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Well, Hillary Clinton won Ohio and Rhode Island tonight, Barack Obama won Vermont, and Hillary Clinton looks to be winning by a very narrow margin in Texas. Whatever happens in Texas, it is clear that (a) Obama will still have a substantial lead in elected delegates and (b) Clinton will continue in the race.The speeches given by the two candidates to their supporters were as expected: Obama's was far more inspiring, but Clinton's was fine.
Two things I did not like in the Clinton speech were (1) her inclusion of Michigan and Florida in the tally of states she had won (especially egregious in the case of Michigan, where Obama's name wasn't even on the ballot), and (2) her reference to the 3 o'clock in the morning ad which her campaign is apparently very proud of. From my perspective, having studied the history of propaganda, that ad ranks as one of worst panderings to public fears (right up there with Tony Schwartz's atom bomb ad on behalf of LBJ in 1964).
And Obama again offered his view that kids would be better off with books than video games - at least he didn't include television along with video games this time. But children can benefit from both books and video games - it need not be one or the other.
So, two good speeches, one inspiring (Obama's), one nonetheless effective (Clinton's), two things wrong with Clinton's and one thing wrong with Obama's - at least, according to my tally.
With John McCain now the unofficial offical Republican nominee, what can the Democrats do to unite their party in the face of two so equally matched candidates?
Here is my proposal: Obama and Clinton agree to the following: 1. Whoever has the greatest number of elected delegates at the end of primaries gets the Presidential nomination. 2. The other candidate gets the VP nomination. (Florida and Michigan do not count - unless the primaries are done over in those two states.)
Hey, I'm still supporting Obama, and I'm sure my proposal won't fly (I doubt that either campaign would agree to it) - but, think about it, it could be the best way to proceed - one which most respects the democratic process.
