REQUIEM FOR HILLARY: Quest for the White House is Over

For anyone who was not listening, the fat lady sang late Tuesday night as Hillary Clinton’s tenuous lead in the Indiana primary shrank to a miniscule 20,000 out of over 1.2 million votes.

This result on the heels of Barack Obama’s landslide victory in North Carolina (despite the frantic Cracker Barrel tour of former President Bill Clinton) put the mark of finality on the longest primary season in history.

The Democrats have selected their candidate so why has Clinton pledged to carry the battle forward to West Virginia, Kentucky and beyond?

Some have cynically suggested that she wants to retire a burgeoning campaign debt but the Clintons, having made over a hundred million dollars since Bill left office, can readily pay their own debt. Others suggest that she is holding out for a miracle – an Obama implosion that would compel the party to hand over the nomination – but she does not need to actively campaign for that contingency. She is already positioned to assume the party mantle should Obama inexplicably collapse.

If Obama has demonstrated anything it is that he will not collapse. He may stumble but he will not fall. He has withstood the challenge of the Clinton machine – a machine every bit as formidable as anything the Republicans have to offer.

He has suffered the "slings and arrows" of wild accusations (he attended a madrasa and is secretly a Muslim), endured Machiavellian manipulations (the Rush Limbaugh chaos campaign) and responded with dignity to a full-throttle media fed smear-by-association assault (Reverend Wright).

He has survived the storm, emerging stronger and battle-tested for the campaign still ahead. For that he can sincerely thank the Clinton campaign.

So why does Hillary march on?

Like the stupefied investor on Black Tuesday, watching her portfolio collapse before her eyes, she cannot pull the trigger to sell what remains of her diminished stocks, preferring to believe that it is all some horrible mistake. It cannot be happening.

But it is happening. It has in fact happened.

Anyone who observed Hillary’s "victory" speech in Indiana could read the whole and unadulterated story on the sun burned face of husband Bill. Exhausted and wary, he felt her pain. It was oddly touching but he does not have the heart to tell her what someone in her entourage must say: Your quest for the White House is over.

Like an aging prize fighter who has gone too many rounds, a politician must learn not only how to win and how to get up and fight back when you’re down but also how and when to accept defeat.

Many would argue that she should have dropped out long ago (after Super Tuesday) but she has shown the kind of resilience for which her husband was famous. She exploited the underdog advantage, donned the populist persona and made the possibility of winning the nomination in a bloody battle at a brokered convention real if not probable.

That was before North Carolina and Indiana.

Now it is time for Hillary to accept defeat and graciously bow out. She can no longer claim to be fighting for women, for the working class, for Florida and Michigan or for any other constituency. If she continues the fight now, it is all about Hillary and the only constituencies that should be applauding belong to Rush Limbaugh and that vast rightwing conspiracy she once decried.

As for those Hillary supporters who have told pollsters you will vote for John McCain rather than Barack Obama in November, you really should take a penetrating look in the mirror. To move from Clinton to McCain is so thoroughly irrational it defies any other explanation but racial prejudice.

I have read with interest the "cover theory" regarding the impact of the Reverend Wright story on the electorate. It holds that the real impact of these non-substantive, media frenzy issues is that they allow voters a cover for predetermined bias.

I cannot in good conscience dismiss this theory. Racial prejudice remains imbedded in our culture and political landscape. It will play a part in the November election but it is well past time that we as a people matured enough to overcome our baser selves for the good of the nation.

Ironically, it was pandering (the gas tax holiday) that derailed the Clinton express and it is pandering by the fork-tongued John McCain that will ultimately decide the race in the fall.

Mark it, post and save: Barack Hussein Obama will be the next President of these United States of America. Get used to it.

Jazz.

JACK RANDOM IS THE AUTHOR OF THE JAZZMAN CHRONICLES (CROW DOG PRESS) AND GHOST DANCE INSURRECTION (DRY BONES PRESS). THE CHRONICLES HAVE BEEN POSTED ON NUMEROUS CITES OF THE WORLDWIDE WEB, INCLUDING THE ALBION MONITOR, BELLACIAO, BUZZLE, COUNTERPUNCH, DISSIDENT VOICE, THE DAILY SCARE, THE NATIONAL FREE PRESS AND PACIFIC FREE PRESS. SEE WWW.JAZZMANCHRONICLES.BLOGSPOT.COM.