Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Barack Obama Should Concede the Nomination to Hillary

Although one can't help but admire Barack Obama's tenaciousness, it's time that he face the facts and abandon his quixotic quest for the Democratic nomination. We all know that the Clintons will stop at nothing to get the nomination for Hillary and the best thing Obama could do for his country and his own political future is to concede defeat and preserve one last shred of dignity. After his trouncing in Kentucky and his lackluster win in Oregon, the writing is on the wall. It is obvious he will not have enough delegates to secure the nomination and all he is doing is prolonging the misery. Perhaps he can run again in 2032 when he will still be younger than John McCain is now and people will have forgiven him for the divisiveness he has caused by trying to get people to vote for him.

Unfortunately for Obama the mathematics is against him. Under no scenario will have enough pledged delegates when all the primaries are over to win the nomination no matter how he tries to spin it. Although, technically, he has more pledged delegates than Hillary does, there is no guarantee that this margin will hold until the convention. He can't very well trust the pledges of delegates who are supporting him when he won't even pledge allegiance to the flag, according to a number of emails I have gotten, which also claim that he is secretly a Muslim. And how can he be sure all of his pledged delegates will survive until the August convention, which is more than three months away? We all know what the Clintons are capable of, as the World Net Daily, the Internet's most reliable news source, amply documented in the case of Vince Foster. Obama has fewer than 200 more delegates than Hillary as it stands now. How many of them will mysteriously disappear before the convention?

Although Obama apparently believes that he will be able to win over enough superdelegates to secure the nomination, as far as we know his campaign has done nothing to win over the double secret superdelegates. In fact, I wonder if his campaign is even aware of the double secret superdelegates. Many of the members of his campaign are quite young and not all that familiar with the Byzantine Democratic nominating rules. They have made a number of rookie mistakes in this campaign, for example, not realizing that winning caucuses doesn't matter, campaigning in little states that no one cares about and red states that Democrats are supposed to ignore, and going along with Howard Dean's unique strategy to disenfranchise voters in Michigan and Florida, which must have seemed like a really good idea at the time. Obama's campaign will be in for a shock when Hillary reveals that she has sewn up the nomination.

The fact that Obama failed to deliver a knockout blow has played right into Hillary's hands. Hillary's strategy should be familiar to anyone who knows anything about boxing. Obama has fallen victim to the "rope-a-dope" strategy that Muhammad Ali used against George Foreman in their 1974 heavyweight title match in Zaire. In that bout Ali spent the early rounds lying on the ropes, conserving his energy and letting Foreman pummel him until Foreman tired himself out. Then Ali knocked him out in the eighth round. By losing so many primaries and caucuses early on, Hillary conserved her energy while luring Obama into a false sense of security and tiring him out. Any minute now she plans to land the knock-out blow and Obama won't know what hit him.

It's funny that so many bloggers, who are as young and naïve as many of Obama's idealistic young campaign workers, think that Obama has the nomination in the bag. They don't realize that we are at the point in the narrative where the Terminator has been left for dead only to rise one more time, that Carrie is just about to stick her hand up from the grave, that Glenn Close is just about to rise up from that bathtub and attack Michael Douglas again. If the Obama children have any pet rabbits they might want to request Secret Service protection for them.

Even more telling, many pundits seem to believe that Obama is already the nominee. Is there anything that pundits haven't been wrong about this year? Remember when they said that Rudy Giuliani was the frontrunner? And that John McCain was washed up? And that Fred Thompson was the new Reagan? If all the pundits agree on something you can almost be certain that they are wrong.

Someone close to Obama needs to tell him that the jig is up (and before someone emails me, "the jig is up" is not a racist phrase as far as I know, except possibly when applied to Irishmen). Or perhaps someone with stature in the party, someone like Bill Clinton, though probably not him, needs to say enough is enough.

By stubbornly refusing to concede defeat Obama has put this country at risk. If he steals the nomination from Hillary, women around the country will become completely unhinged, rioting in the streets and withholding sex from their husbands. We all know how hysterical women can get when they don't get their way. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Does Obama want to see our cities ravaged by looting and violence?

Unfortunately, I don't think Obama cares about the havoc that will be wrought if he denies Hillary the nomination. He has already divided the Democrats by insisting on prolonging his campaign until all the votes are counted. By forcing Democrats to choose between two candidates and stretching his campaign out to the end of the primary season, he has ripped the party apart, setting husbands against wives and brothers against sisters, so to speak.

And if he cares so little about the rifts he has caused in his own party, imagine how his campaign will rip apart our country when he tries to force people to take sides between him and John McCain and make people who don't vote for him, because there is something about him they just don't like, feel like they are being racist when that is not it at all. Hasn't this country been divided enough? I'm afraid that Obama will not be satisfied until he has stoked a Civil War between the red and blue states. If Obama really wants to heal the divisions in this country, as he often claims, he should start by dropping out of the race.

Like many white people, I was really looking forward to having a constructive dialogue about race (like this one) all the way until November and then never talking about race again. But the future of our country is too important and we'll just have to have that dialogue sometime in the future -- perhaps after we have solved pressing problems like poverty, disease, war and starvation. And it would have been nice for a change to have an election where we talked about important issues, such as who else in Obama's past has scary ideas that might give a clue to what he really thinks. But that will have to wait, too.

Unfortunately, Hillary doesn't care about whether she divides her party or her country or not. And it looks like we are going to have an election where Hillary unfairly attacks McCain and the press is forced to defend him and point out how much they dislike the Clintons. But at least she is honest about where she stands. Obama was supposed to be different. He was supposed to be the candidate that brought us together by blurring our differences. If healing the divisions in this country is really so important to him, he can start by healing his party and dropping out of the race. I say, let the healing begin.

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67 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hooray! You're back :-)

slag said...

Think of how sexist it would be of Obama to just give the lady the nomination. Any woman who has ever argued with a man only to hear him say in an exasperated manner "alright, you win" knows exactly what I mean. Geraldine Ferraro will be all over his ass if he just gives up like that. If Obama truly respected Hillary as a woman, he would keep fighting with her until she has proven that he is wrong--like always--and that she is right--like always. If he wants to prove that he believes in gender equality, he not only needs to lose, but he has to be thoroughly humiliated in the process.

Anonymous said...

Welcome back Jon, we've missed your insight!

Unknown said...

Your voice is the one this country has needed to hear, Jon. Weren't you running for president a few months ago or was that just some pundit's wishful thinking?
In any case, I now feel as if my head's back on straight.

Chuck Butcher said...

I hope you enjoyed your vacation, I didn't. Good to have you back.

Just like Oregon to continue the divisiveness... Now you make me sorry I voted to.

SM said...

Yay! Truly, my heart gave a little lurch of joy when I saw there was - A POST! At last...

Anonymous said...

I had nearly despaired of ever seeing another post, but no, Obama must fight on. Party unity and even victory in November are not as important as the historic moment - being the first black candidate to have a shot at the election. Anybody who doesn't vote for Barack is by definition racist.

BTW, women are just afraid of a strong black man or they would agree with me.

Micgar said...

Jon where the hell have you been the blogospere has missed you very much!
I was checking every day or so and no... no... then tonight I was like, what!? Alright!

J. said...

Horses for courses...

Bukko Boomeranger said...

What is this? I was going to drop a comment at the end of the March 15 post and had to scroll my screen through a lot of new letters and pictures just to get the cursor to where I wanted to go. Way to make it inconvenient, mate!

And all these comments within a day of new activity following two months of nothingness -- don't you people have lives, coming back day after day to a site that any sensible conservative would have given up for dead?

Anonymous said...

I'm just so excited and out of breath! Like any true believer, I knew you were only patiently biding your time until all the riff-raff went away. Kindly sign my breast!

mark hoback said...

Lovely piece. Welcome back.

James Higham said...

Kathleen's a bit of a honey.

liquiddaddy said...

Sir,

My computer screen is smeared with nose-prints, like my living room window from my faithful dog who keeps a constant vigil until I arrive safely home. OK, some of the mess is from Rover's daily attempt to viciously murder the mailman; nevertheless, welcome home, and thanks for bringing a treat.

I'm proud of the way HRC allowed everybody to let their hair down as far as any potential hurt feelings over the fact that she's a girl, which Osama would never stand for concerning his negrocity.

With Hillary, we can say things like "white bitch", "C.U.N.T.", "maybe it's time to put the old family dog to sleep", "iron my shirt" and so on, without getting all high and mighty about it.

On the other hand, we can't even openly observe that Osama looks like Curious George, much less worry about dashiki wearing, Kool smoking, gin-and-juice drinking, Soul Train dancing, negrociouness in the White House.

Why are black people so sensitive?

LD

Anonymous said...

Welcome back! I checked your blog like every single day in the past months and almost gave up hope. So glad I decided to stick around. Great post.

merlallen said...

what slag said.
glad you're back, jon.

Anonymous said...

You are truly delusional!

Patricia said...

You're back!!! You had us so worried. I was beginning to think it was an abduction or something.

Now, once I finish swooning with relief, I'll actually read the post.

Batocchio said...

Whoo-hoo! Welcome back!

Perhaps he can run again in 2032 when he will still be younger than John McCain is now and people will have forgiven him for the divisiveness he has caused by trying to get people to vote for him…

Someone close to Obama needs to tell him that the jig is up (and before someone emails me, "the jig is up" is not a racist phrase as far as I know, except possibly when applied to Irishmen).


My favorite lines.

Bill said...

This is, without doubt, the most rational and reality-based argument for Hillary I've seen in the last couple of months.

Unknown said...

He was supposed to be the candidate that brought us together by blurring our differences.-Touche' Jonny!

Anonymous said...

Welcome back!

sincerely,
a lurker

Anonymous said...

WB Jon, I trust you've bagged enough street urchins to keep your larder full for the summer. With all the liberalism running amok these past two months, I feared you'd retreated to the wine cellar for the duration.

Your reappearance is a great relief.

Dean said...

Damnation! Just when I think I've figured out every angle in this maddening campaign, I'm thrown another curveball. The brain it hurts!!

Anonymous said...

Dude, where the fuck you been!?

amba said...

Whew.

josetteplank.com said...

I had just found you, and I was in love.

Then you were gone, and I wept.

Now you're back again, and I am angry and relieved and in love again.

It's like a freakin' Jane Austen novel around here.

amba said...

I thought there was a possibility that you'd died. No idea of the circumstances that could have prevented you from posting, don't want to know, but if it was just a hiatus, it was a sadistic one.

Anonymous said...

Welcome back Jon!

Anonymous said...

Welcome back.

Here are some math tips for the Obama fans. It's on Daily Kos, so it has to be right.

Eliza said...

!!!

High time you were back. You were sorely missed.

Anonymous said...

wow.. this blog is great!!!

Roxie Smith Lindemann said...

Praise dog! You're back. And wise as ever. What a relief!

Muscle Car Society said...

i really like this blog too, almost as much at Oh Boy Obama.com

Anonymous said...

Hey hey!
This is why I keep comin' back, even when you do me wrong. bygones.
Charles

Anonymous said...

Obama is only staying in the race in case Hillary does too many shots of Old Grandad and crashes her pick up truck.

Anonymous said...

Jon, you rock!

Free speech--gotta love it!

--Ottawa

Anonymous said...

Very glad to see that you're back, Jon!

Anonymous said...

the blogsphere seemed so empty without you lately. No one has been able to piss me off! ha-ha
welcome back Jon Swift!

Anonymous said...

Calloo, callay! Glad to see you back in your tub, sir.

I had begun to fear you'd turn'd to that dirt from whence you sprung.

Anonymous said...

Welcome back!

. . .don't you people have lives, coming back day after day to a site that any sensible conservative would have given up for dead?

Bah! By that logic, I wouldn't still be waiting for the return of that other great conservative, Jesus.

Anonymous said...

im so happy i found this blog. nice one

OutOfContext said...

Many of the members of his campaign are quite young and not all that familiar with the Byzantine Democratic nominating rules.

Actually under the Byzantine Democratic nominating rules Constantine LIV is the nominee, but his iconoclasm makes him unelectable these days. I've always said both a black man and a woman will be elected before a Greek.

moneymonk said...

Welcome back, MJS! And just in the nick of time. I was about to procure an Asian bride to lure you out of hiding. thanks goodness i can wait until the dollar turns around. Cheers!

Anonymous said...

Haha - good one. I also think McCain should concede. Just not sure who he should concede to, but it makes sense. That way he can run again in 2016 and show people that he was not too old the first time around and neither would he be by 2016.

Anonymous said...

did anyone do a "I agree with you 100%" yet ?

anyway, i agree with you.......yadda yadda.

Stella by Starlight said...

Esther Johnson, nicknamed as Stella, needed this moment of political satire. I think I can blog again, Mr. Swift.

Clearly, I need to visit more often, if you don't mind. You rock, Dean Swift.

Anonymous said...

Jon, I think I recognized you from the reasonable conservatives tour of underage male prostitutes in Cambodia.

Given the tour dates coincide with your absence, I'm almost sure I can figure out which of my fellow wide-stancers you were.

Rightwingsnarkle said...

I waited two months for this?!?

Unknown said...

You were right, I liked it!

fish said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
fish said...

Someone close to Obama needs to tell him that the jig is up

Mel Brooks?

Susie Bright said...

omg, you're back, I was just about to send in the Green Berets to drag you out of your bunker. Are you okay, sweetie? I missed you so much!

rope a dope a boop boop!

Lizzy Strata

Anonymous said...

wow, I am a woman and white, in my late 40's and in my opinion it is Hillary that has caused the divisiveness in this race in large part. AND I don't agree that Obama should concede. Personally I do not want a Clinton 3rd or 4th term. What is wrong with this country? Is our gene pool so small that you must be a Bush or a Clinton to be president? I say no to that, time for a change.

Anonymous said...

Good grief, now that he actually won the nomination, how does it feel to be as long-winded as you are wrong?

LOL!!

RandomBabe! said...

LooooooL!!

And now... How exactly do you feel writing this now that Barak Obama has WON the election and McCain conceeded........

Do not judge anyone too early... You never know where they might be tomorrow!!

Hope you have learnt!

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