The people, who collectively have favored Obama, would feel gypped, and nobody would really think that your nomination was legitimate; you'd have the taint that Bush had at the beginning of his presidency. Your integrity would be questioned, and your personal ambition would become even more of a target than it already is. McCain would, in all likelihood, win in a landslide. In the eyes of history, you might look like little more than a spoiler, your many earlier accomplishments forgotten.

Please don't be like Ralph.

Instead, be gracious, and allow the top vote getter to be on top of the bill -- and make your mark as the best damn vice-president this country has ever seen. The sooner you accept the things that you can''t change, the better you will look, and the sooner we can all get to the real business at hand: taking back the White House.

Fondly,
Gary Marcus

Comments

[PulSamsara]

Hillary's Ego is much larger than the Democratic Party.

[efranklin]

Hillary will redeem Nader in this election by showing his 2000 spoiler-status to be *minor* in comparison to the massive havoc she is about to wreak on the Democratic Party. If she doesn't get the nomination, she could always spoil the election Perot-style. Clinton/Lieberman ticket, anyone?

[PulSamsara]

Clinton/Lieberman... oh good God no... although they do both play like good little GOP.
They are both responsible for getting us into IRAQ.

[LawOfAttraction]

Here are the facts, whether unsavory to Hillary lovers or not:

1) Obama's coat tails are bigger and he sweeps more Democrats into office. Which is why is he greatly favored by all Democrats running for office for Republican seats.
Those new Democrats in Congress will give the Democrats the power to actually get legislation through via a significant majority.

In the absurdly unlikely event that Hillary were to become the nominee and in the astronomically small chance that she were to eke out a victory and become president, she's have no power, no mandate, no majority in congress and no way to get any of her legislation passed.

She's be a lame duck president form day 1. Say hello to gridlock and more kowtowing to everything the Republicans want.

However, WHEN Obama becomes President, he'll have a working majority in Congress, so he;ll get legislation passed, plus he'll have a coalition of voters backing him, so congressional leaders will be under immense pressure from their constituents to vote with the new coalition to pass Obama legislative initiatives.

Advantage: Obama

2) He leads in the popular vote, delegates, states won and money raised.

Advantage: Obama

3) He has been against the war from the start and took that stance while engaged in a 7 way race for his Senate seat while the war was popular and against a billionaire and a Democratic dynasty Chicago family.
He showed the courage of conviction and did the right thing, even when it wasn't popular, plus showed excellent judgment, something both the other candidates lack.
So he can make the argument that experience at making the wrong decisions is trumped by intelligence and wisdom, thereby cutting the legs out form under McCain in the general election.
Hillary voted with McCain. End of story for her.

Advantage: Obama

4) Bill Maher once said that the problem with Democrats is that they keep trying to appeal to Republicans rather than stick to their real values, promote those, inspire people and CREATE NEW DEMOCRATS.

Barack Obama has done just that by energizing the base, attracting kajillions of new voters (especially younger voters), brings African Americans out in numbers hereto for unseen, wooing over mass numbers of independents as well as poaching fair minded Republicans.

He's created a coalition of voters so large that come November, their aggregate numbers will far exceed any numbers the Republicans alone can muster.

If through some pact with the devil, Hillary were to become the candidate, Democrats would lose 3/4th or more of the African American vote, all of the youth vote, independents, fair minded Republicans, etc. etc.
Absent those newly acquired coalition party members, it would be a relative landslide for McCain.

Advantage: Obama

5) With England being the only exception, ALL the other countries have chimed in saying that they are most excited about Obama becoming president and welcome him with open arms.

With Obama as President, we send a message to the rest of the world that we are ready to rejoin the world community as a partner and friend, not the big, dumb, ignorant bully we've been for a long time now.

Also, we'd be the first nation with a multi-ethnic population outside of Africa (and small islands) to elect a Black head of state. So we'd be breaking new ground and leading the way; setting an example for the rest of the world.

We'd gain newfound respect internationally and would change the face of the U.S. to the entire Muslim world, helping to quell anti-American sentiment and open up new channels of dialog between our enemies and the U.S.

Advantage: Obama

6) Obama is vastly, deeply and unquestionably more intelligent, cooler under pressure, eloquent, diplomatic, strategic, charismatic and honorable than either Hillary or McCain and would be a far tactician, diplomat, negotiator and player on the foreign policy scene when speaking to our allies and enemies alike without the jingoist hawkishness of McCain and Hillary.

Advantage: Obama

7) Having an African-American as the president will open new doors and create new possibilities for African Americans, elevate the public discourse on race and perhaps trigger a new conversation on race and race relations in this country that can finally begin to heal the wounds of slavery, this country's darkest, most evil sin.
With increased dialog come more understanding, enlightenment and acceptance, which is the key to African-Americans taking their rightful place as AMERICANS and not just African-Americans.
A lot of the social ills they've experienced will begin to die down and wither on the vine.

Blacks and other people of color around the WORLD will fee empowered, inspired and in all likelihood, conversations about race and power will be triggered in their communities and countries.

Having a woman President will mean something to women in the U.S., but female heads of state are nothing new, historically. We'd be one of the last countries to do so.
Some female heads of state: Eva Peron (Argentina), Indira Gandhi (India), Golda Meir (Israel), Margaret Thatcher (England), Angela Merkel (Germany), Kim Campbell (Canada), Benazir Bhutto (Pakistan). I mean if you want, we can go all the way back to Cleopatra and Hatshepsut.

Here's a more exhaustive list for those interested - http://www.guide2womenleaders.com/women_heads_of_governments.htm

Hell, when President Wilson had a stroke, there are many that contend that Edith Wilson was acting President in secret, as her husband was incapacitated and unable to even understand the matters that came before him in his bed.

So while electing a woman would be a great "it's about time" for the U.S., it would hardly be precedent setting, unheard of or even create much international buzz, as their response would be "join the club".

But by electing Barack Hussein Obama, we'd be showing moral and racial leadership, turning our back on the painful past and as far as the Muslim world is concerned, repudiating the anti-Muslim Bush doctrine, thereby bringing the possibility of healing between them and us.

Advantage: Obama

Hillary people need to face the fact that she won't win because she doesn't deserve to win.
Not on numbers, not on experience, not JUST because she's a woman (identity is a silly sole reason to vote for someone) and definitely not on judgment or political courage.

Obama in 08!

- And that's a PROMISE, not a slogan.

[MzTexas]

How is Clinton a Nader? The primary process is not over. Neither Mr. Obama nor Ms. Clinton have the necessary number of votes to win outright at this time and BOTH are continuing to win contests. Let the voters decide and SHUT UP! The divisiveness is coming from folks like this writer and his amen chorus. Personally, I don't give a rip which of the less than qualified Democratic candidates gets the nomination . . . I just want one of them to be able to beat John McCain . . . a McCain presidency is FRIGHTENING.

Let the primary process continue until it's finished . . . and quit being so divisive.

[JohnFromCensornati]

Hillary couldn't be a Nader if she tried.
Nader is not a spoiler and never was.
The Dims do enough damage to themselves.
They had the good fortune to run against a retard in the last two presidential elections.
They lost!
Hardly Nader's fault.
As usual, they will have no one to blame but themselves if they lose to a *senile* retard this time around.

[rwferr]

Yea like Obama could win. Get real he does not have a prayer. 25 percent of Hillary supporters polled would vote McCain. That is an automatic loss right there. Then you factor in his pastor problem which will take away millions of votes of middle america. Then you figure he did not prevail in any large primary states a candidate must win to win the general. His chances are zero. The superdelegates need to hang in there and wait til the convention cause people will realize by then that Obama cannot win and Mrs. Clinton will be given the nom or Al Gore will be drafted.

[XYZ]

rwferr you place to much faith on the attention span of the american voter. Yeah this will strike his polling numbers for a while, but by the time pensylvania is up the voters will have forgoten or marginalized, and minimized this pastor fiasco.

Just look at the 7 years of the Bush Co scandal after scandal, people still forgot there outrage at the door, of the election booth.

I don't think he will win pensylvainia but after pensylvainia he will still continue to slowly pull away from clinton in delegates, and in the end it's the first one to 2024 that win the nomination. It looks like the florida re-vote went up in smoke once they realized nobody wanted to pay for it, and MI might vote which will most likely be a wash or minor win but nothing earth shattering.

[Jocalo]

The big state argument is nonsense. McCain is not going to win CA or NY, or any dem states in the general. How 2 Democrats do in a state primary doesn't tell you that much about what will happen in the general and even in the big states it was super close. I question that 25% figure, unless that was the number of Republicans that came out and voted for HRC because Rush told them too. Sen. Clinton will lose the general. Sen. McCain is perceived, rightly or wrongly, as a straight talking guy. Whereas Sen. Clinton, rightly or wrongly, is mistrusted and if she finagles the nomination she will be unelectable against McCain. McCain is already licking his chops at the prospect of running against her swiss cheese claims of experience. Obama has a better argument against the "inexperienced" attack that will surely come at him because he will respond the way that he has to Clinton and turn the argument to judgment. I am tired of her trying to confuse America by telling them that Familiarity = Experience. Just because we are more familiar with her does not automatically mean that she is more experienced or has better judgment. Her claims of foreign policy experience insult our intelligence. She has been running like she's this seasoned politician with vast experience, and she's held elected office for less time than Sen Obama, he's got a much longer ( and more effective ) legislative record. They are both green next to McCain, but who makes the better argument that they can lead this country? The choice is clear even if you just look at their campaigns and weigh management style and effectiveness.

[erykah]

Unfortuntely, Hillary may well have lost her chance at being VP due to her uncrtical alignment with McCain. When she stated that McCain would make a better CIC than Obama, that did it. If I were Obama I wouldn't choose her for that very reason. Also, I wouldn't want to have to deal wth Bill. No dream ticket here. She blew that.

[Tejano1]

she should, but she won't. look at ralph, for instance, he's still out their plugging away and hillary is as obstinate and delusional as our ralphie boy.

[BitJam]

I was with you all the way until you said Hillary Clinton would be the "best damn vice-president this country has ever seen". I'm sure McCain and the Republicans greatly appreciate her support and her endorsement of McCain over Obama but I don't think their appreciation will extend so far as to offer her the number two spot on their ticket.