It's time to end it

The General spent most of the night trying to get his video editing software to work. He's looking pretty much like a zombie right now, so, I'll sneak this post in .
--patriotboy

First the full disclosure: as you know, I don't like either of the candidates, but I caucused for Barack Obama, and although I've been much tougher on Hillary Clinton, my target has been her advisers. If she had shed people like Mark Penn and Terry Mcauliffe , I'd be supporting her rather than Obama.

I am not proposing the following to persuade people to join the Obama camp. Indeed, as a committed member of the liberal wing of the party, my proposal is counter to my interest, because it would hand control over to the DLC faction of the party for the next 16 years. The only thing worse than that would be 4-8 more years of Republican rule.

We are going to lose in November if we don't end the campaign now.

We've reached a point where the race has become a death struggle, an exercise in the politics of personal destruction. The Clinton campaign is subtly, and not so subtly, peddling the "otherness," "terrorist sympathizer," and "secret Muslim" themes. and on the other side, I'm beginning to hear Obama allies whispering about Whitewater and "cattle futures."

Some will argue that such attacks are fair game because the candidates will face the same charges in the general election. That's nonsense. These attacks do far more damage when they are delivered by a member of the same party. Democrats give the charges a level of credibility that no Republican supply.

So who should be the nominee? Obama supporters say that it should be him because he will win the popular vote. Clinton backers say that doesn't matter. The superdelegates can swing it her way. There's nothing wrong with that, they argue, because the rules allow it.

And the Clinton people are right. The rules do allow it, but a win delivered by party leaders and elected officials would be a Pyhrric victory. it would appear to be undemocratic and no amount of spin will change that. It will feed the suspicions that many already rightly have about the party and the leadership. They will sit the election out.

A nomination brokered by superdelegates will destroy the Party's ability to win in November.

We can't allow that to happen. We can't afford another Republican presidency. That's why I think Obama should offer Clinton whatever it takes to accept the vice presidential nomination. If she wants health care, give it to her.

And Clinton needs to to take it and strike her deal soon. Her bargaining power is strong now. She can demand concessions that will give her tremendous advantages in 2016. More importantly, she does not want to become the person whose blind ambition gave the White House to McCain. That's how she will be perceived if she continues to push the superdelegate strategy.