Time to Quit

Your old road is
Rapidly agin'.
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.
--Bob Dylan

The 2008 presidential race is being analyzed to death. We all watch cable. Everyone's an expert. The kid who pulls your morning latte may well know more about the election than you do. But after last night's results in Wisconsin and Hawaii, and after watching Hillary's speech in Youngstown and Obama's speech in Houston, I need to throw in my own two cents.

Give it up, Hillary.

You're a bright woman with a lot of talent. In any other year, you'd make an excellent nominee. You may yet make an excellent nominee in 2012. But in 2008, you're struggling to swim upstream against a current that's flowing way too fast.

First of all, I don't think you can win enough delegates to win. You have to win in Ohio, Texas and Pennsylvania, and you have to win big. How are you going to do that? Nothing so far has worked for you. So now the news reports indicate that your only hope is to "drag Obama through the mud." What kind of victory will that be? Read your American political history. See what happened to Hubert Humphrey, another bright politician who would have made an excellent nominee in any year but 1968. By the time he did win the nomination, by destroying the hopes of millions of young people backing Eugene McCarthy and, before he was assassinated, Robert Kennedy, the nomination wasn't worth winning. That year -- like this year -- should have been a Democratic year. Instead, we got Richard Nixon.

More likely, you won't win the nomination. The superdelegates observe which way the wind is blowing. All you can do is spend the next few months damaging the ultimate Democratic nominee, and hurting his chances against a tough McCain candidacy.

Wisdom sometimes demands a step backward. Call a news conference. Give Barack Obama a call. Tell him that, proud as you are of your own campaign, it has become apparent that he is the choice of the party and of the voters in 2008. You have no wish to prolong a messy civil war. You and Obama have the same ideals, and the same hopes for the next four years. Announce that you are withdrawing your candidacy, and offer him your very best wishes. Tell him that you and your staff will help in any way he thinks best during the coming campaign.

Who knows, you might end up as Secretary of State, or Vice President. If not, you will be a powerful member of the Senate with an important role in advancing the Democratic legislative program. And, you are not old -- look at McCain. You have years ahead to achieve your presidential ambitions.

Let's unite as Democrats in 2008.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE (2-21-08): I thought Hillary Clinton did a nice job at the U. of Texas debate. I also thought she seemed resigned to following my advice above. I think she is giving Texas and Ohio her best shot, and planning to bow out when she loses or wins by a narrow margin in either of those states. She will go out graciously, and, if not the VP nominee, will at least be a strong supporter for Obama in the general election. Remember, you heard it here.