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The questions surrounding former frontrunner Sen. Hillary Clinton losing the Democratic nomination battle have evolved from: if, to when and, now, how? Incontrovertibly, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama will be the Democrats’ 2008 presidential nominee – barring villainy or an act of God. With the inclusion of half of Florida and Michigan’s delegates and Sunday’s primary in Puerto Rico, Obama is a mere 49.5 delegates from 2,118 needed to secure nomination, according to NBC News estimates.  Cartoon by Andy Marlette/AndyMarlette.com
No matter who wins Tuesday’s final primaries in Montana and South Dakota, the two are expected to split the remaining 47 delegates due to the proportional allocation.
So, Obama would still be short that 2,118 goal.
Come Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, Clinton should be the one to put Obama over the top.
As a super delegate herself, Clinton should gather about 30 of her pledged superdelegates to join her in re-pledging their support for Obama, giving him the minimum 2,118 nominating delegates. With Obama reaching that milestone, Clinton should end her campaign, as would have been prudent months ago.
Rather than conceding defeat, there is a certain sense of empowerment that could come from this active gesture – an empowerment not per se for Hillary Clinton but also for her supporters, many of whom are women who have waited a lifetime to see a female nominee and president.
It is true, as Obama strategists have feared, that if Clinton appeared to have been prematurely forced out of this primary campaign, many of her supporters would have been disgruntled and defected to Republican presumptive nominee Sen. John McCain or, worse yet, not vote at all in November.
If Clinton gives Obama the delegates he needs to secure the nomination, there can be no illusion of coercion, no sense of unfairness or injustice.
Listen, Clinton will lose. The question now is whether she’ll lose with honor. There is one thing left for [Clinton] to do. And that is to unite the Democratic Party.With the exception of the nomination and, perhaps, restoring her husband’s image within the black community, Clinton has extracted all she could from this historic, spirited campaign.
She can lay claim – although dubiously – to winning the popular vote of all the contests held. She’s done better than any other woman who has run for president and won more primary votes than all the men in either party – with the exception of one. For now, she’s the more electable Democrat in key battleground states (those polls could change in a month or two, if she sticks in the race). She’s gotten Michigan and Florida’s delegates partially seated, a tribute that won’t be forgotten if ever she were to run again. And she’s finally stepped outside of former President Bill Clinton’s immense shadow to claim her own rite as a powerhouse in the Democratic Party and the nation.
There is one thing left for her to do. And that is to unite the Democratic Party and, more importantly, the country.
The stage set Tuesday could be a stream of Clinton supporters and superdelegates – Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, California Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, Idaho Sen. Evan Bayh – all endorsing Obama, along with Bill and Hillary Clinton. There is no stronger symbol of party unity. But beyond that, that display would show a racial unity, a gender unity, a generational unity and a class unity in this country.
That is what America needs right now, not appeals to convention credential committees whose results won’t change what is – and has long been – inevitable.
[Associated Press, NYTimes, MSNBC]
Executive Editor Dwayne Robinson abstains from all staff editorials.
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