Countless commentators have made the point that Clinton would do well by quitting the race at this point. It is not a battle that she can win, Obama’s pledged delegate lead is almost insurmountable, as is his popular vote lead of almost 1 million. Last Friday her own campaign’s internal polling alerted Clinton that she was losing Texas (as polling released the past few days has confirmed). Yet, instead of withdrawing from a race she has no chance of winning, she continues on a course that can do nothing but harm the party. If Obama commits an unforgivable blunder, or Clinton manages to take the bulk of super-delegates (both highly improbable), she would stand to gain from the house Barack built.
To be classy is to give credit where credit is due, to acknowldge that Obama has built and expanded the party in a way she simply is not capable of doing. To be classy is to withdraw with dignity for the good of the party and the nation. Even Mitt Romney, not the classiest of acts, withdrew and supported a man he disliked in McCain. Romney did so because even he believes in unity on some basic level.
To be classy is to admit mistakes, i.e. voting for Iraq.
Mrs. Clinton has clearly lacked class recently, but the die has not yet been cast. She can still withdraw with grace on March 5th and immediatly endorse Obama.
Let us be clear, this wave that Obama is riding is not simple momentum, it is a movement of transformative power. When the Clinton/McCain machines threaten to take us over the brink, the brink to which Bush+Bill’s divisive politics have brought us, the movement says “No you won’t.” When these established faces say “You can’t stop us.” We reply “Yes, we can.”
