Hillaryland Hits Back

"At the risk of stating the obvious, the fight for the Democratic nomination effectively came to an end Tuesday night. Barack Obama has won. My suggestion for grieving conservatives? Deal with it.

"I've been saying all along that the long primary fight was the best thing that could have happened to the Democrats. The process revealed Obama's weaknesses, and he had to address them. Were it not for the long and competitive Democratic race, Jeremiah Wright would have become a household name around Columbus Day (which is a legal holiday in Massachusetts and a paid day off for state workers) instead of St. Patrick's Day (which is also a legal holiday in Massachusetts and another paid day off for state workers, although it's called Evacuation Day). Obama's dithering on the Wright stuff might well have ruined his general election chances if he had won New Hampshire like he was supposed to . . .

"I know many conservatives are disappointed by Tuesday night's results. Perhaps a brief walk down Clinton Memory Lane would remind them that they should not lament the Fall of the House of Clinton. Indeed, instead of fretting this morning about an Obama ascendancy, conservatives should take a bit of pleasure in the fact that we won't have the Clintons to kick us around anymore."

Andrew Sullivan might just miss having Hillary to kick around:

"Here's what now seems obvious: African-American voters killed the Clinton candidacy. It is a fitting end to the Clintons' campaign and an almost Shakespearean coda to their career. The Clintons were exposed in their long-running exploitation and reliance on minority votes. No group was more loyal to them than African-Americans; and in the end, like everyone else, African-Americans realized that the Clintons are frauds, disloyal to the core, cynical to their finger-tips, and finally, finally, returned the favor."

Atlantic's Marc Ambinder rattles off some reasons why Hillary should stay in, including:

" Embarrassment. If she drops out tomorrow and winds up winning in West Virginia and Kentucky, Obama will be mightily embarrassed. Having her in the race gives him an excuse for losing those two states. (I ran this by an Obama adviser who said, "We'll take our chances.")

" The Ask. Does Clinton want to be Obama's vice president? Who knows? But does Clinton want to be asked whether she wants to be his vice president and this be in a position to decline it? Surely. The more Obama is reminded that Clinton cannot not be dispensed with, the more pressure he will feel to at least solicit her views on the subject of the vice presidency."

Unless she wants to be VP--which I have a hard time imagining--why would she care? Besides, she already has a nice house in that neighborhood.

Obama's glow may fade in the fall, John Judis argues in the New Republic:

"The Democratic primary is over. Hillary Clinton might still run in West Virginia and Kentucky, which she'll win handily, but by failing to win Indiana decisively and by losing North Carolina decisively, she lost the argument for her own candidacy. She can't surpass Barack Obama's delegate or popular vote count. The question is no longer who will be the Democratic nominee, but whether Obama can defeat Republican John McCain in November. And the answer to that is still unclear.

"During the last two months, Obama has faltered as a candidate. He has seen his political base narrow rather than widen, and some of his strengths turn into weaknesses. Of course, he has had to deal with the scandal surrounding Reverend Jeremiah Wright, but even so, he needs to remedy certain flaws in his political approach if he wants to defeat McCain in the fall."