Senator Hillary Clinton should end her bid to become President

Senator Hillary Clinton has the opportunity to make a historic decision that could benefit both her party and the country. It is up to Mrs. Clinton, because God knows her husband doesn’t have it in him to make the choice that is needed.

Senator Hillary Clinton should concede the Democratic nomination for president to Senator Barack Obama. The time is now for their party to again focus on the business of this nation and the American people.

The fight for the Democratic nomination has been a knockdown drag out affair. At times, I’ve had to remind myself that both candidates come from the same party.

The race took a nasty turn when former President Bill Clinton injected race and negative campaigning into the mix during the South Carolina Primary. As Senator Obama’s campaign gained momentum, Senator Clinton’s tone became more divisive and here campaign resorted to Republican style tactics. Instead of enthusiasm over the record numbers of voters in her party’s contests, she passed it off as some mystical allegiance to hope speak.

But the numbers don’t lie. A recent story at The Politico detailed the unlikelihood of a Hillary Clinton comeback in the delegate count. (See The Politico’s The Clinton Myth). Here’s some of what they had to say:

• One big fact has largely been lost in the recent coverage of the Democratic presidential race: Hillary Rodham Clinton has virtually no chance of winning.

• In other words: The notion of the Democratic contest being a dramatic cliffhanger is a game of make-believe. The real question is why so many people are playing. The answer has more to do with media psychology than with practical politics.

• Journalists have become partners with the Clinton campaign in pretending that the contest is closer than it really is.

• In the latest Associated Press delegate count, Obama leads with 1,406 pledged delegates to Clinton’s 1,249. Obama’s lead is likely to grow, as it did with county conventions last weekend in Iowa, as later rounds of delegates are apportioned from caucuses he has already won.

Senator Clinton, the former President, and her campaign staff are smart people. They know full well that she can only win with the overwhelming support of Super Delegates. And they also know that the Democratic Party is losing ground to John McCain with each passing day of infighting between Clinton and Obama.

Look at the recent comments by longtime Clinton ally James Carville. In the New York Times, Carville compared Gov. Bill Richardson to Judas (the betrayer of Jesus) after his endorsement of Barack Obama. These types of jabs can be avoided by Clinton conceding the nomination and allow the conversation to take place between McCain and Obama.

A column in today’s Dallas Morning News by Nancy Kruh opines on McCain advantage. Here are some of those quoted in Kruh’s editorial.

• Posting on The Caucus, The New York Times’ political blog, John Harwood decides Democrats have given Mr. McCain “the gift of time. How well he uses it may determine his chance to beat them in November.”

• In his favor, Mr. McCain now has the singular luxury of raising money specifically for the general election, the Newsweek columnist (Holly Bailey) notes, and “he’s also got the backing and resources of the Republican National Committee

• Unless Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton find a way to come together for the good of their country as well as their party, no speech by either of them may prevent Mr. McCain from making his second unlikely resurrection in a single political year. (Kruh)
  

Hillary Clinton has a chance to begin to repair the Democratic Party and a damaged Clinton legacy. She can end this false process and concede the nomination to Barack Obama. There is still time to repair the damage left by an unwarranted attack recently on Obama and his pastor. An attack that she and her husband both know is unfounded and

Senator Clinton, please call off your campaign, so that we can have a chance to save the country from four more years of same as usual Republican politics in the White House. You have a chance to stop being part of the problem and become part of the solution. Now is the time.