Cup of Cha
This is China

Deep down, I know the Senator Clinton believes the Democratic Party and the country need her. And who knows, maybe she’s right. She thinks Senator Obama isn’t up to the task of taking on John McCain. But in this bubble of conviction, she has started to lose touch with reality. Even on the day when some of her supporters and campaign staff are begin to take a conciliatory tone, Senator Clinton has decided to continue to push an agenda that would hurt her party and the country.

Just today, Senator Clinton has sent a letter to Senator Obama comparing the DNC’s decision not to count Michigan and Florida, which was announced long before the Democrats in both states decided to move up their election dates in violation of Party rules, was akin to the 2000 Florida recount? Really? Then why did she say in January about the Michigan election, “it did not make any difference whether my name was on the ballot, you see, it’s clear, this election they’re having is not going to count for anything.”

Here’s the thing: even if you count Michigan, where Obama’s name wasn’t even on the ballot, and Florida, she still can’t win without changing more rules. So why is she writing letters like the one below at a time when the Party should be coming together? (Stephanopoulos argues she might be angling for VP, but given the things she has said about Obama during the campaign, having her on the ticket would make Republicans’ lives far too easy.) She has certainly earned the right to stay in the race through all of the voting, but has she earned the right to try to tear her Party down? Here’s party of the letter:

One of the foremost principles of our party is that citizens be allowed to vote and that those votes be counted. That principle is not currently being applied to the nearly 2.5 million people who voted in primaries in Florida and Michigan…

I have consistently said that the votes cast in Florida and Michigan in January should be counted [my italics, not hers]…In 2000, the Republicans won an election by successfully opposing a fair counting of votes in Florida. As Democrats, we must reject any proposals that would do the same.

I sincerely feel for Senator Clinton. Even though I don’t like many of her tactics, like advocating the gas tax holiday, which she knows neither has a chance of passing Congress, nor doing any good even if it did, or comparing Obama’s campaign to that of Jesse Jackson’s just after the South Carolina primary, I know that most of the public work she has done has been good. She is on the right side of most issues, and she is, in fact, doing what she thinks is best for the country, as misguided as that is.

Giving up something that you have worked toward your whole life is incredibly hard, and at times painful. It is why athletes stick around long after they have lost their skills. The fact that she believes she is the better candidate only compounds the difficulty. On the other hand, don’t all candidates believe they are the best? That’s why the run after all.

But the thing is that it’s not just that she is trying to count Florida and Michigan when she agreed not to. And it’s not just that even counting those two states she would still be behind. And it’s not just the fact that whereas in Florida hundreds of thousands of people voted for Senator Obama, in Michigan zero did. It’s that she only wants these votes to count so that she can further change the rules of the primary when the 30-member rules committee meets later this month. And that she is publicly calling for super delegates to overturn the will of the voters because that’s in the rules, but can’t accept the decision on the Michigan and Florida primaries even though those are in the rules.

It is at this time, toward the end of a grueling campaign with the finish line in sight, that Senator Obama’s campaign needs to be the most gracious toward a ferocious opponent who likely would have had a similar policy agenda to Senator Obama. And I hope that Team Obama is able to keep its mouth shut in the coming days and weeks and let her leave on her own terms. But Hillary Clinton sure is making it hard to be a gracious winner.

Tags: clinton, obama
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