WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York announced Saturday she was suspending her presidential campaign, saying in a speech to her supporters, "I will continue to stand strong with you every time, every place and every way that I can.".... She urged the cheering crowd to support Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, presumptive Democratic nominee, in his bid for the White House, saying they should "take our energy, our passion and our strength and do all we can to help elect Barack Obama ... I ask all of you to join me in working as hard for Barack Obama as you have for me.".... Her endorsement was met with a scattering of boos and thumbs downs from the large crowd at the National Building Museum in Washington.
After having thoroughly savaged Sen. Hillary Clinton for her overarching mean-spirited arrogance and her overdeveloped sense of noblesse oblige, I suppose I should at least acknowledge that she's finally done the right thing. Of course, now that Sen. Barack Obama has the delegates necessary to guarantee him the Democratic nomination, what other option did she reasonably have? With Obama clearly and undeniably over the threshold, there was no longer a credible way for her to spin the numbers or the propaganda to her advantage. She can no longer lie about having the lead in popular votes, winning "big" states, and she can no longer ignore the relevance and impact of caucus states. Bottom line: she lost...and not even a world-class prevaricator such as herself can deny what is now beyond undeniable. Even liars and charlatans eventually have to face reality. She lost. Get over it. Time to move forward.
I'm going to forego the flogging that HRC thoroughly deserves for her self-interested, self-absorbed willingness to do whatever she felt necessary and appropriate to win the Democratic nomination. Her speech, as brilliant and forceful as it was tardy, does nothing to restore any of the respect I once held for her. My initial reaction was really quite succinct, but I do appreciate the fact that HRC has finally owned up to reality and done the right thing. Her speech was positive, upbeat, and devoid of the bitterness and mean-spiritedness that became the hallmark of her campaign over the past few months. Even so, I'm having trouble getting past the reality that this was a speech that should have been given weeks ago. In time, I suppose I'll get over it, but I do know that I will never, ever hold HRC in the same esteem that I once did- before she revealed herself to be a self-absorbed, egomaniacal harridan concerned only with her own self-aggrandizement. The only thing that could drop her even lower in my estimation of her would be for Barack Obama to select her as his Vice-Presidential candidate...and for her to accept.
There's certainly an argument to be made for HRC as a strong and viable VP candidate. To his credit, Obama's demeanor would seem to indicate that he's a man with the strength of character to allow bygones be bygones and do what's best for party and country. It's quite possible that HRC may well be the best VP candidate out there, but at the moment seeing her smug, self-satisfied grin redolent of noblesse oblige makes me want to toss my breakfast scones.
I can't help but feeling that HRC as his VP is a recipe for disaster, and a reward for poor behavior. Still, even should this happen, I will support Obama. Even in the event that he's caught in flagrante delicto with Mrs. O'Leary's cow, he's still head and shoulders above Bush Lite © (see "Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader © - eight years of"). John McCain as President would be an unmitigated disaster, and if having HRC as VP is the price to be paid for preventing that, it's a toll I'll pay all day long. It's a matter of determining (and avoiding) the greater Evil.
Perhaps now that HRC has ended her quixotic quest to rip the Democratic Party asunder, we can finally get down to the business of taking our country back from the neoConservative, theocratic thugs who have run our government as their own personal playground for the past eight years.
WE DESERVE BETTER...and we now have it within our grasp to do what we should have been able to do eight years ago. I can only pray that we don't (&^% this one up as well....
YES. WE. CAN. Have something better, that is.
