This Last Dance, Tonight.

It's over.

I know no one wants to hear it, and I take no joy in saying it... but we're done.

It's not even the North Carolina result. It's that, as I type this, the likelihood that Indiana will be something like 50-49, and possibly 50-49 Obama makes it hard to see how any argument about delegates, or popular votes, can work in Clinton's favor. To keep Obama on the ropes enough to offer an alternative argument required, I think, a clear demonstration, not that he was "damaged," but that his campaign failed to adapt to shifting realities on the ground. Clearly, Obama's adapted enough to put himself just enough ahead of Clinton that there's no ifs or buts to his percentages. He'll be ahead, no matter what outcomes follow. It needs to be said.

And it needs to be accepted.

The question then is, what now. What to do with all the energy, dynamism and purpose Clinton supporters put into the effort.  What to do about Clinton's real strength in attracting a coalition that even tonight did not so much shift subtly to Obama as simply become overwhelmed by increased turnout. And what to do about a stark set of divisions within the Democratic Party - divisions that have, I realize belatedly, been there all along - that can't be papered over, or really ignored.

All of which leads me to a few thoughts about what's next... because I can't stay in this place where I'm just too sad to breathe.

• Obama needs to unite the party, and fast. That means dropping the attacks on Clinton - and by extension, her supporters - as divisive, or intent on "stealing" an election, or unable to back the Party's ultimate nominee.  He needs to ask for our votes, and be gracious in victory. And he needs, quickly, to come up with a VP pick that unifies this party around a common theme and purpose.
• Superdelegates need to step in. I've long thought that the "super" delegates on the fence were right to hold back... until now. As long as Clinton had a convincing argument for the possibility of Obama not closing, it was incumbent on key deciders to let this play out. It has, and now they need to step up. Holding out now only delays an inevitable.
• Bloggers need to stand down. If the major Obama bloggers insist on gloating, punishing and deriding Clinton supporters, this will get real ugly, real fast. You've won. You've made your points. Hammering at them, seeing just how much blood you can draw... not really worth the effort, and not worth the bad feelings left in its wake. By the same token, Clinton bloggers need to come around to reality, and begin accepting what it means to have Obama as the candidate. And to figure out how this works.
• No one, really, should paper over the divisions we have. We will lose the general if we ignore the "silent cry" that's been made in the voting. That means pressing Obama to improve his messaging to Hispanics, Catholics, Jews, and working class voters. A coalition of intellectual elites and African American voters cannot win the general election alone. Somebody needs to speak for the concerns of working class voters. Barack Obama has not done that, not in a way that voters need to hear. And if he doesn't do that between now and the fall, I can guarantee John McCain will.
• John McCain is the enemy. For just this reason. Has been all along. The GOP needs to be defeated this November for us to make any progress in Iraq, any headway on our economic problems, and any attempts we hope to make to restore fairness to the majority of Americans. As we play out the endgame, we can't lose sight of the goal here: defeating the GOP. Not each other. Not the ideas we believe in most.

I want to be clear: I have not, mysteriously, or magically, decided Barack Obama is suddenly the better choice over Hillary Clinton. But I'm not going to deny reality, or pretend  we don't know where this is going. There's no magic to be found, no miracle to occur.  I'm a Democrat who believes in electing Democrats first. I wish it were Hillary Clinton. It won't be. We're done.

Comments

[Redstar]

Wow, that was fast.

[jinbaltimore]

Hold off on that "we" of "we're done" please. Not there and don't know if I ever will be. Seriously. Just might be too much water under the bridge for me.

[scottreads]

Thanks for this. I wanted her to win too, but your post and Todd Beeton's sum it up well. As a practical matter, it probably isn't going to happen now. I know if the show were on the other foot, Donna Brazile and company would be screaming about the stolen election, but that's them. As weboy said, that's not us, and ultimately I believe as Dems that we need to be together against an insane warmongering hack like McCain. I don't like the way this went down, and I'm not going to pretend that divisions don't exist, but I'm not going to hand it to our homegrown fascists in November by sitting on my hands. Still, it does fucking suck, doesn't it?

[scottreads]

Sorry, "shoe on the other foot," not show. Me type real gud sumdae.

[Redstar]

I with Jim. I need some time to process this and think.

No "we" here yet.

[Redstar]

I think she has to stay in through Puerto Rico - for the voters. If the CW is as solid as the Times says it is, and Obama is the nominee, then he can campaign for this month against McCain, and she can stay in and let the voters signal their support for her. If her campaign is as handicapped as it supposedly is by $$ and perception, then again, she's hardly a strong foe against Obama at this point. But the primary season has been such an invigorating exercise for actual voters that I think she owes us all to remain in the game.

It's hard to call her finished and also still a threat to Obama in the same breath.

[jinbaltimore]

On the other hand, if as weboy points out, Obama is the nominee, it will take the pressure off, for me at least, to remain engaged in election 08.

The rest of life awaits!

[LC]

I thought until yesterday that I could vote for Obama in the GE.
Now I know I can't. I've cancelled my subscriptions (that can be measured in decades) to two "liberal" mags because I can no longer pay money for page after page (and blog after blog) of misogyny.

I have realized that, for me (one of those despised older white women), voting for Obama would be the equivalent of an AA voting for a Klansman.

There is nothing Obama or his supporters can do or say to get my vote. They're like the guys who batter their wives and then beg forgiveness afterwards. They are not going to get it.

And don't play the "McCain would be worse" horse. The reason we've had 8 years of the Shrub is because some of those latte-liberals supporting Obama decided that Gore and Kerry weren't "pure enough". Now they want me to save their guy? Forget it.

Moreover, according to a post on Digby, Obama has plans to register millions of new voters for him. And Donna Brazile says the Dem. party doesn't need the base.

So, I won't vote for Obama (or McCain) and my conscience will be clear.