End It Now

There is a bizarre, and even tragic, unreality to the continuing drama playing out in the Democratic primary. Partly due to the seven-week gap between the first 42 contests and this week's match-up in Pennsylvania, and partly due to the tenacity and temerity of the Clintons, this election is being presented as close and not yet over.

But it is over.

Dragging it out any longer only serves to indulge the Clintons' narcissism, while damaging the Democratic party's chances for victory in November. A few observations:

First: The numbers are clear: Clinton cannot surpass Obama's elected delegate total in the contests that remain. It is not unlike a fifty-two lap motor race. In the first forty-three laps, Obama has passed her twice, and built up a lead that is insurmountable. Now, in the midst of the 44th lap, it only appears to be close, but it is not. The only way she could possibly win is either by changing the rules of the game in Michigan and Florida, or convincing a substantial number of superdelegates to cast their ballots for her -- overturning the results of the elections to date. Either of these two scenarios would cause a devastating upheaval within the party, bringing on what I call a "1968 moment."

Second: There is no doubt that the Democratic base has been energized by this election. The record number of voters, volunteers, and contributors point to this fact. But, at the same time, it is important to acknowledge that real damage is occurring within the Democratic constituency. Polls that show a growing fracture within the Democratic coalition should be read as cautionary signs to be heeded. Those Beltway pundits and party regulars who say "Don't worry, after the convention, Democrats will come together" are out of touch with the real damage that has been done in the minds of voters on both sides of the divide.

Early on, Senator Obama spoke eloquently about the degree to which cynicism had infected our politics, resulting in voters no longer believing what politicians have to say. Only those who did not understand his message, or heed the lesson he sought to teach, can believe that Hillary and Bill Clinton will be easily able to undo the negativity they have created. Some voters will surely ask, "Were they lying then, or are they lying now?"

Third: There is no doubt that Senator Clinton is a talented and an extraordinarily intelligent person. Her tragic flaw is her belief that only she is capable of leading. It is this that has caused her to engage in an effort to demean her opponent and engage in the kind of campaign that she once decried as "the politics of personal destruction." It is this that I call her narcissism, and the degree to which it has damaged not only the Democratic chances in November, but also her reputation -- defines the pathological self-destruction that so often follows from narcissistic behavior

This has gone on too long, and should end now. Former President Clinton has argued that all the states should be given a chance to vote. They should have that chance. And, if this campaign were focused on issues and a debate over competing visions of leadership, I would say, "Let it continue."

But this has not been the case. Given the behavior of the Clinton campaign to date, and the expectation this behavior will continue, I believe that prolonging this agony will only create deeper division. For this reason, it should end now.

My fellow superdelegates should wait no longer. As party leaders, we are uniquely positioned, and have the responsibility, to speak out. Indecision only serves to enable bad behavior. It is time for us to either demand that the behavior change, or act to end this now.

Read more reactions from Huffington Post bloggers to the Pennsylvania Primary results

Comments

[cjbushwacker]

Obama's lead in delegates came about because the corporate media seemed to fall in love with Obama and demonized the Clinton's( similar to how they fell in love with Bush and demonized Gore). The Red states Obama won will most likely not be won by the democrats. If the Democrats had a winner take all like the general election Clinton would be far ahead (Michigan and Florida would have also gone to Clinton. Hillary has also won most of the battleground states that the Demorats need to win.

Do you realy believe that the GOP slime machine wants to run against Hillary? Obama is their dream canidate. An African-American with a Muslem name that sounds like Osama, with a spiritual adviser on the You Tube saying Damn America, a wife saying this is the first time she has been proud of America, the prosecution of Obama's long time friend and and campaign donator Tony Rezco. It is The rise of a relatively unknown candidate in Obama has put the democrats chances of victory in much more jeopardy than Hillary's continued fight for nomination

[lysistrata]

Why blame Clinton? Who made the rules? It would be sensible to shorten the process, why have primaries for 6 months or so? Lets get rid of the delegate system and have basic rules and regulations to pick a nominee one man one vote. The delegates have only one purpose it seems and that is to overule the voters if the establishment does not agree with the result. Pressure can be applied to make them vote early or for one candidate or another and influence the votes. Why not have super delegates only and let them decide, no primaries or caucuses needed. But that is too simple.

[M.S. Bellows, Jr. - Huffpost Blogger]

Superdelegates make sense if three strong candidates go to the convention with none of them having a majority. Rather than pick a nominee with a mere plurality -- meaning that more than half of all Dems didn't choose him -- the Supers would let the party stop the hemorrhaging and send the nominee off with a "majority" of the delegates behind him. Better PR. But it has NO place in a two-candidate race; if one candidate wins the majority of elected delegates, he or she should be the nominee. Period.

[ghostwriter5]

Let's follow your logic all the way to another democratic defeat in the fall or maybe we can let the very strongest candidate with the best chance of winning be nominated in the fall. Let's find out who that is. Why are there scheduled primaries in all these states? Especially since Obama has seen fit not to rectify the Florida and Michigan voting-revotes as allowed by the DNC. Obama is just a politician, and his attacks through his surrogates are politics as usual. If Hillary is ruffling his feathers,just wait until the Repubs start and if you think they won't you are very naive.

[M.S. Bellows, Jr. - Huffpost Blogger]

Obama hasn't blocked efforts to rectify the Michigan and Florida problem. He HAS done everything he could to block Clinton's efforts to seat those delegations as-is. But even more importantly, Obama still wins the popular delegate contest even if Mich and Fla are counted, if Clinton would throw him a bone and give him the 40% of Michiganders who went to the trouble of going to the polls but voted "none of the above" when they saw his name wasn't on the ballot. But she's refusing to do that.

So to say he's the one who caused the problem is untrue -- just spin.

[usedtowander]

Zogby has a point. The Democratic Party does seem to be fractured.

I'm not sure the coalition that's now the Republican Party is working. And, we're seeing that the coalition amongst the Democratic Party isn't really working.

Perhaps then, it would be best if we broke the different parties into different factions. The parties have certainly changed from time to time over the years.

What would the Obama Party look like? What would the Clintonion Party look like? What would the Republican­-Christian Party look like? Republican­-Conservat­ive?

Interesting thought.

Seems to me there's lots of talk amongst Democrats about the unfairness of continuing to follow the rules. Yet, two of the largest electoral college states are to be left out because the Democratic Party wanted to let tiny New Hampshire have it's tradition. So, New Hampshire now outweighs Florida and Michigan? How "democratic" is that?

[Chesher]

Usedtowander - as stated earlier in this thread - the DNC did not thwart Florida. It was the Republican legislature of Florida that did it to the Demos.

[M.S. Bellows, Jr. - Huffpost Blogger]

With the help of the Democratic minority in the Leg, which also voted to advance the primary. The truth is that the entire Florida Democratic party took a gamble with their own voters' enfranchisement, despite a very clear warning about what would happen. Floridians should be blaming their own Dem leaders for screwing them, not the DNC, or Obama, or even the Republicans.

[ByersL]

A democrat introduced the legislation and it passed unanimously. Saying it was the Replicans' fault is complete BS pushed by that annoying Wasserman-Shultz woman and her ilk. Check your facts.

[mbrlr]

BTW, while I'm leaning towards staying home if she steals the nomination and probably by this exercise has made President McCain a far more likely possibility, the one thing that might make me head out and, eyes closed and sick to my stomach, pull the lever for her is the issue of the federal judiciary and the fact that several Supreme Court slots are likely to come open in the next 8 years.

[essar1]

"Might" make you head out and vote? While I want Obama, I will gladly pull the lever for Hill, regardless of how she might conceivable get the nom. The risks are too great for so many reasons but most importantly, the Supreme Court outweighs by a wide margin any thought I might have had for being petulant and selfish over Hillary.

[M.S. Bellows, Jr. - Huffpost Blogger]

I won't gladly pull the lever for her, but I'll swallow my bile and do it, just like you. Justice Stevens turned 88 last weekend. There are only two democrats on the nine-member court. And the crazies (Thomas, Scalia, Roberts, Alito) want to reverse all the "penumbral privacy rights" case dating back to Griswold v CT -- restoring not just states' rights to criminalize abortions, but to criminalize gay sex, oral sex even between married couples, and married couples' right to buy condoms. All those were crimes until the Supreme Court said those things were none of the government's business, but a near-majority of the court wants to change that.

So I'll vote for Clinton, and her supporters should keep their eyes on the prize and vote for Obama no matter how they feel about him.

[Chesher]

Well, based upon all the junk discussed in this blog - I am leaving the Democratic Party for good. Hillary has destroyed all semblance of honor or virtue - and I am tired of the propaganda she spews.

I do hope that Obama gets the nomination, however, it is clear to me that Hillary folks continue to believe in the big lie and typical manipulation that does not get us anywhere as a country.

Howard Dean - you waited too long. Nancy and Harry - you are less than inspiring. It is clear that the Demos will never be able to get their act together.

Bye.

[Relax08]

Not only has Hillary demonstrated by the way she campaigned that she is incapable of being the head of the Federal government, the Democratic party has once again demonstrated why it too is incapable of ruling in a thoughtful manner. As bad as Bush has been he was never this disorganized and never ever this out of sync with his party. It is sad because if Hillary would simply stop acting as if she alone can be the one, then perhaps this party can have a great awakening. But Hillary is responsible for this mess more so than anyone. Any reasonable person would see how harmful all of this is and would simply do the right thing. The fact that she can't appreciate how harmful her "friendly fire" attacks are is yet another reason of hundreds of why she is incapable of being President, yet alone the nominee.

[M.S. Bellows, Jr. - Huffpost Blogger]

I don't blame you for leaving -- but please do vote for whichever Dem wins in November, to preserve some balance on the Supreme Court and get us out of the damned war. Then we can start working for 2012...

[provgrays]

Chesher,

Where are you going to run? To those fascist Republicans?

Good luck.

[daknc]

That James Zogby is a superdelegate pretty much sums up the dysfunctional state of the Democratic Party.

[Relax08]

Is Zogby really a superdelegate. I didn't see his name listed on any of the sites for superdelegates?

[adzeman]

Narcissism is the appropriate word. Clinton has hijacked the party, only the ransom demand is give me what I want or I destroy you.

[Nancyann]

ARE YOU KIDDING???? SHE GOT MORE MONEY FORM THE DRUG COMPANIES THAN ANY OTHER CANDIDATE. YOU MUST BE LIVING IN LA LA LAND !!!!!!

[markusmarkus]

I guess you don't read the newspapers. You see, her campaign owes more than $10 in back pay to her campaign staff, caterers, event venue owners, etc. There have been articles in many newspapers about vendors who have not been paid for services rendered and goods supplied several months ago. Yes, she claims that she took in more than $10M in contributions after winning PA, but may not take care of her campaigns unpaid, overdue bills.

BTW, Hillary lent her campaign $5M earlier this year. The campaign must pay those funds back. Oh, Federal Election laws prohibit candidates from self-financing their campaigns.

Wake up, go outside and smell the booosh smog.

[Pyrum]

"Federal Election laws prohibit candidates from self-financing their campaigns.­" Please clarify: is that only if they're accepting matching funds or something? Mitt Romney contributed more than $40 million to his campaign, and I've heard no news he's in trouble with the FEC.

[made]

Clinton has viciously assaulted Obama and called it good campaigning. Regretfully the time has come for Obama to start playing hardball with his opponent(s). This means going after Hillary where she is most vulnerable; the Clinton White house, where Hillary Clinton so proudly hailed and absorbed all her boasted expierience. Obama must point out that it was the the behavior of the low down Bill that destroyed the presidential bid by Al Gore and thus gave this nation and the world eight horrific years of Bush-Cheney.

[ignrnthllblly]

I agree that the time HAS come--but that he cannot; he must not hit back. They are waiting to crush him in the jaws of the black man's vise. If he doesn't hit back, he's painted as weak. So they bait; bait; bait and wait for him to respond. But if he does, he's just where they want him and they'll tell you then (in so many words): UPPITY BLACK MAN! UPPITY BLACK MAN! They know there's a motherlode of crypto-racism in this country and they fully intend to mine it. I'm amazed when pundits decry that the election is BECOMING about race--as if, in America, it would be permitted to be about anything else with a black candidate running. Folks, if you don't perceive that the subtext of every Hillary charge against Obama (and the Republican charges to come) is actually "He's BLAAA-ACK!" then just keep paying attention. By election day, we'll be lucky if the Republicans aren't screaming the N-word in the streets.

[M.S. Bellows, Jr. - Huffpost Blogger]

A big problem for Obama is that the Republicans WANT Clinton as the opponent. They'll serve as her proxies to slam Obama; that's why her campaign sent that photo of him in Somali garb to Matt Drudge, and why the NC party is running an antiObama as before the Dem primary. It would be great if the Rs would lay some leather on Hillary on Obama's behalf, but they won't do it; they want her to win so she can lose in November.

[Lisette]

Amen!
I have expressed this thought many times.
Nancy Pelosi and Howard Dean are you listening?

[LiamR]

I don't think it's beyond the Clintons to derail Obama and his followers with the intent of helping John McCain into the White House, thus giving Hillary a shot at 2012. This is not an original idea of mine, but it is the only explanation I can think of for the outrageous attacks, deceptive maneuvers, and outright lies from the Clinton camp. The only flaw in such a strategy, which Hillary and Bill should ponder, is, who in the hell is going to vote for Hillary in 2012? She has got to be aware that her attacks on Obama will make it extremely difficult for any Obama supporter to vote for her if she were to somehow, miraculously, win the nomination this year.

I have never voted for a Republican presidential candidate in my life, but if Hillary Clinton were the nominee, I would close my eyes, hold my nose, and pull the lever for John McCain. Unlike the Clintons, McCain has never campaigned to destroy the Democratic Party.

[koolwoman]

You are not a real democrat if you would vote for John McCain instead of Hillary Clinton. That old man can hardly find his way into the senate, much less the white house. He needs to retire.

[JanP]

Koolwoman:

That is nonsense. I was a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat until the party moved so far to the left it became far-right in the circle of politics.

My first break with the Democrats came with Jimmy Carter. I voted for him the first time. Then he showed his incompetence and he hasn;t wavered from that since.

[Relax08]

The person who does not appear to be the real democrat is Hillary. Who else would do this with the pipe dream of getting superdelegates to overturn the pledge delegate counts. who else would do all of this to try to get Michigan to count when Obama was not even on the ballot. Look at all of the things that she is doing that hurt the party and Obama's chances. We need to get on to the fight and like some crazed maniac Hillary has lost touch with reality. She reminds me of Colonel Nicholson from Bridge on the River Kwai, helping the Japaneses {the RNC} build a bridge so that more British soldiers and citizens can be killed. To paraphrase Colonel Nicholsen "We can teach these Republicans a lesson in Slash and Burn Swifting Boating Politiics that will put them to shame. We'll show them what the a Ruthless Democrat is capable of doing." We'll build a bridge to the White House for John McCain.

Of course we all know that Col Nicholson was nuts and got everyone killed in the end.

[LiamR]

I could not care less if someone considers me a "real Democrat" or whatever.

[GJP2006]

I think the Clintons are intent on running down, not Obama, but his supporters and voters in general. There was so much enthusiasm and support for Obama and even when many thought he wrapped up the nomination, the Clintons refused to get off stage and as you point out - their narcissism was and is displayed for all. Well, many of us got so turned off by the negativity and the Clintons and tuned out. I have read comments from many folks who were brought into the process for the first time, or re-engaged after being absent from politics for many years, and many were upbeat and enthusiastic about Obama and turning the page on the Bush years. Then, the Clinton machine went into overdrive and started working in concert with McCain and Co. to do so much damage to Obama and his supporters and thus, many of us became disgusted and tuned out. That is the legacy of the Clintons.

[rmelcher]

Blah, Blah, Blah...it'­s been "over" for the Obamacrats and their friends in the liberal elite media since before Wisconsin. The more they keep up their repetitive droning the less it proves true.

Count the delegates however you wish. The truth is that Obama has already shown that he probably can't win in November since he is unable to 'close the deal' with the true Democratic base. he can't even get the majority of the popular vote in the Democratic party.

However, the elite punditry has already decided that they would rather feel warm and fuzzy than actually win elections. We are told, in the face of all this political unreality, that the party should just go once again with the candidate they have anointed as their own, whose appeal is to a minority of the electorate.

It will take more than blacks and wealthy white people to make a president. (Although Pennsylvania tells us that even suburban whites are in play.) While we play this game the Oval office is likely to remain in capable Republican hands.

[Uberbah]

Yawn. What about Hillary's failure to win over white working class voters in North Dakota? Wyoming? Obama just doesn't do well in Appalachia, that's all there is to it. kos debunked the "big state" and "more electable" Hillbot talking points:

http://dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/4/24/113851/565/912/502497

[miatch]

What do you mean, he doesn't have the majority of the Democratic vote. He certainly has won more votes, more states, more delegates than Clinton.

And, he is going to crush the 300 year old man come November. Even given McBush's heroic war effort in the war of 1812.

[Relax08]

Yeah I guess that's why after all of this he's still ahead in polls, in delegates, in money, in endorsements, and virtually every measure imaginable as against both McCain and Hillary. He lost two states that were in the bag for Hillary. You are truly delusional.

[lotuslike]

Thank you, Mr. Zogby.