Adios Hillary. Puerto Rico has voted, handing Senator Clinton 38 delegates and Senator Obama 17. That gives Clinton a grand total thus far of 1,618 pledged delegates, and Obama 1,728. While, technically that still leaves Obama with "the lead," there are 31 pledged delegates remaining to be awarded in Montana and South Dakota. This means that Clinton can still pull it out if she picks up 358 percent of the remaining delegates.
The above calculation doesn't count the 19 delegates whom John Edwards has encouraged to back Obama, or the delegates pledged to Clinton who have begun flipping for Obama. It also doesn't count the super delegates, with whom Obama holds a substantial lead, but who I do not believe should have any say in a democratic election.
You know who should have a say? Active citizens, including citizens who speak up for others at home and abroad, including the peace movement, the labor rights movement, and all of those whom Clinton effectively credited with her defeat back in April. She was speaking specifically about her losses in caucuses, when she disdainfully referred to us as "the activist base of the Democratic Party." According to Clinton, these activists "turn out in great numbers. And they are very driven by their view of [my] positions, and it's primarily national security and foreign policy that drives them. I don't agree with them. They know I don't agree with them."
You're damn right, and we defeated you, and we'd like you to leave now. We've had more than enough. Get out of the "race" now! Got an exit strategy? Use it.
You want to be one of the dozens of rightwing warmongering corporate senators failing to represent a state in the U.S. senate? Well, that's between you and the people of New York. But you will never measure up as even the lesser of two evils to run for the presidency in our country, not in a country I live in. Forget it, and forget it now. Find other dreams. Find the nerve to change your policies if you want to remain in the Senate, because your other option is not getting your hand on the nuclear button. Your other option is baking cookies or digging yourself out of debt through corporate lobbying or perhaps going golfing with Bill. We'll leave the details up to you. We actually do not ever want to hear a single word about it.
http://www.davidswanson.org
DAVID SWANSON is a co-founder of After Downing Street, a writer and activist, and the Washington Director of Democrats.com. He is a board member of Progressive Democrats of America, and serves on the Executive Council of the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild, TNG-CWA. He has worked as a newspaper reporter and as a communications director, with jobs including Press Secretary for Dennis Kucinich's 2004 presidential campaign, Media Coordinator for the International Labor Communications Association, and three years as Communications Coordinator for ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. Swanson obtained a Master's degree in philosophy from the University of Virginia in 1997.
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