The nomination is over.
Barack Obama is the nominee. John McCain is the enemy, not Hillary Clinton.
Repeat these simple affirmations to yourself each morning, as you brush your teeth and each night before you go to bed. It can be hard to remember that they're true in this slow motion waiting game.
Pennsylvania, maddeningly, changes nothing. Obama still has a small, but insurmountable lead in pledged delegates, and a small but nearly insurmountable lead in the popular vote. This is not a landslide win, but it's a clear one, and Pennsylvania only delayed the day until we can officially recognize it. If Obama wins Indiana, that day is May 7th. If not, that day is June 4th. But the day is coming. Hillary shouldn't pull out. It has been a very long and yes, very close campaign, which has highlighted the huge problems with our primary system. Florida and Michigan shouldn't have moved their primaries. But under the rules, Obama has won.
Hillary should get back to what she does best: talking policy. She should be pushing Obama to accept her superior Health Care Plan. She should be using these weeks to shape the Democratic platform for the fall, much as John Edwards, with a way lower profile, was able to frame the nomination contest. At least until Mark Penn ripped the frame off and threw it away.
Americans may not have been excited about John Edwards, but now they are dying for his kind of campaign, the kind that talks about a new vision for the country. That tackles issues head on with passion and gusto. And that's the kind of campaign that would lay the groundwork for a broad coalition that will deliver our party the White House, and the government for years to come. Hillary could and should be a great leader of that movement, writing legislation and leading congress
But instead of making the campaign about the future, the Clintons are still trying to pull off a coup by Karl Rove style hatchet job as the Times editors write this morning:
Ultimately we Democrats have the same goals, we're having a.... ahem... bitter.... fight about how best to acheive them. Obama really does want universal health care, even though his plan to do it was poorly thrown together. Hillary really does want to get our troops out of Iraq, even though she too often talks like a neocon. Americans want those things. John McCain does not. Democrats have to talk that way. Obama did it in his speech last night. Hillary is still campaigning in the weird, 2002-like dimension where Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopolous live.
Attacking McCain, United Democrats Present Bold Platform
We can make that the storyline tomorrow. But we have to move on from this fight.
It was close, but it is over.
