CSM op ed:Hillary: It's time for a gracious exit.

[n2doc]

Bow out now and you'll be hailed as party savior – and a woman of principle

from the May 9, 2008 edition

Dear Hillary,

Enough. You've reaffirmed your standing as a fighter, reconnected with blue-collar America, forged an identity as a woman of heart and steel. Now you can be a uniter, too, hailed for your toughness and grace in recognizing when a losing cause is just that.

It's time to bow out of the Democratic contest.

Yes, you can fight clear through to the convention, demand that the Florida and Michigan delegations be seated; bring in your attack dogs to question Barack Obama's – um – masculine fortitude; wink at another round of Internet whispers that question your opponent's funny name, his patriotism, and his religion.

You can bash the press, browbeat the superdelegates, and boast of your prowess in the working-class kitchens of big states the party must win come November. You can post more ads of that irritating red phone and revel in your ability to nick your opponent just enough to keep him slightly off stride.

But you'll still lose. And the Democratic Party may lose with you.

Consider your legacy. Do you want to be remembered as Hillary the Pillorer, Hillary the Heckler, Clinton the Cutthroat? Surely not.

Doesn't Hillary the Healer seem more salving, more uplifting, on the pages of Democratic Party history? Surely you and Bill don't want to risk discarding your moneymaking memoirs in the trash heap of Democratic sore losers?

In so many intimate aspects of life, timing is everything. And in the end, even in the 24-7 glare of panting journalists and pushy photographers, politics is a most intimate sport. Seize the moment.

more:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0509/p09s02-coop.html

[SoCalDem]

1. Too late for dignity.. To many burned bridges

The Clintons blew it..BIGTIME.. they had a chance for a historic legacy, and now they are laughingstocks..

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5920091&mesg_id=5920091

[The Doctor.]

7. No it's not. n/t

[KaptBunnyPants]

10. It's never too late to start doing the right thing.

She can't undo what she did, but she can stop making the situation worse. Bowing out of the campaign and putting her full throated support behind the nominee would be a good first step.

[The River]

2. You Know You Are In Trouble

when the CSM weighs in like this.
Unfortunately, I doubt she has the wisdom to act on this opportunity.

[n2doc]

3. kick n/t

[Ichingcarpenter]

4. Clinton's future depends on graceful exit- Boston Globe

SNIP>>>>>>>

One question a flagging candidate inevitably confronts is this: What political prospects lie ahead if you quit?

Although there's plenty of talk about a dream ticket composed of the two rivals, it would make little sense for Obama to choose Clinton. One obvious reason is that by doing so, he would take on all the past - and potentially future - controversies and baggage associated with the Clintons.

Another consideration is the very message Obama has offered. If he represents change, in that formulation Clinton is the status quo, the old politics he hopes to move beyond. Further, for all the current worry that deep-seated enmity from the primary campaign will keep a significant segment of Clinton backers from supporting him, those sorts of tensions usually prove evanescent.


Certainly she could run again, either in 2012 if Obama loses in November or, if he wins, in 2016, when she would be 68, three years younger than John McCain is now. But the slash-and-burn tactics desperate candidates sometimes resort to in the hope of a miracle would undercut those prospects.

"At this point, her possibilities and her future in the party are very sound," says US Senator Ted Kennedy, an Obama supporter. "But the ending and the follow-up always make the difference."

Yes they do. To keep her opportunities open, Clinton has to understand something zealous members of her sharp-elbowed team may not yet: Her real quest now is not for this year's nomination but rather for an option on the future. In the closing days, she needs to conduct her campaign with that in mind


http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/05/09/clintons_future_depends_on_graceful_exit/

[BlooInBloo]

5. The Clintons have some good qualities, but that ain't one of them.

EDIT: Typo.

[dana_b]

6. Not until after the primaries have finished. THEN she should bow out.

She wants to save some face, fine. It's only a few more weeks anyway. She just should shut up about the white/black voters.

[Clear Blue Sky]

8. She wants her legacy to be as the first female president.

And she is not about to settle for anything else. Pride before the fall?

[RichardRay]

9. I'm waiting for someone to attack the Monitor...

as a tool of Senator Obama's campaign staffed by hate-mongers and shills.

Waiting...

[here_is_to_hope]

11. Sure thing, under the bus CSM! Dead to me!

There, done and done!


(alright, its Sunday...too stoned to be on DU anyway....:smoke: )

[Ichingcarpenter]

12. "She Should be on the Campaign Trail Fighting for Obama" - Star Tribune.

Turn out the lights, Hillary
By Bob Ray Sanders
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

Sen. Hillary Clinton is a smart, strong, tenacious woman.

When it became clear that she had no realistic way to catch Obama (much less surpass him) in pledged delegates or the popular vote, she began to change her mind about the Democratic rules disqualifying delegates from Michigan and Florida -- delegates she had agreed should not count because their states had moved up their primary dates despite party regulations.

Clinton and all Democrats made a pledge not to campaign in those states, and Obama even had his name removed from the Michigan ballot.

Clinton's name remained on both, and she won the popular vote in both, although 40 percent of voters in Michigan remained uncommitted. (Obama's supporters had encouraged voters to mark "uncommitted" on their ballots.)

Although neither candidate went to those states to campaign or ran advertising in either, it is disingenuous for Clinton to say she didn't work for votes in Florida. Before that state's primary, she was talking about making sure that Floridians were not "disenfranchised" and saying that their delegates ought to be seated at the national convention.

That in itself was a campaign, and she knew her statements would be carried by the media there. She also made fundraising appearances in Florida.

And now, after she lost big in North Carolina and narrowly won in Indiana last week, everybody but Clinton knows that her campaign for the nomination is over.

She says she's determined to go on, and that is her prerogative. Perhaps she is looking for more bargaining power in getting on the ticket as Obama's vice presidential nominee or to negotiate for his campaign to pay off some of her mounting debt. (She has loaned her campaign more than $11 million.)

But maybe she honestly doesn't know how to quit, because she's never really had to do that.

There is much public talk (and, I'm sure, conversation behind the scenes) of a so-called dream ticket of Obama-Clinton. Although she couldn't win as the nominee without him, I'm still not sure that he could win with her.

Sure, the party will have to unite in order to beat John McCain in November, but will the Democrats' two candidates have to marry, even if it has to be a shotgun wedding? I don't think so.

For all intents and purposes, the nomination process should be over by the end of this month. Nominee Obama should go forward with his campaign this summer against his Republican opponent and take his time in choosing a running mate.

If Hillary Clinton is true to her word, she and her husband will be out on the campaign trail, fighting for Obama and their party.

If she spends too much time pouting and dreaming of what might have been, it will serve only to remind people of why they don't like her.

http://www.star-telegram.com/245/story/634725.html